I need your advice

kwyldkwyld
edited October 2010 in Behavior & Training
How would you train a dog with separation anxiety to wait quietly in a crate while you are working another dog in the same room? No activity toys allowed in the crate.

I am thinking either perfecting long down stays and/or "go to your mat" exercises and moving the mat into the crate. Maybe another person clicking and treating for quiet behavior in the crate in the beginning stages too.

Do you guys have any other ideas?

Comments

  • jujeejujee
    Hmm, how good is the dog with the "go to your mat"? I'm still working on that with Mika, to go to her mat and being released when I give her the okay. I've been able to get her to stay on the mat for 15minutes, but there are days she just doesn't want to go to the mat at all (those shibas!).

    Having someone clicking and treating for quiet behavior may work and help build the confidence of the dog, but seeing another dog get attention may still throw the dog off. :/ Maybe someone else with more experience can help you with this.
  • BradA1878BradA1878
    I'll have to think on this to give you a real helpful answer, but what first comes to mind is...

    A covered crate, D.A.P., and lots of ignoring.

    ----
  • dlrobertsdlroberts
    If the dog isn't comfortable with the crate, you can start with a go to your mat. Then move the mat into one of those plastic travel crates with the top removed, then put the top on with the door open, then close the door. If the dog doesn't know go to your mat yet, then why not just train a go to your crate from the start? When adding the distraction of another dog, I would start small by only asking them to remain for one command to the other dog, then two, then four, etc.
  • kwyldkwyld
    Yep, he doesn't know go to your mat, he knows go to your crate, but I really need to work on getting him to do it and being super happy about it. Using some spray DAP while working is a great idea, I don't know how that didn't cross my mind when posting this. Hopefully I can get the wailing under control, because I recall it being very obnoxious in class without me even working another dog just sitting in a chair 50 feet away from him. Working Taj in the same room makes him anxious too, just at a lower volume.
  • tjbart17tjbart17
    Is his crate a metal one? Just throwing this out there, but Koda hated his crate. He started hating it at about 6 months old, and I couldn't train him to just go to it and be happy about it.

    I got him a soft sided crate and he loves it. I think he just hated the metal. Now I can tell him to go to his crate and he's ok with it. He even hides treats in it so he will have something in there. He never did that before.

    Koda is also trained to go to his mat. I started out with feeding him stuffed Kongs on his matt when he was only 9-10 weeks old. His Kong had to stay on the mat. Everytime I went to give him one, I said go to your mat. It was such an early association in his mind that I had no problems with training him to go to his mat.
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