Crate-a-phobia

[TiggersMom]

I now know that the word "Crate" in Boxer means run to the basement and hide!!
Heres my problem. We got Tigger 3 months ago. She just turned 2 at the end of July. We adopted her from a young man who could not keep her any longer due to his work schedule. Tigger was crated all night when her previous owner was a work, and crated most of the day when he slept. Now that she is with us she is only crated when we leave the house. I am a stay home mom so she is not crated often. We made the mistake in using the crate as punishment a few times when Tig ran out of the yard and would not come back when called. Since then we have started obedience classes and I have learned that was a BIG mistake. So now Tigger won't go in her crate unless we use physical force, dragging her, pushing her or carrying her to her crate (she won't even go into the room where the crate is located when she knows we want her to go to the crate). She thinks she is being punished, she enters the crate with her ears, head and tail down. We praise her generously for going in and give her a treat. Nothing seems to erase the memory of crate=bad girl. Even yesterday, I was working on some obedience training in the house as it was just too hot to be outside. We were working on healing, when I approached the room where the crate is and Tigger slammed on the brakes and would not go into or near that room. I really feel bad, what should I do?
Thanks,
Jodie

[Matt S]

Here are few thoughts, I'm sure others will also have some ideas.
Have you tried moving the crate to a different location in your house?
Having the crate in a new location may help relax Tigger a little & take some of the anxiety away.
Also, you could try putting her in the crate prior to feeding & or going for a walk. This way she should soon learn that going to the crate means something good will happen.
Another thing to try maybe is to leave the crate continually open whilst you are at home & place Tigger's favorite toys in there, this hopefully will help her become more relaxed with the crate environment.
Bottom line, as I'm sure you're aware, is that you have to make the crate a positive experience for Tigger, not an unpleasant one.
Good Luck

[TiggersMom]

Ok, I am going to move the crate today. I will let you know how it works. Keep the ideas coming!!

[Selphiras]

I know crates are pretty expensive, but maybe a different crate would help. Enough difference that she might not connect it with punishment. We're always told in training that dogs don't generalize well....could work here, too. (You could always donate the old one to a local rescue group.)

AnnMarie

[nicmicwil]

Tiggers Mom,
Willie was the same way with his crate and unfortunately, he never got over it no matter what we did.

Now he stays in the kitchen where he is a lot more comfortable.

It is weird how some dogs love their crate and mine hated it.

Can you use baby gates and keep him in a dog proof room?

[TiggersMom]

Probably too soon to post this, but, we moved Tigger's crate today to my son's bedroom. We closed the door to the room and played ball with the dog. At one point the ball went into the crate and Tig nervously paced about for about 10 minutes wanting to go in and get her ball. Finally she stepped in, turned around stepped out. Sniffed the door, eyed us all up, tip toed around some more and after about 5 minutes of stepping in and out she went all the way in, grabbed her ball and brought it back to me. I praised her lavishly on a job well done. Hopefully this is the start to a positive pattern as she did it a few more time after that!
Yeah Tigger!

[VTbxrFan]

That definitely sounds like a step in the right direction! Keep working at making the crate a positive place for her -- you seem to be making progress!

[Arachnopunks]

Letting her go in on her own was a great idea. My girl had trouble as a puppy in the crate. She would run away, cry, thrash, and paint the crate with poo. She hated it at first. We even eased her into it gradually over 2 weeks so I can imagine it is difficult with a dog that already has a bad association with the crate. I would give my girl like 3 small treats every time she went in the crate when I told her to. I would give her a treat at first even if I had to put her in. I would also leave the door open like you did and let her explore it freely. I think it was when she realized that she could store her treats in there that she started to appreciate the crate. She now treats it as her own room. She likes to get treats from it when I won't give her one. Some nights she will sleep in ther because she wants to. There have been times recently when I can't find her right away and she will be laying in her crate. Another thing that you may want to try later is giving your dog a filled kong or a nice raw bone in there. I have been doing that lately to keep the mess contained and also to give me time to do things around the house. Another thing we did was give her an old blanket that had our scent on it to keep with her in the crate. That may reinforce the good feelings she associates with the crate in her new home. My girl came around quickly, although at times her progress seemed slow.

[Matt S]

Tiggersmom
she went all the way in, grabbed her ball and brought it back to me. I praised her lavishly on a job well done. Hopefully this is the start to a positive pattern as she did it a few more time after that!
Yeah Tigger !

Certainly a step in the right direction, good job Tiggersmom & Tigger .

by Jill & Johnny
There have been times recently when I can't find her right away and she will be laying in her crate

We can so relate to this comment.
We just recently bought a crate for our 2, as basically another option, & within a week we would often find Ali sleeping inside it rather than being up on her bed in our room. Of course she would wake up at about 3 or 4am & make her way up onto our bed......LOL LOL