Possible beginnings of SA

[pitpupmom]

Odie seems to be having a problem when I'm not home. He was crated when we got him, and now it seems that he isn't liking the crate anymore. Lastnight I came home to find he had rough spots on his nose where he tried to push open the crate door and the skin around his pads were red at also pushing on the crate door. Mostly I work in the evenings from 4-10:30. My husband takes me to work at 3:30 and then does an errand or two and then comes home and lets Odie out of the crate. At 10:00 my husband puts odie in the crate and comes to pick me up. My other dog isn't crated, never has been but she really never gets into anything that I have to worry about. Should I try a baby gate in the hallway if he's going to hurt himself, I don't want to leave him in the crate. The crate is in the kitchen under the table so he can see what's going on around him when were not home. He also soils the whole crate. At first it was only urine but lastnight it was poop and pee all over the crate, and outside of the crate. He's pretty much housebroken. We don't have problems while were awake. He won't go outside for my husband but will for my young daughter. He will play outside when she's outside, but after 10-20 mins he's scratching at the door to come in. So my biggest worry is about him hurting himself in the crate.

[pitpupmom]

Odie is 4 mos old.

[DiamondTiger]

Silly questions here.

1) How big is his crate?
2) What do you all do when he gets upset or makes noise when he's in the crate?
3) Your older dog, does she have access to his area when he's crated?

I've got some thoughts on this, but would really like to read your replies to these questions first.

[pitpupmom]

1.The crate is large. I'm not as worried about the soiling as much as him trying to get out of it. 2. When were home he's usually not in the crate. I've been putting him in about 5 mins before we go and he doesn't whine or try to get out when he sees us. 3.Yes the older dog has free roam of the kitchen and living room and all the other doors are kept closed.

[maryellen]

at 4 months old he is being a brat, and is trying to see what it takes for you to give in.. if your husband lets him out of the crate if he is acting up /crying/whining/barking making an ass of himself then the pup has been self rewarded and learned that making a fuss = out of crate.. pups will do what works for them, not what works for you, if you show that a behavior gets them what they want they will do it all the time.. 4 months old also is no way near housebroken, so he is getting worked up and pottying in his crate.. typical bratty pup behavior..

make sure before he goes into his crate he has peed/pooped. exercise the crap out of him so that he is sleepy when put in his crate. give him a frozen Kong toy with some light peanut butter in it to keep him busy, or freeze wet food a little (more for smell and interest )

dont give in when he pitches a fit... ignore the bad behavior, reward for good, if he iscarrying on walk away. when he gets quiet, reward GOOD QUIET and take out of crate, he ccarrys on, walk away, repeat...

[pitpupmom]

I'll try it but how do I stop him from hurting himself. His nose was really red when I came home and bubbled up like he irritated the crap out of it around the nose. I just don't want him to keep hurting himself. Should I leave a sweater of mine in there with him to comfort him a little bit.

[maryellen]

he will be ok, stop babying him.. that will make him worse. when you or hubby get home, make him sit before you let him out of his crate. and dont make a big deal about it either. my pup scabbed her nose up a ton before she realized i wasnt going to give in.. at 4 months old he might chew the sweater or anything you leave in there.. a frozen kong with a small amount of frozen treat to just keep him busy will work fine...


the more you fret over his crate brattiness the worse it will get... my pup can scream her head off for all i care, i will not give in to a bratty pushy pup.. i have all day /night to let her out, i dont care if she potties in her crate, she doesnt come out until she is quiet... she makes a peep , i walk away.. she stays quiet, i come and let her out. now at 10 months old she knows that when i say quiet puppy she has to be quiet or she sits in her crate until she is quiet for me to let her out when i get home..

at 4 months old your pup is ready for obedience classes as well. a tired puppy is a happy owner, and pups NEED to have mental exercise as well as physical..

start teaching him obedience, and NILIF him for everything, this will get his bratty ass in check fast, he must work for everything, from food to pets etc.. www.k9deb.com Nothing In Life Is Free is what its called... it gives structure and training to pups, and makes them work for whatever they want, as there is no free lunch in life..

[RealPitBull]

Is it a wire crate? You might try a Vari-kennel/plastic crate instead. Sometimes a change in crate helps.

Are you sure your older dog isn't doing anything to instigate the young'un? Sometimes it is helpful to NOT have a loose dog around a crated dog.

Can you start working on short spans of crating when you are around to supervise (maybe i'll give you an idea what's going on)? Reward calm, quite behavior with freedom; ignore whines and barks and scratching to get out.

You can also pop over occasionally to drop a food reward into the crate of the pup while he is quiet - this is helpful especially if you are finding objection occurs almost immediately upon crating. For instance, put pup in crate, close door. Pup is quiet for first minute, drop a cookie into the crate, walk away. Come back in a minute, drop another cookie as long as the pup's been quiet that entire span of a minute, etc. Work for 5 minutes, with 5 or 10 (every 30 to 60 seconds) cookie-drops; eventually shorten the amount of cookies and lengthen the crate time.

If pup whines, ignore. Wait at least a silent minute before you pop another cookie in the crate and/or let the pup out.

[pitpupmom]

I'm working with him now, we actually have the vari kennel. We've started obedience at home. He knows sit,down and paw. He is a really good boy other than crating. He just doesn't like it but I'm going to win this. Hubby is alot meaner than me when it comes to who the bigger dog is though. I'll tell him to make him wait a minute till he lets him out of the crate and maybe I'll cover the door to the crate. We've crated him in the car and had no problems, just doesn't like to go in. So I'm going to work on this. Hubby has no problem letting the dog whine. Thanks for the help.

[DiamondTiger]

Looks like these ladies covered everything I was thinking. Good luck with getting this kid settled down.

[pitpupmom]

Well the hubby decided that instead of crating Odie, we would try leaving him out of the crate. So far he hasn't touched a thing that wasn't his. I was gone for 3 hrs today. And there wasn't any messes. And I made sure everything was out of reach that he shouldn't have. So this is what were going to do as long as he behaves. We are feeding him in the crate and I do throw treats in there for him when I walk by.

[maryellen]

4 months old is tooo young to be out of a crate unsupervised. he could eat wires, get electrocuted, eat something that gives him a blockage and dies, eats chemicals if he gets the cabinets open, etc.. and, god forbid you need to get him to a vet and he has to stay in the vet crates after surgery if he doesnt know about crates he will hurt himself even more.

training pups takes TIME and patience..

[hammer4]

My 7 mo old is crate trained. he's been acustomed to his crate since he was 8 wks. old. What we did was show him that his crate is a ..1 safe heaven, and 2 a "good" place to be. Chance at first would whine, bark and through temper tantrums, but we ignored him, plus we fed him in his crate so he relates the crate to be a good place. I also give him a treat when he enters, plus a couple of his fave. toys to keep him occupied.

As the others have said, stick with it, you might try and isolate the crated pup from your other dog if you haven't already, he''l come around..

[jcarigga39]

hello My dog is 2 years old is it too late to crate train him?