Sadie finally slept ok in her crate last night but as soon as I got up to use the bathroom, she wanted out! Tomorrow and Wednesday my husband goes to work early. I highly doubt she’s going to go back in her crate after he lets her outside. So I’m most likely going to be up by 5:00am. I might add, I’m not a morning person, at all. But I know that will get better. Here’s my dilemma....I can’t leave her alone yet (only 8 weeks old and a chewer) and I need to put her in her crate so I can shower. How do I do that? She whines, barks, howls, etc. Not to mention chews on it. It’s not a metal crate, it’s a nylon one we’re using until she can be trusted. Any ideas or help would be great! Thank you
We have a 9 week old puppy who initially did not take to his crate. We gave him a treat every time he went in and also stuffed kongs in there in the morning to get a bit more sleep! Now he's pretty chilled and sleeps in his crate whenever we put him in there for a nap. He still cries if we go up for a bath but it subsides. On occasion when we've known he's okay (been to the toilet, had a play etc) we've just let him cry and then gone to him when he was quiet!
Hi Kris, It's frustrating but really normal, and with a bit of training you should be able to resolve it. There is an article here that you might find helpful: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/crate-training-your-labrador-puppy/
What are your concerns about a metal crate Kris? Are you worried that she will hurt herself on it? I'd usually recommend metal crates for a young pup as they can't break bits off and swallow them. A sturdy metal puppy playpen is also a safe place to leave a puppy for a few minutes while you use the bathroom
I don’t really have any concerns about a metal crate. We used a foldable canvas crate for our last dog. We zipped her up in it to sleep until we trusted her more than we started leaving it open as she would automatically go in. Then when we were comfortable leaving her out of it we swapped it out for a dog bed and she knew that was where she was to sleep. That’s why we have a canvas/nylon crate now but this puppy doesn’t like it much. She did make progress last night and laid in it with some coaxing and went right to sleep. This morning at 4:30 she wanted out bad. My husband was able to wear her out enough to coax her back in but I don’t think I can get her in there during the day. I’m going to try though.
