Crate, crate, crate

ScoutLove · #1 29th March 2012, 12:07 PM

I am sure this has been asked and answered here before, but I could not seem to find it in a search.

Brought home little guy about 2 weeks ago. He is estimated to be 8 to 9 weeks old now. We are working on housebreaking and all and that is trying at best, but not all his fault..it is getting kids to help watch him while we do other things. Big issue at this time...and there have been some and I know there will be more...is his crate. He practically screams when you put him in there....unless he is dead to the world tired. He has been put in his crate from the time we brought him home so this is nothing new to him. Now I will admit that the crate is too big for him, and I should probably put him in a smaller one. Also our 9 mo old boxer is not necessarily crated when he is, but at night she is sleeping and not teasing him or anything. His crate lives in the living room so at night there is no one in there. Should we move him into a bedroom with someone? Should I get him a Kong to put in there at night and when we leave? Should I crate him more during the day when we are there? I do that now when I get ready for work because I can't watch him...and of course he throws a fit that will last 10 - 15 minutes.

I have crate trained two boxers before and never has the "I am going to throw a fit" stage lasted this long.

Cheshington · #2 29th March 2012, 06:17 PM

I had a nightmare with my pup. I brought Chester home at 10 weeks old and like you had a crate waiting for him. He has always been a free-roamer and lives for being in the outdoors. That first night when I put him in the crate I thought it would be as simple as put him in and he'll settle down. Cue two hours later and he hadn't quietened down ONCE. In fact he was throwing himself at the cage door and we ended up meeting in the middle on him sleeping next to the bed on the floor. 9 months later and that's still where he sleeps - some things I can't be bothered to change. And he seems happy there. He will always howl when I leave for work when he's in his crate but once he knows I'm gone he calms down very quickly. I can leave him for quite a few hours now and he's fine when I get back (he stopped peeing and pooping in his cage after about 2 months). I have never managed to put him in the crate when I have visitors though. We might as well put a pneumatic drill in the room. Again, some things aren't worth trying to change.

ScoutLove · #3 30th March 2012, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheshington

I have never managed to put him in the crate when I have visitors though. We might as well put a pneumatic drill in the room. Again, some things aren't worth trying to change.

Ha ha, that is funny!

Yes, sometimes you have to pick your battles. However, with this little guy if I left him out all night I know I would have a mess to clean up in the morning. Our 9 mo old boxer does not have to be crated at night...only when we leave for long periods (work and school)

We tryed to put him in our smaller crate last night. Not so much..he is too big for it already. So it seems we are in between crate sizes. We did put the crate in one of my kids rooms to see if it would help him calm down a little. He still fussed. He was fussing about it when I left for work this morning too. Guess this is just going to take a little longer with him than it did my other boxers. Hope he didn't wake up the sleeping college student this morning.

CoraBoxer · #4 30th March 2012, 11:35 AM

What about getting a crate divider that way you could adjust the size as he grows? I never had this problem. Once in a while as a young puppy she would moan (check to see if she was ok, let her out to make sure she didn't need to go) but it didn't last long so we didn't really change anything. Crate training is good for a number of reasons though. There might come a time when you have to transport the dog. You may need to leave him with family etc. I think its a good idea to stick with it and have a dog thats comfortable inside the crate or even love going in there.

bentleyjy · #5 30th March 2012, 03:20 PM

I sometimes have a hard time finding posts on my question using the boxer world search engine and I know they have been discussed here. I started using my search engine, such as google, and then typing in my topic followed by boxer world and I have had more luck. Example of my google search: crate training boxer world.

My pup started sleeping in a crate right outside my bedroom and slowly were able to move him to the living room. When we got our second pup we put the crates downstairs where there was more room, but that didn't work. As soon as we moved them upstairs in the living room crate by crate, problem solved.

Our second pup did not like being crated during the day while we were at work until we started leaving more kongs in their crates during the day while we are at work. I feel as though I have a small fortune in kongs, but they have been a lifesaver in helping to keep our dogs happy when we are work and they are not at doggie daycare.

Good luck on your search. I know your answers are here somewhere. There are some very informative people here on this board.

ScoutLove · #6 2nd April 2012, 11:56 AM

The crate is still in the kiddos room and things are going better.

The last time I washed the bed that goes in his crate my son put it in there long ways so it takes up almost the whole crate and so far (knock on wood) he has not had any more accidents in there.

He has gotten better about going in the crate too and not having a fit. Put him in there several times over the weekend and he barely wimpered. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning today and made a quick trip through the house, with Tonka in tow. He must have heard us because he did start whining. But as I lay back down I got to thinking that they might not have let him out before bed. So a quick trip outside to go tinkle and back in the crate for the rest of the night. He fussed about it a little but calmed down pretty quickly. So I say we are doing better.

I have thought about putting a kong in there for him on the long days when kids are in school most of the day. Just haven't made it to the pet store to get another one.

Now if I can just get these two to share...but that is a whole other post.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and support.