Dog Community

To crate or not to crate?

Posted : 11/6/2006 2:28:31 AM

Hello!
I have a 9 month old mixed puppy who is pretty close to being completely house trained. we had a few accidents(my own fault) the first and 2nd night but we've done really well the last couple of days. She's been out and running free during the night and hasn't had peed or pooped anywhere in the house. She wakes me up around 6 some mornings and 7 others.

I will be getting up around 4:30 to get to work by 5:45 am so our schedule will be slightly adjusted.

I am just wondering due to a couple of issues if a crate would be okay..
She is very food oriented and whenever I eat she wants it- She starts crawling all over me and tries to get the food. I gently push her over to my bed and say "Jazzmine STAY" firmly but not mean. She will continue to inch forward and get at the food. Would a crate be good for meal time? I don't have any table to sit on so I normally just eat in my room.

Besides the begging that's pretty much the only thing I would use it for...Not as punishment, just as a place for her to be..

Any suggestions or pros and cons of crating would be great.
-Jade

Deb

Posted : 11/6/2006 7:10:23 AM

Yeah, crates are great! Another thing you can do in this situation is put her on a leash so that you can control her access to your food.

Debbie R

Posted : 11/6/2006 7:46:15 AM

A crate would be good but for this problem you will not always have a crate available, what I did w/ my dogs was have them go to the mat, that for you could be a dog bed a blanket on the floor though not the bottom of the bed, and how I trained them was they went to the mat, and every time they got up an uh-uh go to the mat, then the minute I am done I say OK come, and give them a treat. Now the minute I take a dish to the table they go to the mat w/o being told to, and I still give them a treat most of the time, because this is a really handy thing to have going on. Especially if you take the dog to someone's house or you have company.

Firestorm

Posted : 11/6/2006 8:30:09 AM

Crates are a great training tool. It gives the dog space from everything. If the dog does something wrong then runs to his crate...he is off limits. Crating is a wonderful thing and my dog enjoys going in there and often goes in there on his own.

Jade Kelly

Posted : 11/6/2006 11:09:17 PM

Hi everyone!
I just got a crate. Yay for craigslist.lol. The mans a genius!. No, I just got it very cheap. Only 15 bucks! YAY! So jazz will have her own place to sleep at night and go when she needs a place to take a break. I think I'll just leave it open at night since we don't have any problems with her peeing or pooping in the house. It will be a long while until I give her free reign of the house though. She is just in my room. She is happily chewing on a bone right now. Yay for toys...She's all set!

Thanks!
-jade

Jade Kelly

Posted : 11/7/2006 9:40:36 PM

She is not a fan of the crate. She is whining like crazy and trying to bite at it. Any ideas? I'm not responding to this behavior. I just took her out to go to the bathroom and she didn't go so I put her back in and will try again in another half hour. Any other ideas? I feel like maybe we've taken two steps backwords with this and she hates me now. *sighs*

Debbie Stull

Posted : 11/7/2006 10:03:11 PM

She doesn't hate you! It's just that it's new and you're cramping her style. Some pups take right to their own space, and others take offense to being locked in. She will get used to the idea, and most likely come to enjoy her crate as her personal space, but right noe you have to be the boss! How many kids do you know that will go to bed without some fussing? Your girl will probably be fine in a few days, children take years!

Jade Kelly

Posted : 11/18/2006 5:21:47 AM

Well the crate uses is few and far between but at night if she won't sleep I do put her in it. Not as punishment or anything. She goes straight to sleep. She only whines when I go out of the room and she's in it. It's not too bad though.

Ruth

Posted : 11/18/2006 5:41:10 PM

How did you introduce her to the crate? You don't want to just throw her in there. First you want to make sure she sees it as a happy, fun

lace. I'd start by playing with her and give her lots of treats just for going in there. Leave her toys and treats in there for her to find later when she's not expecting it. Once she's having fun then work on confining her for a bit. Start feeding her meals in there, with the door open. Once she is comfortable with that, close the door while she's eating and open it when she's done. Then leave her in for 5 minutes after she's done eating, then 10, then 15. Vary the time you leave her in, so she can't predict it. Of course when she's crated make sure she has fresh water and something safe to chew on.

If you put in a little groundwork like this most dogs soon grow to love their crates.