Ok, What am I doing Wrong?

I love Glitch. I want to keep Glitch. I do not love Glitch's behavior regarding the crate.

Things aren't so bad at night. I usually get about two minute of pathetic whimpering and then silence. Up around 3, potty, then an additional two minutes of crying and back to sleep until morning.

During the day, though? Nightmare. Warbling screams at the top of his lungs every time I leave the apartment. I don't even make it down to the car before he starts. It is at a volume about 1 decibel less then brain destroying. He is also tearing at the bars of the crate.

I cover the crate and leave music playing for him. He has a special treat that is for crate time only. I feed him in there. The door is always open, and he can go in whenever he feels like it (he never does). I always make sure that he is tired before he goes in.

We are playing crate games, and I am closing him in it for periods while I am home with him. He still gets upset, but not like he does when I leave.

What else can I be doing? I've probably had 25 puppies come through here, and I"ve never had one this bad about the crate. Obviously I don't want him stressed out and hating the crate, but I can't spend my life at home coddling him either.

If he wasn't tearing at the bars, I would just pick a day when everyone was going and let him cry it out, but it seems cruel when he's doing that.

Other then this, he is a perfect puppy. Smart, drivey, confident. But the crate issue could be a dealbreaker if I can't sort it out.

Does he react the same way if he is in an ex-pen, or confined to a puppy proof room?

Chloe was HORRIBLE in a crate, but a perfect angel when gated in a hall.

Another option may be to try some anxiety meds (either supplemental or otherwise) while working on crate behavior. It sounds like it has less to do with crate anxiety and more to do with seperation anxiety

What about exercise pens? Roxie is similar to Glitch, and has actually broken out of crates before. I've got three ex-pens set up (along with her crate, cuz why not?) and while she isn't falling over in love with being alone, she can handle being in her pen.

Granted, I ended up with three because that is the minimum number of pens to create enough space where she feels comfortable, but it isn't so much space that she goes nutty.

If you'd like, I can post pics of her set up later. My com's gotta do an update and restart, but asap I can get some pics of her area. I know it's a bit much, but at the very least it may get him to chill a bit more about being alone?

We couldn't leave Tucker home alone in a crate. He'd just carry on the entire day. I tricked him once to find out, pretended I left but went out on the porch instead and hung out there for 5 hours. He never stopped. So we put him in an X-pen instead. He'd cry for 5 minutes then stop. Having a dog crate trained isn't super important to us, we just wanted it for house breaking/not destroying the house purposes and the X-pen worked just fine for that.

It doesn't sound like a crate issue as much as separation anxiety? Have you tried an expen or gating him up when you leave? If he doesn't cry then it might be a fear of you leaving when he's in the crate and how trapped he is.

Do you know how long he screams when you leave?

I'd honestly avoid crating (use an ex pen or whatever) when you're gone and continue to do crate games and crate him at night. In the meantime do some separation anxiety exercises. If he doesn't have an issue with being left out of the crate, do the separation anxiety work (ie just step out for a moment until the second he's quiet) with him in the crate.

I do believe he has separation anxiety.

I could have written your post, pretty much word for word, with my puppy. It was absolutely horrible. If I left him for 5 hours, he barked and screamed for 5 hours. I tried Zylkene, DAP spray and collar, etc. Spent months trying to desensitize him, read countless books on SA, etc.

I am happy to report that at 10 months of age, he is now essentially fixed. He doesn't like it when I leave, but he is quiet in his crate.

In my case, what fixed him was going on holidays for 2 weeks and leaving him with a dog sitter. She has several dogs of her own, lives on an acreage, and works at a day care. I believe the fact that he got a crazy amount of exercise (daycare all day, playing with her dogs all evening), combined with being away from me for an extended time, combined with her not feeling badly about him screaming in his crate is what fixed this issue for him.

She used the crate a lot more than I ever did - 30 minutes in the morning while she did chores. 3 meals a day in the crate, with a 1 hour nap time after lunch, all in the crate. And 2 times during the week, he was crated for 2 hours while she taught a class. She said he screamed bloody murder the first couple days, but eventually settled.

Now I can happily leave him for a few hours in his covered crate, and he does not make a peep while I am away. I know this because I have a drop cam and can check in on him.

Do you have a daycare that can work on this with you? I know there is a daycare in town here that will work on crate issues during the day for you.

SA is AWFUL and extremely stressful for both the dog and the owner. I hope you find something that works for you.

So I borrowed an X-pen and set little Mr. Glitch up in it while I made a quick Target run. Came back 30 minutes later to blessed silence. Hallelujah, something that worked!

Then I noticed movement in the window. There sat Glitch on the ledge, wiggling happily that his beloved was home. Little turd must have climbed out of the X-pen, then used the cat tree to shimmy into the window. Luckily, I got him before he managed to push out the screen or break his neck by falling.

God I love this little monster.

Round 2 involved the crate, some DAP spray and me blasting the Broadway station on Pandora while I sat outside and listened to the warbling. It was quite loud, but only lasted for 5 minutes or so.

I think we're improving, or he just really likes Broadway.

You can get taller pens (I have 4ft pens) and covers for them... or just use a tarp, lol.

I really hope something works for you

Yeah for progress!!