We adopted a Border Collie mix, estimated to be 1 year old, about a week ago. From what we know of his history, he was adopted once after being found as a stray about 5 months old. That family kept him for 2 months and crated him outside. The crate was often used as punishment for barking. Family #2 had him for 4 months, and we understand that they crate trained him. He was also crated at the shelter and did great with it.
He doesn't resist the crate whatsoever, goes in there quite quickly and without a bark or whine. However, once in he cowers in the very back and seems reluctant to come out (sometimes he goes in before we get his leash off him and we need him to come out to take his leash off before bed).
He is crated at night, as well as during the day if we're not home. We're trying to make it a good thing, using treats and fun toys and whatnot. I'm just curious if he really doesn't like it, and if so what we can do to help that situation.
His crate is in the laundry room; it's the best place for it. Hubby refuses to let him sleep in our bedroom, and having the crate anywhere else in the house is impractical due to space. We leave the door to the laundry room open when he's in the house so he can go in there if he chooses, and sometimes he does. However, he is currently on "house arrest" [
] as we're umbilical cording him to help him learn the house rules and stay out of trouble. Anyway, he'll go out to his crate and go in for a few minutes, then come back out.
Should we crate him for a few minutes and then let him back out, so he knows that it's just short term, or just keep up with the treats...? He's rarely crated when we're home; if we do crate him while we're home should we leave the door open so he can see us from his crate?
Thanks, sorry this is so vague and whatnot but I'm not exactly sure how to explain what's going on with him. He's still adjusting to us and we to him, but I want to make sure we don't do any damage since he absolutely cannot be trusted unsupervised - he's a chewer and a digger.