[lelandEOD]

I have a 12 week old and have some crate training concerns. We started on crate training the first day we got Anya. I put her in several times (everytime she fell asleep) and left the door open. From there we progressed to shutting her in for 5-10 minutes and letting her out to play for a bit.

At night she screamed bloody murder and I slept with plugs for a week. She finally started to adjust but still cries off and on through the night. The problem is during the day she is in the crate since my wife and I work. We come home for lunch to let her out. She really hates being in the crate and I can usually hear her screaming when I walk up to the front door.

I've been looking at her teeth tonight and I can swear it looks like they've been filed down a bit by her chewing on the metal door. Is this possible and should I be concerned?

What to do?!

 

[Crazy Kian]

Every pup is different.
Our guy would just cry because he was lonely, never got to the point where he was chewing on the door.
You have to re-assure her that everything is okay and that you are always around.
It will take time but she'll come around.

 

[tbone13]

just a suggestion, but if you're crating your dog during the day while you're at work, you shouldn't be crating her at night as well. that is an extremely long time to be in the crate. we crate our dogs during the day, but at night they have their own comfy bed to sleep on.

we only used the crate with our 2nd dog, when she was a puppy, to house train her. once she understood to let us know if she needed to go outside we stopped with the crate at night.

also, if you want to help her become more comfortable with her crate you should spend as much time playing with her in/around the crate. throw treats in there and praise her for going in and out. give her a bone/treat that will keep her busy for awhile in the crate with the door open. eventually you'll get to the point where you find her in there hanging out even when you're home. putting in 20-30 mins every night will go a long way.

 

[lelandEOD]

Yup... should have clarified. We were crating her during the night and leaving her in a 12'x12' pen during the day. That only lasted about 4 days because she learned to climb over the pen (amazing) and no matter what steps I took to increase the security, in a day or two she figured out a way over. It got to the point where I feared for her safety and we decided to crate her during the day. Since then, she sleeps in the bed with me as it isn't fair to leave her in a crate for so long.

We are actually doing pretty good. When she stirrs at about 3am, I know she needs to go out. No accidents so far (fingers crossed) and she has gotten really good about ringing the bell to go out.

I'm so proud!

Anyway, I was just worried about the teeth grinding, but perhaps I am being overly paranoid.

 

[lelandEOD]

Here is Hudogi in a death defying escape attempt!

 

[Crazy Kian]

Oh my, she's a brave little girls isn't she.
Yes, good call on not leaving her there as you never know what could happen....heaven forbid.
I'd be careful with the sleeping in your bed thing at such a young age though, she will become extremely dependant on you.
Our guy has been in the crate from day one and he's just shy of 9 months now.
We leave him in there during the day and when we are home he is out of it, either running around the apartment or just taking a nap on our laps on the sofa.

Good luck with her, she really is a cute gal.

 

[treetops1974]

OMG

That is hilarous!

Love the fact that it was caught by camera ... they are just priceless.

 

[sarahaf]

Rosie absolutely hated it. We gave in and let her sleep with us at night, and we pretty much accepted at a certain point it would be tough to go backward on that, so she still beds down with us at night. We introduced the crate more gradually for daytime use, and she still doesn't love it, but she no longer screams. So it can be done even with the most panic-prone puppies. I'm not recommending that you give in, we were sissies, but I do think as others have noted that some dogs have stronger separation anxiety than others. Rosie was panicked to the point of chewing through part of the Orvis wooden furniture-style crate we had her in at first. She was much more comfortable almost instantly when we put her in the standard metal grid type that she could see out of more easily. P.S. I love your pics!

 

[jp]

Penny learned how to climb like that, but unfortunately it was with our four-foot backyard fence. It looked like she was climbed like a cat. Now at over 18 months she is well used to her crate and sleeps in it fine, but never learned to love it. She will only occasionally go in there on her own, but she's impossible to get out in the early morning in the winter as it is near a heating vent and gets very cozy.