My name is Mark; my dog Reagan is a registered yellow Lab male (non-neutered) he will be one year old on April 27, 2020. REAGAN IS EXTREMELY ACTIVE AND HEALTHY. I've created my own problem and I've spent $100s doing so. I purchased Reagan at 8 weeks old. Crate trained him in the house. He also has an outside kennel. Last summer (during crate training) I slept in room with crate (dog had to go out about every 4 hours)...All last winter he gravitated further and further away from wanting to spend time indoors (in the crate). PROBLEM: He will gladly come inside in the evening now and "kennel up" to receive a Kong. The very second he's finished with the Kong he starts barking like crazy to get out of the crate. I end up taking him back to his outside kennel. That's not what I want; I want him to stay inside most of the time. But he barks like crazy wanting out of the crate. I created this problem early on (during his first few months) because knowing he was thirsty, I would let him out to drink when he barked. So now, he barks and I take him outside (he's very happy in his outside kennel) but I want him as a companion, inside with me. HOW DO I RETRAIN TO CRATE HIM/KEEP HIM INSIDE (HE WILL BE EATEN ALIVE BY MOSQUITOS IF HE'S ALLOWED TO SPEND SUMMER NIGHTS OUTSIDE) ELECTRONIC BARK DEVICE? ANY & ALL SUGGESTIONS APPRECIATED...!!!
Hi there, you need to retrain your dog to the crate indoors, as if he had never been crate trained. Keep the training sessions short and sweet - 5 minutes or so - several times a day. So starting with you sitting next to the crate, feeding him treats at intervals (skip the kong for this stage) so long as he is quiet. Gradually stretch out the intervals between treats, then progress to moving around the room (again treating at short intervals to begin with then longer ones). Then finally progress to leaving the room (very briefly to begin with). If you absolutely have to leave the vicinity of the crate while your dog is inside and before this training is well established, then for some dogs, this will work. Have a blanket over the crate and roll up the front of it so the dog can see out. If the dog starts to make a noise quickly drop the front of the blanket down so that the dog cannot see out. Roll it back up again when the dog is quiet. Those early stages require quite a lot of input from you, but training a dog to be happy and calm in a crate is well worth the effort
