Crate training help

[NatalieCunningham]

I have a 10 week old mini Aussiedoodle, we have his brother that is 1 1/2 years old and a Westie that is 15 1/2.  
 

I am having trouble getting him to stay in his crate during the day.  He sleeps in it for 6 hours at night with no problems.  The day time is totally different.  He will cry (a lot) and move around for 30 minutes plus.  He calms down but then within the hour is crying again.  I am only putting him in with the gate closed when I leave.  I give him a treat to go in and one to come out.  I have also put him in during the day with the gate open with a rawhide (supervised).  
 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

 

[Adrienne]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums!

It's nice to hear he is sleeping in for 6 hours at night no problem. That's pretty good for a pup of this age. 

Are you crating your puppy when you leave the home for good or just running errands around the house?

Where are your other two dogs kept when your ausiedoodle is crated? 

Are you crating him shortly after he's let out in the morning?

These extra details will be helpful, thanks!

[NatalieCunningham]

He’s only crated when I leave for good.  
 

The other two dogs are usually in another room when he is crated.  My older dog may be on the bed in the same room but he sleeps all of the time so I don’t think the puppy knows he’s there.

He is usually out of the crate for about 2 hours before he gets out back in.  He also has been playing pretty hard.  
 

thank you for the help!

[Adrienne]

Thanks for the additional details, they are very helpful!

Since this whining is happening when you are leaving, I am assuming you are recording his behavior and watching what he's doing remotely or when you come back. It is good to monitor a dog's behavior while we are away so to get an idea how they are coping with our departures. Your puppy is very young, so these youngsters tend struggle when they must be left alone.  What they often do is emit distress vocalizations when they're alone as they are very vulnerable at this age (in the wild) so their instincts kick in. 

If you haven't read this yet, can find several exercises here on how to help your dog adjust to the crate:

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

Now, if he is crated two hours after being crated overnight, it could be he isn't very eager to be in it again. Sure, he may be playing hard just prior, but the last place he may want to be is in the crate again after an overnight stay. Puppies have lots of energy and they have a strong need to explore, socialize and play. So we may need to take some steps to overcome this crate aversion and there are several ways around it:

One is to rather than giving him a treat to go in, we can try to give something that lasts longer so to keep him more occupied. So we can maybe stuff a Kong with some peanut butter mixed with some kibble and crushed dog cookies and then freeze it overnight and offer it to him when we must leave. There are many frozen Kong recipes on the Kong website. This can hopefully keep him busy for a good half hours so he's doing something rather than crying and hopefully past this time all the licking and chewing has tired him out. We can also leave some other safe chew toy or maybe get him a Snuggle puppy behavioral aid in hopes of reassuring him. This looks like a plain stuffed animal, but it emits a heart-beat like sound and produces warmth which should remind him of life in the litter with his littermates and mom. 

Other things that can help is covering the crate with a blanket (to create some darkness) and playing some calming music. There are also calming aids under the form of pheromone plug-ins. 

Make sure your puppy has has an opportunity to pee/poop before being crated. If not, it can be he's crying because he has to potty and doesn't want to pee in the crate. 

If things don't get better by watching your recordings, you may have to try another option. Perhaps, we can try to place him in an exercise pen setup where within the pen are several pee pads/fake grass litterboxes on one side and the opened crate (with the door latched open with a clamp or rope to prevent it from closing), toys, food bowl and water bowls on the other side. This allows your pup to move around and play rather than stay crated. Record how he does with this setting. If he does well, most likely he just wanted more room and enrichment since he was just crated a couple of hours prior. A night in the crate followed shortly by a work day alone (if that's where you're headed when you leave for good)  may be a lot of time  for a social species as growing pups. 

I hope this helps,

Keep me posted on how things go.

Best,

Adrienne