Hello, new here (just introduced us this morning).

We've been crate training Wispa over the past 3 days, and she's been doing really really well with the toilet training bit, but I've been trying to figure out how to get her used to the idea of being in there when no one's in the house.

Currently she follows me everywhere, and during times when she has the run of (most of) the house, she only rarely leaves the room we're in. I will be going back to work part-time from next week, which means she's going to have to be crated during that time, which will probably be about 4 hours. Her crate is large - big enough for her as an adult - and filled with bedding, so she's never once gone wee in there. She has the scent blanket and toy from the breeder, my shirt, Anthony's shirt, a rope toy, and all on comfy bedding.

Each day I've made a point to put her in the crate and leave her in the house alone just for a few minutes while I pick up the poop in the garden. Every time I've been able to hear her barking non stop the whole time I'm outside, right up until I make a dramatic show of slamming the door when I walk back inside - and she's quiet until I get to her crate and let her out, which I praise her for.

Today I had to pop out to tesco and she was left for an hour. I hid a few treats around in her crate for her to find (which she seems to have done), and walked out the door without making a big fuss. I could hear her barking by the time I got to the hallway, and I assumed she would bark for a few minutes and then stop and go to sleep or play with her toys.

....and hour later I returned to the house, MORTIFIED to hear her still barking, and devastated to think she was so upset for that whole hour and never settled.

I want her to be happy to play or sleep in her crate, and she's fine overnight in there, except for a minute or two of barking after we take her out in the night and put her back in. She goes in and out during the day and is happy to stay in there with the door open if someone is in the room, but lock her in and walk out the door and she HOWLS!

Please, help me!

Edited to add: she was a very good girl and did NOT eliminate in her crate, and even when we went outside afterwards she didn't have to wee.

You could try using a stuffed Kong to keep her mind busy whilst you leave the house and hopefully stop the anxiety caused by you leaving?

Sandy always got her Kong in her crate at night or when we left her. She would get so excited when we picked it up, stood on guard at the kitchen door whilst we stuffed it and then raced into her crate to await her beloved treat. She was so busy licking away at her Kong that she wasn't bothered by us going to bed or going out.

You can also freeze the Kong after you've stuffed it to make it last longer. Sandy isn't as keen on this but I know a lot of Doodles on here love them.

It took us a while with Barney for him to be happy left on his own - they're not solitary creatures by nature.

But, it helps that Barney was never put in unless he was tired. We've had him 2 months and if we need to leave him in any length of time we tire him out first A walk, exciting snack, plastic bottle to chase around. He's always had lots of toys in his crate and people recommend kongs etc but for Barney - if he was in the cage and was feeling distressed there wasn't anything that would distract him from being shut away!!

I would recommend you leave a toy in his crate that is to gnaw on, a lot of people on here myself included recommend a Stag Bar (I recommend the medium size on eBay).

Barney got put into his crate for every nap for the first month so he wasn't just put in there at night. He didn't like being left alone whilst he was awake so I would point "In your crate" whilst holding a yummy treat (PAH puppy milky bone - only used for bed times) he would get in, I would shut the door and sit in the room till he fell asleep. As he got a bit older I could take less time.

A lot of people recommend Kongs filled with goodies, but for Barney it was best to be put into his crate asleep than it was "distracted". He's always been no problem when he wakes up as he'll happily entertain himself.

Make sure she's got some water, and I'd throw in a few more toys that she can play with if she needs to

Hi and Welcome,

You may well find that Wispa does quieten down when you are properly away from the house. The only way to know is to park the car up the road and tiptoe towards the house and have a listen (we did this with Jessie and she would bark as soon as she could sense/hear us but she would be asleep while we are away. Going into the garden is not the same at all.

I think the stuffed kong is a brilliant idea, Jessie is no longer crated but we always leave her with something - puppies use up quite a lot of energy chewing a kong and are more likely to sleep for a while after.

Jessie has only just stopped following me everywhere in the house (unless she is hungry!) and she is nearly one so don`t worry about it.

I have to say though - wispa may be a bit too young to leave for 4 hours at a time, you may find it upsets the toilet training, you need to do it gradually.
I used to go home and let her out for a run/wee half way through my 5 hour day. Now i have a dog walker to go in.
I think at 9 weeks old, 4 hours in the crate would have caused seperation anxiety.

Yep - I agree with that last point - imo if you are going to leave a very young puppy for 4 hours in a crate she will get VERY distressed if she has nowhere to use as a toilet area. She may be able to last through the night, but during the day she will be more active, and have had a meal and a drink.

For getting her used to being left in her crate, I would start by getting her used to it while you are in the house, so she doesn't associate her crate with being left. Then start leaving her in it without making a song and dance abot going outside, and also without going straight to her when you come in - potter about for a minute or two before going to her and letting her out without a big fuss. You want her to realise that going in and out of her crate is no big deal, just as you going in and out of the house is no big deal.

Is there a room she could be left in without doing too much damage - the kitchen perhaps, or a utility room? If not, is there someone who could pop in and let her out a couple of times while you are at work while she is still young?

We do have someone to pop in and take her out, but they'll only be coming in for tops 30 minutes to take her outside for a wee and they can't stay with her at all.

I'm just worried about all the barking and how upset she is, really. I have a kong, but when hasn't shown much interest in it. I bought her a nylabone today and she's been really keen on gnawing on it. I might try smearing a bit of peanut butter in the kong and then freezing it to last longer - good suggestion about freezing - maybe she'll take more interest in that.

Question, though, she will bark when I leave the room and go outside for a few minutes, when I come back and putter around for a bit before letting her out she will no doubt continue barking. If I then let her out while she's barking, will that not send the message that she should bark to get let out? Or will the leaving her for a few minutes teach her that barking isn't getting her anywhere?

They need around 3-5 seconds of quiet before you let them out so they don't think that the barking's working. It seems impossible but there is almost always a pause whilst they get their breath back to bark that we used to use in order to go back into the room, and then we'd walk over to the cage whilst he barked and then wait, not looking in the crate before we opened the crate door. His confusion that we were stood there and not letting him out helped us get 3 seconds of silence! Then we put him straight out for a wee - to sort of say, we're not letting you out because you're barking and making a fuss, you're out because you need to go to the toilet. After he'd been out for a few minutes, and forgot he was ever barking in the crate - we'd give him a fuss and cuddle

I think you'd get the most success putting her in the crate while she's napping so she's still tired.

We did do the creep back to the house when Lara was little and being left in her crate and she was never barking.

Did get DAP spay (through probably more for me than her) and always leave the radio or telly on although Lara is a very chilled dog so really didn't need it.

Taking for a walk before does make a difference as Lara still has a nap immediately after returning for a walk.

Not making a fuss is also important or they do seem to pick up on your stress. We just say "be back soon" and now she jumps up on the sofa to watch c-beebies (her favourite) and have a snooze. So much so that when she had been out with the dog walker on friday and they didn't shut the back gate properly, i got home to the back garden gate wide open but Lara fast asleep on the sofa!!!!

Good luck and hope you find a solution. Lara was much happier after we disposed of the crate and it does get easier - honest.

We smear cream cheese in Sandys Kong. The cheap sandwich spread kind. She loves cheese!

Will look into it! I had never heard of it before, hopefully it will help her calm down enough to realise she's got her toys and bed, so she can play or sleep.



Hmm, I've been placing Wispa into her crate when she falls asleep sometimes. She's happy enough to sleep in there, but as soon as she hears me get up and move to the door she wake up and follows me out. Even after we've had a good long play session with her fetching and some tug o war and generally running around in the garden! I can't take her for walks yet, so that's out of the question unfortunately.

I tested out leaving a peanut butter smeared kong (we have no cream cheese around, but she loved the pb) in her crate with her, and can you believe it - I actually heard her licking and gnawing WHILE crying! I don't think it's enough to distract her.

I will keep trying, it's only been a few days, so I think I'm expecting a bit much for her to take to being alone so quickly.

Hey,

I'm properly repeating what everyone else has said but....

I am doing crate (but have a caged run too so at the mo I haven't shut the crate door but he is still in a caged small area, this is only because I don't want him to wee in his bed, so leave a pad in the run area)
Anyway, after reading hundreds of different things, lots contradicting, I put him in from day 1 throughout the day at completely random times. I'd pop him in but stay in the kitchen and just keep doing whatever I was doing, and not look at him. Then straight out, an hour later, in and go into the garden, so he could see me. Out, 2 mins later in, I'd go upstairs for 5 minutes and vary the length of time. I'd also open and close the front door whilst he was in there. Just completely random so that he didn't really know what was coming next but he always knows I'm coming back. As much as it may be confusing for him, it leaves me in control and him learning that I come back. The first time I went out for a lengthy time, 3 hours ish, I left the radio on in another room, with a talking station on. We've had him for 3 weeks now and he cries for 2 minutes when we leave but then settles.

Its hard and I felt horrible to start with but I read somewhere, that really helped me, if he thinks he is the 'pack leader' (horrible term) and is protecting you and the family, it can put him under a lot of pressure and stress. He needs to feel looked after by you. So the more you do it, eventually the safer he will feel.

sorry, pressed submit before I meant to. Hehe.

Good luck and keep at it

Ollie

x

Did he bark and whimper the whole time at first? Because that's what she does if I put her in there and shut the door when she's awake.

Though I have some good news. I went out yesterday and managed to get out the door of the house without her barking at me thanks to the peanut butter kong! result!! And I heard no barking when I came back about an hour and a half later, though she started whimpering when she heard me coming in and then full on barking when I ignored her for a minute as suggested. I wasn't actually able to get a 3-5 second window in before walking in, as she seemed to me making constant noise!

Further to this, last night she just refused to go to sleep for the longest time, even when I went to sit outside her crate with my back to her, which has settled her every night previous! I was hoping to wean her off my presence as I don't want her to get used to it, but I actually had to wait there LONGER for her to settle down. And I gave her the kong as well (she started barking once she'd cleaned it out.

We'll see how she is tonight.. she wandered in and out a lot today!

He did a little and would try to escape by jumping up the side of the run. to be honest he isn't a noisey dog (yet) :s I would say keep doing it and if u don't get the gap of no noise just get her out anyway. I think that rule ( wait for quiet rule) should only apply if for example to leave her and she quiet and then as soon as she makes noise go running to her, then she'll learn that the noise is whats getting your attention. In your case the noise is constant so its not that that is getting you to go back to her. I'm no expert but I would think that if you keep putting her in, getting her out, putting her in getting her out, whether she is making noise or not she will soon get bored and realize that you come back irrelevant of her crying or not. I'd confuse her. Put her in and lock it across and then unlock it straight away. Keep doing completely different things. Time consuming but worth it in the end. Then leave her for 20mins then next time just lock it and unlock it. I might be talking a load of nonsense but its worth a try. However the peanut thing sounds good!

How have the last few nights gone? x x

*sigh* I think she's completely won the crate training battle. I cannot get her to stay in there at all when I'm home, but since she hasn't had an accident in the house in quite a while, I think we're ok with that. She's ok at night for a stretch of 6 hours, but I can't tell if she's waking up because of how light it is or if she has to go outside, but it's quite annoying being woken up at 5 or 6 am every morning!

Oh well, she's otherwise such a great dog!