[snm2008]

We are in the process of crate training our little Kenya, and she if not taking it very well. It breaks my heart that we have to leave her in there while we go to work. Everyday, I take my lunch break to go home and let her out so she can eliminate, and she just cried hysterically when she is in that crate.

So yesterday during my lunch, I get home and she pooped in the crate and it was all over her. Her crying and howling was worse than ever, and it just killed me that she was in that state. While bathing her, she was trembling, and I was trying my best to calm her down by saying things like good girl, that's my girl. Luckily, my girlfriend got half the day off from her job, so she was able to spend the rest of the day with her, and when she went to school in the evening, my little sister was able to puppysit her.

Kenya is so clingy, and it's starting to worry us a bit. Should we be worried? I know she's only 10 weeks old, but she just gets terrified if we leave her side. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[PFR]

My two love there crates, but I know from a friend of mine who's dog would cry. She leaves a radio on in the room to mellow music or sometimes music she listens to(her dog is now 9). Also try leaving a tee-shirt that you have worn in the crate. That might calm her. She is still a baby and is going to try everything to get you back... Good Luck!

 

[randyc]

Originally Posted By: pfrMy two love there crates, but I know from a friend of mine who's dog would cry. She leaves a radio on in the room to mellow music or sometimes music she listens to(her dog is now 9). Also try leaving a tee-shirt that you have worn in the crate. That might calm her. She is still a baby and is going to try everything to get you back... Good Luck!

Agreed. Whith the first one, I always left the T-shirt I wore to bed the previous night in her crate with her. She also got a treat that would take her a bit to eat and the radio was left on. I would turn on the radio, put her in her crate, giver her her treat and leave. She got so use to it that she would go in her crate on her own as soon as I turned the radio on.

Now both dogs have free reign. They are allowed in the living room and dining room during the day. Mainly because they sleep on the couch anyway. One mess in the past month.

 

[snm2008]

Thank you both so much for the input. My girlfriend has initially suggested leaving a shirt with her, but I read that as a young pup, you don't want to leave her with anything soft that he can rip up and possibly swallow. But seeing as how her bite strength isn't that great yet, it could be safe for us to leave a shirt in there.

 

[Brien]

How you initiate the crate training is crucial to your success. The single most important thing is to not give in when she start crying/barking when in the crate. The best thing for you to do is ignore her. She will learn that crying and barking will not get her any attention. And if you do go to her when she acts up your just feeding into the negative behavior and prolonging the inevitable.

For us it took about 3 days for Bodie (at 8 weeks) to learn this.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

We took a slightly different approach with Murphy, and so far it's worked well. He too was terrified at first when we'd leave, but it's no longer an issue.

We've carefully puppy proofed the laundry room. At one end he has a crate, a blanket outside the crate and his water. We leave the door to the crate open. He also has a couple nylon bones he can chew on.

At the other end of the laundry room we lay out 6 piddle pads.

The doorway is blocked with a wood/metal baby gate and the radio is left on.

He's content to be left in the laundry room and, since the towel in the crate is moved around I assume he spends time in the crate sleeping. He can also sleep outside the crate should he prefer. He can use the piddle pads if needed and they are far enough away so he won't track through the waste.

There are a couple areas on the baby gate that I can tell he's mouthed a little, but there is no other evidence of chewing or destructive behavior on anything but the nylon bones. When we get home we pick up the piddle pads, the soiled ones go out to the garbage and the non-soiled pads get used again. On rare occasions there are a few paw tracks on the floor-running the swiffer over it cleans anything.

This might not work for everyone but it has worked for us-so far.

 

[snm2008]

Just came back from my lunch break with Kenya, and I took your advices.

I got home, fortunately no poop in crate this time. Of course she started howling and crying. I just walked by her crate, sat on the couch and put a magazine to my face. Probably about 5 minutes later, she eventually tired out and stopped. Then I got up and walked over to her crate to let her out. She urinated a little inside her crate, but not too bad. I wiped her down with Nature's Miracle wipes. This time, she didn't tremble as much, and her post-cry whimper has subsided majorly. I put her down, and she starts following me around, expecting me to pick her up. I just walked around until she calmed down even more. Took her on a walk, and she pooped just fine. Came back in, sat with her while she napped on my lap. Threw my t-shirt I wore to bed last night inside crate, left her a treat, and left the TV on XM Radio playing soft music. So far, progess. Thank you all very much.

 

[TwoLu]

You can try giving her a special treat that she only gets when she goes in the crate. When I am crate training puppies I use a Kong toy. I usually stuff them with peanut butter, lunch meat, cheese or whatever else I have on hand and stick it in the freezer the night before. Then the next morning when we leave for work they get the yummy frozen treats. It seems to occupy them while you are leaving, by the time they realize you are gone they are tired from trying to get the yummy treats out.

Then once they are older anytime the freezer door opens they come running and get into their crates patiently waiting the goods! LOL!

 

[ecemom]

I'm glad to read you have made progress!

Our Rocky is 10 weeks tomorrow, he came to us 3 weeks ago and the first couple of nights were rough...first time away from litter mates and mom! Fortunately for us the mom and pups slept in a crate from the get-go so the environment wasn't totally new...just the aloneness. The first few mornings as we left for work/school we could hear him crying, but it didn't last that long and now he goes in no problem. I mean, he'd rather not, but he doesn't cry if we pop him in and leave right away.

I've never given him treats in the crate, but we did leave the radio on for a week, and one night I was singing at my church and hubby and kids came. When we got home the tv was on...hubby left it on for Rocky!

As for daytime eliminating, I am having my son come home from school on his lunch to let Rocky out. He's been really good and has only had a couple of wee pee's...no poop since the second night! He's going about 4 hours in the daytime, and he does 6 hours at night. Are you crating at night too? If not, she may be associating crate with her pack being gone and she really won't like that and it may be adding to her upset and nervousness...

Stick with it! She'll get better...Rocky often goes in his crate just for a nap!

 

[snm2008]

Unfortunately, we haven't crated her at night, but last night we did for about an hour. Going to take it one step at a time, until she learns to stay in it by herself overnight. We also did a short crate training session this morning for about 10 minutes. She cried and we ignored her until she stopped.

 

[Sephly]

glad for your sucess, be patient with the training, we started with free reign and recently started crating him (bckwards i know) , it takes a bit because we all feel guilty but in the end its for the best.

good luck.

 

[snm2008]

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend. Ours' was interesting to say the least. We bought some kong toys to try out. We stuffed it with some kibble, and the kong peanut butter paste, and froze it. We tossed that in the crate, and it seemed to occupy her in the beginning. We went out to dinner for an hour and a half, and came back. She barely dug into her treats in the kong toy, and she pooped in the crate again.

Last night, we decided that it was time for her to sleep an entire night in the crate. I am typing this post on absolutely no sleep lol. She kept on peeing in her crate. She would go to sleep in spurts of 15-30 minutes, then wake up and start crying for another 30 minutes. It got to a point where I had to sleep on the floor next to her crate. That seemed to calm her down a bit. It's getting to a point where we're starting to wonder if we are bad parents.

 

[Sephly]

no not bad parents but i think your overthinking it, i would just stick her in there. period. time it so that she gets pee breaks every 2 hours at first during the day and 4 hour intervals at night, if she pees her self, she has to sit in it until her next pee break. Honestly it works, they dont like to sit in their mess, if she cries oh well ignore it, get earplugs, put on ur ipod. Kong toys are awesome for crates mine will go at that thing forever. If your really really concerned i'd put some classical on very low near the crate, some debussy is nice and mellow to the ear.

Your not bad parents but your def. giving in probably because of the cute factor, i understand how you feel but after a few sleepless nights i realized i was doing more harm then good by feeding into his behavior. trust me just ignore it, be VERY patient, there will def. be a few more piddled crates to be cleaned but it works.

 

[Murphys Dad]

This may sound heartless to you, but do you have an attached garage or basement where you could put the crate at night? If you could do that, the puppy could cry without your hearing her, you'd get some sleep, and puppy would realize the crying wouldn't bring you to the rescue.

Once she's gotten used to being in the crate at night, you could move it back into the house. If you don't have one of these options, as Sephly said, you just need to try to ignore her crying. I know that's hard to do, but sometimes it's necessary.

 

[ecemom]

I agree with Sandy and Sephly...you just have to be tough and go for it! It will so be worth it in the end. Yes, she's going to cry...this is new, and she doesn't like it one little bit! And she is being rewarded for crying and messing...you're going to see her! You are reinforcing negative behaviour. You need to ignore the negative and reward the positive. It will be hard, I guarantee it...the first few nights with Rocky in the crate were really sleepless for us, but now, at 10.5 weeks, he's almost going all night and I haven't had to wash the crate or his bedding in a week. He also doesn't cry for long when he's crated in the morning. I also only leave a nylabone with him, he's too busy sleeping to play and chew!

As to sleeping for 15-30 minute spurts, is she tired enough at night? I've been taking Rocky for nice long walks at about 8, at least a half hour, and we work on his leash manners, plus he gets to tear around with our neighbours dog in the afternoon/evening. After his walk he usually crashes around 9, gets up to pee about 10:40-11 and then he goes to bed and we don't hear from him until about 5-5:30 am.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[snm2008]

Unfortunately, we live in an apartment complex, so no garage or basement. Luckily, it's a very pet friendly environment, so the neighbors have been very understanding. We have been ignoring her constant cries, but there are times when you just want to pull your hair out, so I'd walk over to the crate with one finger up, and tell her No. Like I said, she stops and sleeps for about 30 minutes before she starts up again. Guess we just have to give it time.

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: Sephlyno not bad parents but i think your overthinking it, i would just stick her in there. period. time it so that she gets pee breaks every 2 hours at first during the day and 4 hour intervals at night, if she pees her self, she has to sit in it until her next pee break. Honestly it works, they dont like to sit in their mess, if she cries oh well ignore it, get earplugs, put on ur ipod.

What??

That's horrible!

Remember we are talking about a ten week old baby puppy who has very very limited control over it's bladder. It's not the puppy's fault it can't hold it's bladder yet, it should not be punished for being forced to urinate in it's crate. You can't force a puppy's body to develop, these things happen with time.

I don't believe in crating dogs all day. I know it's popular in other countries, but I personally don't get it. I don't expect a 10 week old pup to be able to hold it's bladder and when I have a pup, I take them out every hour, after meal times, after it's drunk something, after it's woken up from a nap and after it's played.

If the pup has an accident in the house than it's MY fault for not being fast enough. I would NEVER punish a puppy by forcing it to sit in it's own mess.

I am all for crate training but sometimes I feel quite worried about exactly how they are used.

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: Kenya2009Unfortunately, we live in an apartment complex, so no garage or basement. Luckily, it's a very pet friendly environment, so the neighbors have been very understanding. We have been ignoring her constant cries, but there are times when you just want to pull your hair out, so I'd walk over to the crate with one finger up, and tell her No. Like I said, she stops and sleeps for about 30 minutes before she starts up again. Guess we just have to give it time.

If you're home, why not build up to the time she can be in the crate? If she's quiet for half an hour let her out to spend time with you and play with you. Just how long is she crated for if she's crated when you're not home, when you're home and when you're asleep? How much time is she actually spending with you?

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: Rocky is our boyI've been taking Rocky for nice long walks at about 8, at least a half hour, and we work on his leash manners, plus he gets to tear around with our neighbours dog in the afternoon/evening. After his walk he usually crashes around 9, gets up to pee about 10:40-11 and then he goes to bed and we don't hear from him until about 5-5:30 am.

Good luck and keep us posted!

If Rocky is only ten weeks old a half hour walk is FAR too much for him. The general rule when it comes to exercise is 5 minutes per month of the dog's age - i.e. at four months, the dog gets a 20 minute walk. At 10 weeks he should really only be getting free play and 5-10 minutes of structured exercise only. Their joints are still developing and heavy exercise at too young an age can cause serious joint and growth issues.

 

[Sephly]

Originally Posted By: Smeagle

Originally Posted By: Sephlyno not bad parents but i think your overthinking it, i would just stick her in there. period. time it so that she gets pee breaks every 2 hours at first during the day and 4 hour intervals at night, if she pees her self, she has to sit in it until her next pee break. Honestly it works, they dont like to sit in their mess, if she cries oh well ignore it, get earplugs, put on ur ipod.

What??

That's horrible!

Remember we are talking about a ten week old baby puppy who has very very limited control over it's bladder. It's not the puppy's fault it can't hold it's bladder yet, it should not be punished for being forced to urinate in it's crate. You can't force a puppy's body to develop, these things happen with time.

I don't believe in crating dogs all day. I know it's popular in other countries, but I personally don't get it. I don't expect a 10 week old pup to be able to hold it's bladder and when I have a pup, I take them out every hour, after meal times, after it's drunk something, after it's woken up from a nap and after it's played.

If the pup has an accident in the house than it's MY fault for not being fast enough. I would NEVER punish a puppy by forcing it to sit in it's own mess.

I am all for crate training but sometimes I feel quite worried about exactly how they are used.

haha you make it sound like a torture device. I personally dont crate much in general but the ignoring method works as other members have said. My pup quickly picked up on it and our schedule, we've free-fed/watered from day 1 and he was fully potty trained very quickly not only that but has had free run of our house also from an early age and been very sucessful. I know what you mean about other countries not believing in crating as i have lots of family abroad who dont get it either. I think its important to teach them how to be in any space and behave properly. I think what bothered you the most was how i worded it, i'm a bit brash. it is what it is. we'll just have to agree to disagree.