Crate training a dog?

[Matt Garcia]

My wife and I finally broke down and got a dog since that is all my daugther talked about for weeks at a time. My wife got the dog from an organization that rescues dogs, she is little over a year old and she is a Boston Terrier mix.

So my question is does anyone have any experience or tips with crate training. Our previous dog was not crate trained so this is new to us. We had her in the crate for the first time last night and she did really good. She took to the crate well and did not whine, urinate or deficate in there. We took her out before we went to bed, once in the middle of the night and when I woke up early for work. I hope that she keeps it up.

[Domsz06]

just make sure they are comfy in the crate.

By that I mean put their toys in there, feed them in it as well. This will make them get used to it and then you will be fine. Having crate trained dogs is the best. Takes some time but worth the work.

This is all I have done on my dogs and they are all trained.

[zad0030]

Ours is trained and when we say, "bye bye" or "night night" she heads to it without a fuss. Sometimes she will even go in without us having to tell her.

We put her in it when we had to leave and gave her toys, etc. At night we put a sheet over the top so she would know its time to go to sleep and so she cant see if anyone is still walking around at night or in the morning. Lately she is real good about not whining if she is in there and other people are arround and not letting her out.

The trick is ignoring them if they do whine. To a dog the crate is their "home" and their private space.

[yllw20]

matt,
dont scold the dog in the crate or use the crate as a place for punishment. If you treat it as their space, you will be fine.

ps. what happened to your boxer?

[Matt Garcia]

Thanks guys, that is what I have read/heard so far so it sounds like we are on the right track.

Ours is trained and when we say, "bye bye" or "night night" she heads to it without a fuss. Sometimes she will even go in without us having to tell her

Thats a good idea we may have to start using something like that.

matt,
dont scold the dog in the crate or use the crate as a place for punishment. If you treat it as their space, you will be fine.

ps. what happened to your boxer?

I havent had Chelsea in almost a year ( ). Ill tell you the story later.

[dogbert]

All good advice. We got our Golden Retriever from Gold Ribbon Rescue. We had to sign all kinds of agreements and had to have our home inspected. Almost as rigorous as adopting a kid. But, it's all good. They were selective and so were we. Charlie's a great dog, even if he's afraid of water, doesn't fetch, afraid of the dark and afraid of loud noises (ok, so that dog doesn't hunt...)

The dog has been great for our kids.

[da.bell]

We started out crate training all the dogs that I have owned. At the start, neither of the dogs liked the crate but eventually grew into it and now they go to the crate when it's bed time without any hassle.

As for the #1's and #2's. The dog might do them at the beginning because they are young but in a week or two, they will not do this any more. Just make sure when you get home or wake up in the AM, you put the dog outside and praise the dog for being a good dog when they exit that crate.

Positive reenforcement will be your best bet to crate training.

[Domsz06]

When I tell my three to go to there home they all go to there seperate crates, its great!!

[Guest]

I don't have any advice, just my experiences. We got a rescue dog in February this year, he was about 2 months old at the time, and the first night he only cried for a few minutes in the crate, we had him in the other room. He did not go to the bathroom or anything, we thought we were set! The next night was hell, he cried constantly and pooped all over the crate! After a few nights we ended up moving him into the bedroom with his crate and within site of us in the bed and he was happy at night, that did the trick on the crying. Still, he would crap in the crate everytime we left him for more than an hour during the day! And we took him out beforehand and he would go everytime! We ended up making the crate smaller and that did the trick, no more crapping. Let me tell you, that was a rough two weeks! In hindsight we should have tried the sheet thing on the crate too, that would have helped I bet. We actually just put the crate away for good last week, he now sleeps in his bed on the floor in our bedroom, he goes there when we will him time to go to sleep.

While we are talking dogs, how do you get them to stop digging holes in the yard when you leave them during the day!!!! I keep hoping our dog will grow out of it, he is close to a year old. And we walk him daily for at least 30 minutes and I play with him every night for at least 30 minutes. He gets lots of attention, we just have to leave him while we are at work. He has tons of toys too. Any luck with that?