crying in crate

starry

Hey, Toki is now 13 weeks old
and he has taken to crying while he is in his crate and he keeps it up for a good 10 minutes and starts up every time he wakes up or hears someone moving around in the house. I've tried to ignore (turn my back and start walking away) and then come back and give him a treat when he gets quiet but he keeps starting up again
and its definitely not because he has to do his business or he is thirsty or hungry
any suggestions?

CrimsonO2

Have you thought about getting a crate cover so that the dog isn't "overstimulated". If you're keeping Toki in the crate so he'll relax or go to sleep, maybe you can make it easier for him by removing the visual stimulus. First let him get used to sleeping during the auditory stimulus, and once he's good with that, you can add the visual stimulus back in.

Jesse

tsukitsune

I completely ignore my dogs when they are in their crate, otherwise they will want more attention and to be where I am. To effectively crate train, they have to feel safe in the crate - maybe you can leave the door of the crate open while he's not in there and put a treat in there, allow him to go in and get it without locking him in so the crate is just another space for him to safely occupy.
When he must be closed in, the crate cover Jesse mentioned is a good idea for letting him know that crate time means alone time but that its not a bad thing. Let him in there and pay no attention or he will learn when he is in the crate and cries, he gets a treat!

Good luck! watching a pup cry is never fun, but crate training is essential this young, he'll have to be used to it for a long, long time.

kwyld

I would try only feeding your pup in his crate and use these toys to dispense his food.

http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/behavior/busybuddy

CrimsonO2

Wouldn't feeding your pup in their crate (essentially their sleeping area) confuse them? I thought pups were trained by their mother while young to keep their sleeping area clean (not urinate or defecate where they sleep). Wouldn't teaching them to eat where they sleep go against that training?

Jesse

kwyld

Dogs love food. Associating food with anything the dog doesn't like will eventually get the dog to understand that the thing he didn't like before is not so bad and actually pretty cool with food involved. Plus, eating is incompatable with barking. When someone comes in to see our behavior department for separation anxiety related to crating, they recommend these products to be given to dogs in their crate with food.

miket

When Remy first got here, he would cry for a solid 20 min, sometimes longer, when we closed the door to his crate. Sometimes he will even try to dig his way out. It got worse if we so much as acknowledged him, so we completely ignore him when he is in there. This has helped somewhat, but he was still crying. We've started giving him a stuffed kong when we leave for work (he only gets this when he's in his crate) and we feed him in his crate. We've also trained him to "go to your crate" (he goes in and lays down). Now he will go in there to take a nap and runs into it full speed when we get his food bowl/kong out. He only cries for a couple minutes and then settles down pretty quickly when he goes in for the night/before work. All in all, this approach seems to be progressing nicely.

Oh yeah, one more thing: another thing that seems to have helped associate the crate with 'great things' is to hide some kibble in there a various points in the day. Not just out in the open, but maybe rolled up in a towel/blanket or under their bed so they have to work for it. This way they get a nice surprise that just magically appears in their crate every so often.

Aikogirl

When i first got Aiko, we introduced her to the crate by leaving the door open so she was able to come and go as she pleases. We left her favorit blanket and chew toys in there. Then we started crating her in 10 minutes intervals and would praise her at the end. Then we did 30min, 1 hr 3 hrs... etc. We try our best to let her know that crate time isn't a punishment so in the beginning, she got tons of praises and treats for being good in her crate. The phrase we use is "crate time." Now she is very well behaved in her crate. I personally don't give her food or water in her crate. I just don't want it to be a habit or have any possible "accidents". Crate time is a time for rest and sleep (for the owners). This has worked well for me. I hope this helps! Hearing Aiko cry the first time was a horrible experience so i can only remember what your going through.Just be patient and consistent!

Good luck!!

okiron

Well Jennifer, theoretically feeding them in the crate would make it less likely to have accidents in the crate. Animals do not like to eat/drink and do their business anywhere near each other.

Airryn

My dog before Hiro cried and barked and went nuts when he was in his crate. It was awful really. I tried covering the crate with a blanket and putting it in a spot where he'd be less likey to hear and smell people close by and none of it worked. Only time. You could even hear him yelping from outside the house. x_x It took about a month for him to stop and even then if you were to ever move the crate to a different spot he'd whine for short while. It wasn't until about 6 months later did he really learn to love his crate. Now-a-days he goes in it randomly and whenever everyone is gone he chooses to just stay in his crate. He loves it haha. Perhaps you just gotta deal with it for longer? I don't know of any tricks that will surely work. though at the time I wish I would've tried a couple of the things people have mentioned here. good luck~

Nekopan

Do you have a crate command? Jack wasn't too fond of his crate until I started associating a command with it. I started with "in your crate" and pointing, then he'd get a treat and praise if he started to go in. Then he would have to be entirely in the crate to get the treat. Then he had to sit in the crate for the treat, and then lay down. After that I started closing the door.

13 weeks is still pretty young. Just make sure not to give in to the crying, or it will never end.

Romi

Crate training is tough. I am one of those people who gave in. I bought an X-pen instead and that seemed to work out better. The X-pens take a good amount of space though. We put them away a few months ago and brought out the crates again and my pups are fine. They willingly go into the crates. I would have to force Ninja (my shiba) into the pen, but he wouldn't cry in there. Maybe you might want to try that route first?

StaticNfuzz

Yeah like Romi indicates crate training can be tough. Some dogs cry in crate and not in x-pen. Others cry in x-pen and not in crate and some cry no matter what. It really depends on the dog and individual personality. At 13 weeks most will still fuss. Don't give in on either x-pen or crate, once you do it will be a lot harder and take much longer to get the behavior to fade.

Hang in there and be patient, it takes awhile. Once it clicks in their little brain that crying won't make a difference yapping or not the pup usually stops. A good thing to do is make sure the pup is worn out socially with other dogs or exercised before placing him in the crate. Go to the crate (when the pup is quiet) like you are doing and treat or let him out and play for 5 minutes and then put him back in. Do this over and over as part of a game and then increase the duration length of being in it. You'll have to figure out what works best based on your dogs behavior.

I do recall having one pup that yapped so much (waaay longer than 10 minutes) the local foxes would sit in the driveway to listen on a nightly basis (LOL)

Snf

Zinja

Sasuke cried for 10 minutes and eventually it stopped. Three days ago, I moved back into my townhouse from being home for the holidays. Sasuke started crying again. This also got worse! I just took him out to go potty this morning and tried to put him back in so I can sleep a few more hours before I have to go to class. He resisted going in and started growling/showing teeth when I tried to bring him in with treats and his chew toy.

I saw this aggression start the second night I put him in his crate.. He started growling when I tried to attach the lock. It went away for a few nights but his aggression returned and now he resists...

Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

tsukitsune

The only thing I can suggest is to not force him into the crate. You should work on luring him in with something really irresistible, like cheese or something smelly, let him go all on his own, and leave the doors open for him to freely go in even when he doesn't have to.

His former owners probably didn't correctly crate train, this is now your job!

starry

okay so toki got his own room for a little bit and he will go in his crate to sleep, door open, no problem...so I know he likes his crate
he also will go in if I direct him
however, he still keeps crying when left in it, door closed
so far I've sat outside his crate while he is in it and I told him to lie down and said no in a calm voice when he cried or pawed at his caged and I give him treats when he lies down and is quiet...he can go a long time being quiet (some low toned grumbles) with me right there (it progressed from 3 seconds to minutes...I'm not patient enough to try hours)
then I tried standing in the same room but farther away and walking over to him when he has been quiet (this progressed from 3 seconds to a few mintues)
however, when I tried leaving he will whine for a couple seconds and settle down but he won't stay quiet past 30 seconds if I do not reappear...and then he starts crying and then I can't come back to him when he is crying so I have to wait till there is a break in his cries to reappear (this takes awhile) and I feel somehow that this part in my training is ineffective...any suggestions on a better way of handling this separation?

lindsayt

Let Toki cool off in the crate and you go do something else in another room where he can't see you, maybe on a day off, it could take an hour or 2 until he is quiet. Don't reward him with your presence until he is calm and resting. Or, have him be in the crate in the same room as you but totally ignore him. When he's calm, resting, he can come out. Maybe he is figuring out that if he makes noise you appear to see what's up-negative attention is better than none and you have cookies for him as well. After he is calm and you have completed some chores or whatever, let him out. If he gets worked up when you approach the crate in anticipation of being released, walk away until he's calm again. I had to repeat this with Ike MANY times so he didn't bolt the door and melt once he knew I was comming to see him and possibly let him out. Good luck, it takes a lot of time and patience and correct timing.

impreza_sp

When I first brough Mercutio home he cried when he wanted to pee so I would let him out of his crate and take him outside. He would pee and then I would take him back into his crate. He was three months old so I had to take him out about once every two hours. But soon I noticed that he wasn't peeing. He was just crying to get me to take him outside where he could play.. All hours of the night I was getting up until about a week went by and I decided to whiteknuckle it. I figured he could hold it for about 5 or 6 hours so I went to bed and ignored him. I screamed for hours, not constantly but on and off, pretty much everytime he heard me roll over in bed. It drove me crazy. The next day I started to take him out (Not walking cause he hadn't completed his vax) but carrying him around so as to interest him and hopefully tire him out! At night I also started to but a big towel over his crate. It was a Japanese summer so I had constant fan blowing on him and he had a plastic bottle with frozen water in a tube sock with him. He loved his cold sock! But I found that he would be much quieter as the days went past and he became used to his routine and surroundings. Also I am a school teacher so I chose to get Mercutio at the beginning of the summer holidays so that I could be with him everyday for his first month or so. As time went past I slowly started leaving the house for longer periods of time to prepare him from being away from me.
He is now 7 months old and is very quiet at night and a perfect 6.20 am alarm clock!
Ignoring ( whiteknuckle ) the screaming is hard oh so hard...but it's the only way to make him learn that it's not the way to get what he wants! Try leaving the Tv on so he thinks that you are still in the house whilst he is in the crate then go out for a couple of hours if you can't bear the screaming. This will probably work....then come back in quietly and hopefully he should be quiet! Reward him with a huge play session...
Now when ever I am at home Mercutio has free roam of the downstairs part of the house. Usually he likes to be where I am and if I go up stairs for a brief time I will leave him downstairs. If I go up stairs to play piano or something I will take him with me. Usually he just curls up in the living room and goes to sleep. He also has free roam and house in the garden so sometimes I put him out there.

wliu003

I'm kind of late =p but i have a lot of experience with this matter. kelly has been crate trained since i first got her and shes been with me for 7 months.

first thing you want to do is make sure the crate is a welcoming environment. comfortable, and something with your scent (for me i use a tshirt and sometimes a sock.) then you want to make sure that you dont punish your puppy by putting them into the crate. make sure you use the crate for a consistent purpose (ex. sleep, or when you are not home.)

whining and crying in the first few weeks is normal, mine eventually grew out of it even though i did all of the above so being patience with them is another key. hopefully this helps.