How can I UNTRAIN my crate-trained dog?
I adopted a dog about 3 months ago, and since she was living in a shelter, she is trained to be left in a crate when we leave the apartment. Sometimes I am gone for 4 hours at a time, and would prefer if she had the run of the house while I was gone rather than leaving her in her crate, but when I've attempted to do this, she gets very anxious and cries and gets into things. How can I train her to leave her out while we're gone and her behave appropriately and feel safe without being locked in her crate?
Crate-trained dog, but we'd like to leave him out of the crate during the day.?
I can understand the guilt feeling of leaving them in for 6 hours. It's really not cruel, though - they really do only sleep while you are gone! Just make sure the crate is large enough for him to stretch out on his side. And make sure he's got some safe chews if he does wake up. You can also consider trying to set up the crate inside an Xpen on a waterproof floor. This will allow him a little bit more freedom of movement, but without full range of the house. Try it for a couple of days, but if he pees/poos even the Xpen, then it's back to full-time crate until he gets it under control. Always keep him in the crate at night. At 1.5 years, he should be able to go all night, but if not, then set your alarm to let him out mid-way through the night, gradually extending the time. As for the area that he keeps eliminating in....clean in thoroughly with Nature's Miracle or similar and keep him away from that spot until he's forgotten about it as a favourite location.
What should I do if crate training is not working for my puppy?
It really depends what you mean by ‘not working’.Crate training isn’t for everyone, and some people don’t believe in it. However, I have had the benefit of both experiences, and I believe that there is some benefit to be had in doing it the right way.I had two dogs back in the UK. The first was a pug. He’d been raised from an early age with a crate - we don’t know to what extent he had been left in one, but he was definitely familiar with the concept of being left in it at night time. He never did his business in the crate, and in terms of training him to go straight outside to toilet in the morning, it was really useful. He was housebroken pretty fast (aside from the odd protest poo - but Pugs are famous for that, I’m afraid…).My other dog (we got her a year later) was a french bulldog cross shar pei. I only mention this because there is possibly some difference between breeds, but sadly I don’t have the benefit of having crate trained two of the same breed.She came from a household where neither of the adults had day jobs, so she was used to being always around people. She had never been in a crate, and had never been left alone. We exacerbated the issue by allowing her to sleep in our bed with us from the first night. She didn’t have any accidents (well, maybe one or two little ones) but the main issue was the separation anxiety. The few times we did try to use a crate, she freaked out and we couldn’t leave her alone without her howling for us.I think crate training a puppy from a very early age is a good thing to do, providing you do it right, but I don’t advocate for locking them in a crate when you’re not in the house.In my experience, it makes for a calmer, more settled dog. And if you put their bed in their crate and leave the door open for most of the time, they will see it as a safe place. You can then use the crate for other things, like car journeys.If your puppy is still very young and had no prior crate training, it might take a little while, but I would be patient. Lots of positive reinforcement when they go in the crate and lots of time with the crate door open.Good luck!!
Potty training a Lab???
She probably has what is called separation anxiety. That is when a dog doesn't like being separated from the owner and they can start making a lot of noise or they can become destructive. You need to leave them things to keep them occupied. A Kong is a brilliant toy to keep dogs occupied as you can pack it with treats and they have to work out how to get them all out. With her potty training, you need to give her time. She's only 3 months old and is still learning. Labs are very intelligent dogs so as long as you help her she will get the idea. Make sure you put her out to go to the toilet after every meal and reward her with a small treat whenever she goes to the toilet outside. Have you tried training pads for dogs? they are specially scented to attract the dog to go to toilet on the pad. This would train her so she knows where she is supposed to go. They're absorbant so the dogs toilet doesn't ruin the floor. You can use the pads and move them closer and closer to the back door, eventually putting it outside and folding it smaller and smaller so the dog realises she should go outside. Make sure you reward her lots and tell her how good she is when she does the right thing :)
Help with puppy crate training?
I have had my 13 week old Italian Greyhound for about a week now, and I have been working on crate-training while I am gone during the day. I am never gone for more than 4 hours, but he is able to shred all of the newspaper apart on the bottom of the crate, poop everywhere, get poop all over his paws, and tear apart any toys I put in with him. This leads to me having to scrub his crate, and scrub his paws everyday. Whenever he is not in the crate he never has potty accidents, and he does not excessively chew anything. He is actually quite well-behaved. How can I stop his terrorizing behavior in the crate? I'm afraid to use a smaller crate because I don't want him to get sick from being covered in his own poop/pee for a few hours.
Kennel training my 1 year old SIberian Husky?
First, glad you got a crate for him! It's not so much separation anxiety with many Huskies as it is boredom when they destroy things. Mine are fine when I leave but if they get bored and get a hold of something shreddable..... lol. The most important rule with crate training is too never ever use the crate for punishment. This will ruin anything good you are teaching about the crate. Try luring him into the crate with food and not closing the door all the time. Then maybe close it for a few minutes but stay where he can see you and gradually make it longer and move out of sight. I found that adding a word when you wanted them to go in the crate was very helpful. We just used the word crate and when they go in treat and praise like you talked about. My dogs are both over a year now and have only just started going into their crate to lie down voluntarily when they are tired or want to get away so don't worry about him going in and 'hanging out' just yet. I also used to feed mine their kibble in their crates (they eat raw outside now) but I would say "Dinner time" and they run to their crates and wait all excited because that's the place where food happens! It helps them to want to be in their crate. As for the food, how much are you feeding him? If he has so much that he doesn't finish it you may be overfeeding. From my experience Huskies aren't too great at regulating their own food! My dogs are 50lbs each and they got 3 cups of kibble a day (which is now 1.5 lbs of raw.) Yes I would keep water in there all the time. We have heavy ceramic bowls in our crate to prevent tipping over. Hand feeding is also greatt too, it shows them where the food comes from and deters food aggression. Some dogs will also only eat when their owner is home, maybe that's what he is doing? My dogs dont get beds either, they just get a simple old blanket and they get scolded for chewing on it if I see them doing it :) They have a fun game sometimes where they try to pull the other dogs blanket through the bars of the crate into their own crate, haha. They will always find ways to entertain themselves............