Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all...

My wife and I got a 5 month old female Doxie mix (not sure what she's mixed with, .. doesn't really matter, she's adorable [Smile] ) from a Rescue about 2.5 hrs from where we live. We brought her home a few days ago. I did some reading before we got her, and saw the value in 'crate' training from what I read. However, putting this to practical use is not as easy as it seems when reading it!

I put her in the dog carrier (crate) and close the door... she barks, whines, whimpers, claws, scratches and bites trying to get out... the other day, this went on for 20 minutes before I gave in and let her out of it. :shame:

She's super cuddly and we've been letting her sleep in our bed with us at night, which hasn't been a problem (unless you ask our Cat, Benny... he's not so hot on the dog, but he's getting better every day).

I am currently off work, so I can spend all day at home with her to try to get her properly housebroken. The rescue apparently had newspaper down on the floor that she went poop and pee on. I want to get her trained to go outside. I understand that the best way to do this is to keep her in the crate and only let her out every hour or so to eat or pee/poop .. .is that right?

This seems almost cruel, as she loves cuddling with us, (and we love it too!)... and watching her in the crate is pure torture, she bites at the metal door, claws, whimpers, etc... I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself trying to get out.

Is this all a normal part of the 'crate training' process??

I want her to be super-cuddly and loving, but I also want her to be properly potty-trained to the point where she lets me know when she needs to go. Am I expecting too much?

Any suggestions?

>>Hi all...
>>
>>My wife and I got a 5 month old female Doxie mix (not sure what she's mixed with, .. doesn't really matter, she's adorable [Smile] ) from a Rescue about 2.5 hrs from where we live. We brought her home a few days ago. I did some reading before we got her, and saw the value in 'crate' training from what I read. However, putting this to practical use is not as easy as it seems when reading it!
>>
>>I put her in the dog carrier (crate) and close the door... she barks, whines, whimpers, claws, scratches and bites trying to get out... the other day, this went on for 20 minutes before I gave in and let her out of it. :shame:
>>
>>She's super cuddly and we've been letting her sleep in our bed with us at night, which hasn't been a problem (unless you ask our Cat, Benny... he's not so hot on the dog, but he's getting better every day).
>>
>>I am currently off work, so I can spend all day at home with her to try to get her properly housebroken. The rescue apparently had newspaper down on the floor that she went poop and pee on. I want to get her trained to go outside. I understand that the best way to do this is to keep her in the crate and only let her out every hour or so to eat or pee/poop .. .is that right?
>>
>>This seems almost cruel, as she loves cuddling with us, (and we love it too!)... and watching her in the crate is pure torture, she bites at the metal door, claws, whimpers, etc... I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself trying to get out.
>>
>>Is this all a normal part of the 'crate training' process??
>>
>>I want her to be super-cuddly and loving, but I also want her to be properly potty-trained to the point where she lets me know when she needs to go. Am I expecting too much?
>>
>>Any suggestions?

>>>>>>>>>>>>

The crate is only for when you are asleep or not home, or just helping the dog get used to the crate. It doesn't teach the dog a darn thing. It is not to be used as a little jailhouse for a dog to live in and only be let out to potty.

When you are home and able to watch her, keep her with you and work with her, bond with her, play with her, condition her to petting, etc. At night during sleep, have her sleep in the crate next to your bed. Heck, put that little crate up on the bed if you want to. But use the crate then, don't let her sleep on the bed at this age. For one thing, her body is too vulnerable to serious injury from jumping or falling off a bed.

I have a bunch of articles about how to housetrain a dog at the link below my signature that will help you.
-----
Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

Thanks Kathy.. my wife won't like this too much she loves having the puppy snuggle in bed with us.. the pup likes it too

I guess I'm also concerned about not getting any sleep with her barking/whining/scratching the cage all night long like she is right now while I've got her in the cage in the living room.. will that be different at night because she'll (hopefully) be tired and want to sleep?

Thanks again.

Once your puppy is reliable in her training, then you can have her in bed with you. For now, the crate is the safest place at night. It can even be on a night stand next to your wife if that helps.

Kathy gave you great advice. Keep up the good work with this puppy.
-----
PHReign
Email me: HReign@pethobbyist.com" target="_blank">PHReign@pethobbyist.com
Dear dog,
I can not buy anything larger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think that I will continue to sleep on the couch to ensure your comfort. Look at videos of dogs sleeping, they can actually curl up in a ball. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to your fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straigt out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space used is nothing more than doggy sarcasm.

Thanks... we tried this last night.. we put her in the crate when we went to bed, with the crate on the bed by our feet, with the door facing us... when we turned out the lights, she (the dog, not my wife) started howling, barking, scratching, whining and making a big fuss. This went on for about 15 minutes before we gave in and opened the crate and let her out to be with us. She slept right by our heads, in between the two of us.

Is it normal for them to freak out like this when you try to crate train them at night? she was trying to bite the metal door on the crate, trying to claw through, etc... it was pretty crazy.

>>Thanks... we tried this last night.. we put her in the crate when we went to bed, with the crate on the bed by our feet, with the door facing us... when we turned out the lights, she (the dog, not my wife) started howling, barking, scratching, whining and making a big fuss. This went on for about 15 minutes before we gave in and opened the crate and let her out to be with us. She slept right by our heads, in between the two of us.
>>
>>Is it normal for them to freak out like this when you try to crate train them at night? she was trying to bite the metal door on the crate, trying to claw through, etc... it was pretty crazy.

>>>>>>>>>>>

When you let the puppy out of the crate in response to her making a fuss, you actually teach her to do that. It tells her that this is how you want to be informed of her wishes. It can also result in a dog who stresses out so much in a crate that she harms herself.

If you aren't going to tough it out and let her get used to the crate by ignoring her noise until she stops trying that method, just quit using the crate. Otherwise you are actually harming her.
-----
Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

I was trying to find out if this is normal behavior - for them to scratch, claw, bite, bark, whine, whimper etc when being put into a 'crate' (more like a pet carrier).. if this is "normal" and should subside after 15-20-30-60 minutes, then I'll know what to expect. We were afraid she was going to hurt herself in there, that's why we let her out. We took her to the vet today because she's been sneezing and coughing a lot the last 2 days.. they think she's got kennel cough, so now she's on antibiotics for that.

I asked our vet about the crate situation, and she seemed to think that since the dog was making it through the night just fine sleeping with us, that it wasn't a problem.

However, part of that is because the woman that we got her from at the rescue let her sleep in her bed too, so she got accustomed to it. Now she's 5 months old and is used to sleeping with her 'owners'.

Additionally, regarding the potty training = this is driving me NUTS.

I feed her, wait about 45 minutes, take her outside and set her down in the grass. She sniffs around and walks back to the slider to go back into the house. I wait 10 minutes or so, to see if she decides to 'do her business'.. no luck. We go back inside.. I try again 15 minutes later.. same thing.

finally, she starts to pee on the kitchen floor.. so I grab her and run her outside.. put her in the grass..

Nothing.. she comes back inside and is fine for 10 minutes, then while I'm not looking, she relieves her bladder on the floor .. completely.

This is really getting irritating.. we've found a number of 'presents' around the house, but almost every time I try to take her outside to get her to learn to go in the back yard, she shows no interest and goes right back to the door to go back in the house... or she just sniffs around the entire backyard, then wants to go back in the house.

Should she be on a leash when I take her outside to potty so I can control where she is going?

Yes, a leash will probably help you out for the pottying outside problems. A leash inside tied to you might also help. That way, you won't be finding you puppy making mistakes when you arent' looking because the puppy is always with you and you can start to learn the subtle signs your puppy needs to relieve itself.
-----
PHReign
Email me: HReign@pethobbyist.com" target="_blank">PHReign@pethobbyist.com
Dear dog,
I can not buy anything larger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think that I will continue to sleep on the couch to ensure your comfort. Look at videos of dogs sleeping, they can actually curl up in a ball. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to your fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straigt out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space used is nothing more than doggy sarcasm.

A leash outside will probably help. Keep walking around the yard with her and say a word you want her to associate with for going potty. When I was training my girls, I would keep saying "go potty" until they did. Once they pottied outside, then I would praise big time! Make a real big deal about it with praise and a treat. Now, when we go outside, I just say "go potty" one time and they find a spot to go. Another thing you can do to get her to poop outside is take some of her "presents" out and put them where you walk her. While walking, she will find her poop and get the idea that she needs to do that out there. It may take some time, but you can do it.

BTW, do you have any photos to share?

Min

I have a 5 month old doxi as well, and have been dealing with some of the same issues... for the crying in the crate we started by putting it up on a stand near the bed where he could see my face. then slowly moved him further away. now his kennel is on the floor and when he's in it we keep a dark colored blanket over it so he thinks its night (or at least thats the hope)....
I also recorded a simple CD on my pc of my humming a 30second clip... we put it on repeat in the cd player when we are gone during the day. It seems to help his anxiety.

as far as messing in the house...still workin on that too... i'd say he's currently 70% reliable...but he likes to run and sniff all about outside, pee a little then come in and completely releive himself on the landing about 20 minutes later.... I would like to believe that since he HAS moved from messing ANYWHERE to messing on the landing that he is learning and we may eventually have a fully housebroken babyboy