Re-Crate Training

[Cessena]

My Husky hates his crate and seems to have some form of separation anxiety. So I am int he process of trying to "re" crate train him. I think he was kept in a crate far too much at his old foster home and so now he has actually bent the bars on his old crate far enough that my cats can almost crawl through. Charming.

So to re introduce him, I got him one of those airplane style crates and took it apart. I want him to think of the crate as his safe space, but right now he only goes in there when he knows their is a tasty treat coming his way. He has laid down in there for a chewy treat, or a kong, but generally if I give him something in the crate he will just pick it up and lay in the middle of the living room with it. (The half crate is actually just off to the side of the living room, he's moving about 4 feet.)

Does anyone have any suggestions for things I can do to make him comfortable in the crate and use it more? I'd really like to be able to go out to dinner and a movie one of these days. Is it too early to put the top on? (not the door) Should I wait until he's using it on his own?

Right now we do daily sessions where he has to go into the kennel on command, he's a slow leaner (or I'm a bad teacher) but he is getting better. He doesn't mind going in, and sitting, as long as he knows there is something in it for him. And if he gets a chewy or a kong he has to go sit in his kennel as well.

I had a thought to do what I would do with my cats, and every time he is sleeping somewhere else, wake him up, and move him to the crate where he gets pets and treats and then left alone, but for some reason, that just doesn't seem like a great idea.

 

[lizzybeth727]

The only suggestion I have besides what you're already doing is to feed him his meals in the crate as well. And maybe put his water bowl in there.

If he has separation anxiety, though, and has destroyed a wire crate, I'd suggest talking to a behaviorist about how to solve the SA problem. Teaching him to like the crate is going to take a really long time (months, I'd think, before you can leave him alone for several hours), so it would be better to solve the root of the problem, the SA. A behaviorist, who can come into your house and observe your dog, is really the only person who can diagnose SA, and is the best person to help you fix it.

 

[Cessena]

I would love to have a behaviorist come in, but money is really short right now, we're just trying to make it through.

 

[GreenDog]

This may and may not work. Buy a Kong. Its a plastic ball type deal that you can fill with peanut butter. Fill the Kong with peanut butter and let him play with this in his crate. He may start to associate his crate with pleasure.

For puppys you can always put a warm 2 liter bottle of water in the crate covered with a towel. Also put a timer (or anything that clicks) in the crate. This will represent the puppies mother ( 2 liter bottle) and the heart beat of his mother (timer clicking)

 

[Cessena]

He has a kong, as well as a hollow bone that I will stuff for him. The problem is once he looks up from it and realizes he is all alone and locked in a crate he starts trying to get out and whining.

And he's at least 5 so probably too old for the water bottle trick.

He's been doing pretty well with going in and out of the bottom half of his new kennel without hesitation for about a month now, he just wont go in there and hang out unless he has a toy he can't take with him out of the kennel. I think I may put the top part on tonight and let him get used to the top and the bottom together since my boyfriend is not in town to stop me.

Does anyone know a good way to put some kind of awesome chewie in a crate (airplane style) so that it cannot be removed?

That would be amazing. I could just take it away from him when he comes out, but I've tried that before and he didn't really seem to get it.

We've been working on learning "Kennel" but he's not the fastest learner and I'm not the greatest trainer so it's not really happening.

 

[lizzybeth727]

The water bottle trick COULD still work, it's worth a try, right?

One thing I like to do is take a rope, thread it through the small hole of the kong (the top), and tie a knot in the end so it can't come back through the kong. Then you can stuff the kong, freeze it, whatever you want to do. Then tie the rope to the crate, preferably so it's hanging, so that your dog has to figure out how to get the stuff out of the kong without being able to move it around as much. Of course, many dogs will just chew the rope to get the kong off (if you think your dog might swallow the rope, don't do this), but at least that gives them something else to do with it.