random ramblings on crating a puppy/dog

[Brandi]

Does any of you think that some dogs/puppies just WILL NOT crate happily??  This is why I ask....bare with me for this long post.....

I have always had at least one dog my whole life.  I really don't think I could keep my sanity if I didn't have a dog.  I had a lab/chow mix names Juggs. She was crated for the first few months and she was fine.  She was only 4wks old when we got her.   When she outgrew the crate we decided just to put a gate up on her bedroom instead of a closed door and there she slept on her bed peacefully and much happier than in that crate.  She never, and I mean NEVER chewed anything or did the normal bad puppy behaviors, she was a jewel to raise.  When Juggs was about 3 or so, we had a hard time keeping her in the yard.  She kept going to the neighbors to play with their dogs, soooo, off to the shelter we went to look for a playmate for her. (she never left the yard again lol) At that nasty shelter is where I found my Lucy.  Lucy was 4 months old and she was perfect.  We never even tried to put her in a crate, just gave her own bed. Juggs loved her right away and she slept in Juggs' room   Life was great.  Well, bout a wk before Juggs' 11th bday, she fell very ill.  She had a severe pancreatic attack, and a very large mass in her abdomen, the ER vet said chances are that it was some sort of cancer.  We had to make that heart wrenching decision, to euthanize. Broke my familys heart.  Well, Lucy, never being an only dog, I knew what I had to do.  The search was on.....I knew for yrs, a doodle will be my next dog.  Well, it took 5 months, but, I found Magnet, my first doodle.  Her first night home was great, I put her in her kennel and she slept all night.  Well, night #2, not so much.  She screamed bloody murder for 4 hrs straight.  She upset herself so much, she puked several times in her kennel from screaming.  I don't mean whining, SCREAMING.  I tried everything, kong w/ peanut butter, hiding kibble, EVERYTHING.   She wanted nothing to do with that crate.   She would go in there, but, as soon as the door shut, she came unglued. lol  We left the house one day, we put her in there and went to town.  The house was closed up all windows closed, and my neighbor heard her screaming so loud he couldn't sleep lol So after several wks of this,  for our sanity we tethered her to the dresser in my room with a leash and put her bed on the floor and that all she wrote.  She was happy as a camper.  As she got older we removed the tether and she been fine here on out.  When I went to work, I left her run the house with Lucy.  (I puppy proofed REALLY well).  She never chewed anything, never had a potty accident.  I think she was potty trained in a wk.  She picked it up very quickly.    I had someone to come 2X a day for a potty break.  I think of the things she could have destroyed, but thank god, she too was an easy pup to raise.  Then the doodle fever spiked, and we got Smudge a few months after my father suddenly passed away.  Smudge crated very well, no probs.  When she turned a yr old, we took the crate away, and now it's me n 3 dogs in a queen bed.  (it can get a little cramped lol)

My sister got her first doodle Mable, from the same breeder we got Smudge from.  Mable was NOT a crate lover.  Beings my brother in law works shift work, my sister started letting Mable run the house when several months go by with NO sleep from her screaming in the crate.  Luckily, she too didn't chew or do any bad puppy things.  So a little while later, the fever ramps up again, and my sister gets another doodle, named Luna.  Luna actually flipped the heavy kennel on its side freaking out.  So low and behold, Luna runs the house too. lol  She is a little more puppy and she gets into trouble her n there but my sister is a stay at home mom so she pretty much has constant supervision.  

Sorry for the long post, but do you think maybe some dogs just DO NOT kennel happily???  With these pups, I swear we tried all the tricks to get them to like their kennel and nothing worked.  Just curious what everyone else thinks  :)

[Julie C]

Same thing with our Tasha.  She hated that crate from the first time she went into it no matter how much we tried to make her comfortable.  Our friends have her brother and he loved his crate.  She was a wonderful puppy, though, and easy to train.  We put the crate away, tethered her to our bed at night, and just like your experience it wasn't long before she had the run of the house day and night.  She never destroyed anything and never had an accident.  We were very fortunate with her and she is still a wonderful doodle!  The only time we crate her now is in a soft crate if there is a nasty, loud thunderstorm.  She still doesn't like it much but is calmer in her soft crate.  So that is our experience.  :)

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

Rosey would never crate I was afraid she would hurt herself so I quit trying after a few days. Bandit was easy peasy and never had a problem with his crate.

[BG and Gavin]

Gavin tolerated the crate and did not cause problems in it, but he was reluctant to go in and clearly he did not see it as his den.  We did the baby gate solution and he had full run by 7 months old.  He did not get into too much mischieve after the age of 4 months so that made it doable.

[Diana Erhart]

My Charlie cannot be in a kennel.  I know exactly what you mean about that "scream".  It is awful and nothing like a bark.  It is truly a scream.  And like yours, my Charlie never misbehaved while having a run of the house.  He is almost 6 now and still doesn't like closed in or confined spaces.  I have gone to alot of trouble to find groomers who don't use any type of confinement and to find someone who will watch him in their home while we are away.  Some people think I exaggerate when I tell him he absolutely cannot be in a crate but we know better.

[Richard Crowe]

I kept Holly in a pen (about 2'x4') at night in my bedroom.  She would wake me up 4-5x nightly whining to go out and go potty.  Naturally I got up with her and she went potty.  One night at about nine weeks old, I just took her into my bed and she slept the whole night long without a peep or an acident.  She had trained me.  She obviously had not needed to go potty, she just wanted some attention and to be near me.

 

I am a bit apprehensive about extended crate training.  We had a wonderful foster Labradoodle, Sophie, whose previous owner had obviously crated her extensively.  Holding her urine resulted in urinary problems and bladder stones which required surgery.

 

Another of our fosters, a Maltese male belonged to a man who was terminally ill.  The dog stayed on his bed and didn' go potty.  He also debveloped extensive urinary problems including stones...

 

 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

My Springer Spaniel would not be crated.  He didn't mind being put in a room as long as he had a human or another dog.  When he tore his CCL and had surgery the first time we used an ex-pen and as long as he was near a human or another of our dogs, he was fine.  The second time (a couple of months ago) he refused (i.e. climbed out) to even stay in the ex-pen unless a human was in his sight.  He has fairly severe separation anxiety.   Ned, our smallest doodle, was crated and fine with it, but the breeder may have crated the pups and 'pre-conditioned' him for us.

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

Yes, some dogs are easier to crate than others.  I learned to make the crate a "happy" place for them.  I once had a Shih Tzu that refused the crate and ended up with a little girl that once got away with that she learned she can "work" me for other things.  I was very luck with both Sasha and Oliver .... both doodles love their crate.  I never used it as punishment and always made it a "good" place to go.  Crates keep them safe and is such a good training tool.