Help with crate training

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We have two 6 month English Cream Golden Retrievers.  For the past 4 months they have slept in a pen in our kitchen.   We just had a custom dog crate made and it was delivered yesterday.  We took treats and they will go in and out with no issues.  However, last night they did not  want to stay inside and sleep after we closed the door.  I had to let them out and put them back in the kitchen.  Can you please let us know what we can do to get them to transition to using the new crate.  Attached is a picture.   Thank you very much.

Darrell & Sabrina

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forums, pretty crates!

This can take some time considering that they have never slept in a crate before. Ideally, breeders will get puppies accustomed to crates from an early age while the pups are in their care so as to grant a smooth transition once the new owners bring the pups home and keep them in the crate in a new place the first night. Even then, some pups still struggle as dogs can be anxious about anything that is new or is in a new place. 

You will need to work on this gradually by forming positive associations with the new crates, while making other places your dogs may choose to rest/sleep extra boring. Here is a guide on helping dogs form positive associations with the crate: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/

Do you have two crates like this or are you trying to make them sleep together in one? I am asking because I see one in the picture, unless there is a partition that I do not see.  Do they usually sleep together when in the pen? If so, do they sleep on some type of bed?

 

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Hi Adrienne,

Thank you for the reply.  They have been sleeping together since we brought them home.  We spoke with the breeder and got the sizes of both parents to ensure this crate was big enough.  They have room to stand and move around.  Currently, they sleep on the floor.  We've tried blankets, however, they tear them up.  When we put a bed on the floor, they will lie on top for a short period, and then move back to the floor.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Something you can try is using the original exercise pen to surround the crate/crates with the door latched open (so that it doesn't end up flopping around potentially scaring the pups).

Below is a picture of a setting I have used for two foster littermate puppies. Eventually, they started to spend more and more time in their own crates so I started closing them in them for short periods of time (while each being fed a Kong) and then longer and longer and eventually removed the exercise pen. 

If they will be both sleeping in one crate, it can be risky to feed them food or give them toys in it if they are prone to resource guarding. You will also need to watch for signs of them no longer liking to sleep together. While in an exercise pen they are free to move away from each other as they want, with a crate they may find themselves forced to be too close and this can sometimes lead to squabbles as they grow up and become more independent. 

 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

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Thank you very much for the information.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You are very welcome, keep us posted on how things go!

Best,

Adrienne