Dog Community

crate issue

Posted : 3/26/2006 11:39:13 AM

We're suddenly having a problem with our 3 yr sheperd/lab mix. Bogey's a rather large (106 lbs) dog who all of a sudden will not go into his crate. Since he was a puppy he has slept in the crate and that is the only thing we used the crate for. We really never had an issue with him as far as getting him into the crate, except for a brief period almost 2 years ago. He is only crated at night for sleeping and never crated for discipline or when no one is home. As far as we know nothing has happened while he was in the crate that may have frightened him.
He's been through a couple of obedience courses and some agility courses. Recently we had an issue with him at agility where he may have gotten a bit aggressive with another dog. We have just started private lessons with him in obedience again, at the request of the agility instructors, to try and determine the cause of this. He is fairly reliable in obedience though weak on recalls and comes.
Anyone have an idea why all of a sudden he will not, shies away and can't even be dragged into his crate? Does there come a time when large should be weaned from crates?

sooner

Posted : 3/26/2006 12:05:49 PM

On jus that little bit of information, the first thing that come to mind is that this dog may be in some sort of pain. Hip dysplasia or arthritis could explain not wanting to be in the crate where he can't move freely and stretch out, it could also explain the incident in agility. May be time for a vet visit.

Bob Weschrek

Posted : 3/26/2006 5:29:46 PM

I guess that could be the problem though I haven't noticed any hip issues. I will raise the question on Wednesday when I'm taking him to the vet. Regarding the issue at agility he has a tendency to run off and visit other classes after completing a course run or even taking off in the middle of a run. I mentioned we've not done well with our recalls in agility which is why he is back in obedience. He is a big, thick dog looks very much like a Leonberger. The crate is as large as we could find, I think it is 54 inches.

Danny

Posted : 3/26/2006 10:27:48 PM

Hello there [

]

As Sooner already indicated, it is impossible to make any real assessment on this little information - I can think of numerous things that could underlie an issue like that, ranging from health problems to a late bout of establishing independence (some labs can be very slow in development [

] ).

Otherwise, if he is healthy, I am not quite sure you need to crate him at all. As you obviously leave him out all day long, why not just leave the crate door open at night also (and just every now and then put him in the crate for an hour with some treat-ball during the day, so that he remained habituated to it for if you really need it) ? Crating is potentially aversive to dogs, and unless you really must (as I am sure some people have to), maybe you can get along just fine with him sleeping beside your bed. [

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spiritdogs

Posted : 3/27/2006 11:15:03 AM

There are all kinds of things that could be the culprit. Possible, not necessarily probable:
Loud noise while you were not home, but he was in, or entering, his crate.
Temporarily got his tags caught on the wire.
Vision changes.
Hip problems, sprains, cruciate ligament injury, etc.
Slept somewhere else one night and liked it better.
To be honest, if he's out of the chewing stage, housebroken, and doesn't destroy anything, why not just get him a cozy bed for next to yours and let him forego the crate? If he's reliable in the house, it really isn't necessary, especially if you don't need him to enter a crate anywhere else, like shows or field trials, etc.

spiritdogs

Posted : 3/27/2006 11:18:29 AM

Re the aggression issue, by any chance did he have to enter a crate right after that? Perhaps it impinged on his sense of justice LOL.
An incident with only one dog isn't that big a deal if no blood was drawn and human intervention wasn't necessary. Incidents with more than one dog, or for reasons that suggest a trend in his behavior should be investigated.