Crating Woes

[Theresa & Duncan]

I expected crate training to be a nightmare at first, but was pleasantly surprised. On his first night home, Duncan walked right into his crate and snoozed through the night. It has pretty much been the same since - at 3 months old Duncan rarely needs overnight potty trips. The crate is in our bedroom, and we have only crated at night (during the day he hangs out in the laundry room which has more space). Recently, we’ve been having a little trouble. When we put Duncan in the crate for the night, he yelps, barks and whines for a while before settling down, and even then we hear him shuffling around during the night. It's pretty much the behavior we expected in the beginning, so having him go through it now is puzzling. He has a nice comfy bed in there, and we always toss in a toy. Any suggestions on how we can make bed time smoother for all of us?

[Bonnie and Kona]

I don't know but both of our doodles got too hot to have a bed in their crate. They much preferred sleeping on the plastic floor of the crate without anything in there... I went from a bed to a blanket to a towel to nothing. I just wonder if Duncan is hot and cannot settle because of that. Also I have always kept a blanket over the crate to eliminate most distractions. When it is hot in the summer, I pull the blanket up to allow greater air flow. It might be worth a try anyway. Duncan is sure a cutie!

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

We did the same with Bailey...I bought these cute little pink blankies for her crate...And she hated them.  She too would rather sleep on the plastic floor.

 

I would get rid of the blanket tonight and see what happens...she just might be to hot...

 

Keep us posted

[John and Finn]

lol, Finn has never and I mean never liked his crate.  It might be the aussie in him wanting to keep watch of the herd (us), I don't know.  I will say keeping him in a dark room (he was unbearable in the same room) with a sheet over him worked the best of all the tips we received.  As Bonnie said the bed made Finn to hot so we removed that right away.  Good luck.

[Sue and Buddy]

Buddy, now 23 weeks old, was great in his crate at night. As he got older, he seemed unhappy in it. He likes to move around and reposition more. It's a large crate, but he seemed to want more space. I set up an x pen in the bed room that included his crate. I put him there for the night leaving the door to the crate open and that worked well for a while. He would sleep in the crate and then move to the area in front of it. Then it got warm and he seemed hot there. His favorite place to sleep in the day is on the tile floor of the bathroom. And that's where he sleeps at night now. We are lucky that he doesn't get into mischief during the night. 

[Shannon and Finn]

Our Finn hated his crate from the get go too!  He cries and barks horribly during the day when I leave to run errands, although will settle down briefly.  He sleeps on the bed with us, mainly because our 3 year old will still wake up in the night at times and I need to be sure Finn doesn't get into trouble or end up free in the house if she opens our door.  He doesn't need to potty and sleeps in until 9 a.m., so it is working for everyone.  We will eventually transition to a pillow on the floor , which he would probably do fine with now actually, but I don't trust him enough for that quite yet.

Maybe try running a fan to keep him cool once he settles down.  I notice that Finn gets pretty hot during the night since he starts out in a snuggle and quickly moves to the end of the bed.  Also, what does he do if you leave the crate door open? Could he sleep on the floor safely?  Or in the laundry room? It seems like Finn is getting more attached to us and wants to be close as he gets older, so that might be the cause of the whining too. 

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

With Hurley initially we had him in the crate and he slept through the night.  When we would wake up around 2 or 3 in the morning, after taking him out to potty, we would put him in bed with us.  That led to into bed with us all the time.  When we mentioned it to his trainer she said we should put him in the crate every few days so that he remains used to the crate. Well, we started putting him back in the crate about 3 days ago.  First night he barked and when he did not stop when told 'no' or 'enough' I sprayed his nose/mouth with Apple Bitters spray.  After 3 barking sessions and being sprayed each time he quit barking and has not barked when in the crate at night any more.  The Apple Bitters worked for us.  Maybe it will work for you.  Just a thought.

[Gail Vinnal]

I don't know why he's doing this, but if you find out please let me know.  Bailey is just 3 months old, spent every night happily in her crate and the past 4 nights we have whining and barking for about 5 minutes before she settles.  I just think she's feeling her oats and trying to be the boss

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I was going to say the same as Bonnie, Riley used to spend ages tossing his crate mat into a big heap in the corner and prefers just the horrible base.  I think he gets too hot so perhaps take out the bed and see if that helps. I just put in a blanket because Riley likes to have his head raised so he scrunches it up into a heap.  Now of course he sleeps anywhere he chooses, sometimes in his crate or on our bed or on the floor or under the bed! 

[Jennifer]

Hmmm, maybe it's all in a name? I also have a Finn that HATES his crate. Actually, he has 2 crates, one is in our bedroom which he sleeps in and does quite well with. It took a couple weeks for him to get use to it though. For the first week he would whine and cry at the top of his lungs for hours!!!

The other crate is downstairs and he only goes in this crate when we leave the house. He HATES this crate. Fortunately I work from home so his time in this crate is minimal (which might be part of the problem) but he seriously goes ape shiz in this crate. I always throw a treat in and he runs right in to get the treat but as soon as he's done eating the treat, he starts freaking out. He's way to mouthy and will eat anything he can get in his mouth so I can't confine him to a room unless I'm fine with him eating the walls. I honestly think it's more that he hates being alone though. I'm hoping that over time he'll adjust. I do have to leave the house sometimes. :-) :-)

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

We sit our son's doodle and what we discovered is he prefers sleeping on the tile in the bathroom rather than a rug or our bed.  We are finding with Hurley that he seems to get warm, also.  When he sleeps on the bed he stays at the foot all spread out.  When in his crate he seems to be very stretched out.  

When dozing during the day he prefers the kitchen tile to the rug.

I take is they are warm dogs and prefer to lay on something cool.

[John and Finn]

Let me add one story.  Finn had become accustomed to a dark laundry room (before we moved him to a new room he hates) and was doing very well.  One morning he started barking but in a more relentless way than normal.  Come to find out we left the burner on the stove on low and it had gone out but the gas was still on.  I had never smelled gas that strong before. I thought he was just being difficult but I guess the puppy might haved saved our lives. 

[Lia & Pippa]

I'm glad I found this discussion because I was just going to come in here and post something on this topic. Pippa did really well with her crate from the beginning but the last few nights she has been more resistant to get into it for bedtime. Then last night she woke up at 3 am (she stopped the night time wake ups at least 6 weeks ago) and wouldn't go back to sleep. She was panting pretty hard and seemed uncomfortable so I took her outside. She ran around the yard like it was the middle of the afternoon and it was time to play?! Then, when I put her back in her crate she barked and whined for about 5 minutes. After reading this I am wondering if it has to do with her being hot in her crate. During the day she sleeps on the cool hard woods or tile in the bathroom. I'll take out her bed and see how that goes. 

Also, does anyone have ideas for helping her sleep in in the morning? She has been waking up at 6 am lately. I guess we will try the blanket over it tonight...any other suggestions? I'm thinking it might be time to move her out of our room soon...she is 20 weeks old.