We Are Adopting A Beautiful 2 Year Old Retriever/greyhound And Want To Crate Train…?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
Should she sleep in the crate, or should we take her bed out of her crate and bring it in our bedroom with us (I’ve read that dogs are pack animals and should sleep with their pack)? At what times do we tell her to go in her crate (other than when we’re gone)? Should we banish her to her crate when she is bad, or should it be viewed as a positive place?
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The crate will be her place and hers alone. Never use the kennel as a punishment tool! While driving in the car always put the dog in its crate if possible. They don’t require a big cushy bed in the crate; it’s just that they have their blanket!
I used the crate as an end table leaving the door open. My dog used it whenever he wanted to lie down. It was his own personal place, he was out of the way and when he needed to be locked away it was there and ready. Each dog had its own and used it’s own.
When the dog walks into the crate to examine it say crate over and over. After coming out throw a treat in and say crate – crate. . Do this several times and even make a game out of it, don’t just shove them in and think it’s going to help, all they will earn from that is to fear it. While you are sitting home one evening put the dog into the crate for a short amount of time then let her out and treat her. Later do it again! Each time you do it make the duration a bit longer.
Play it by ear, see how she responds, and be excited when she goes into the crate.
A dog is a den animal and as such hates to soil it’s crate and will try very hard not to, so it is a good place to put the dog while away.
Let me know how things work, just a word of warning, you may find it difficult being that she isn’t a puppy or has had some bad prior experiance, but on ther other hand she might already be trained.
Her crate should be a HAPPY and a SAFE place for her NOT punishment. It’s too bad you are adopting a mixed hound. If you adopted a retired greyhound, he/she would already be crate trained. You would just need to provide one for him/her to feel safe. Google Greyhound Pets of America if you are interested in adopting a retired racer they can help you find an adoption group near you.
If your want to Crate train your dog the best way to do it is by having her in there a little at a time and then gradually working up to longer times that shes in there. if she sleeps with you then let her sleep out of the crate however if she doesnt then have her sleep where you want her to. if your using her crate as her bed NEVER put her in the crate when shes bad it will only confuse her instead find i different place to put her say the laundry room for example.
For ideas on crate training, see the sites listed below. We had our puppy sleep in his crate until he was about 4-5 months old. He now usually sleeps on my daughter’s bed and wakes her up if he needs to go out. Both of our dogs’ crates are open during the day so they can go in to play or rest. We sometimes use it as a time out space when the puppy has done something bad (but only for a short while). When we leave the house, both dogs go into their crates on command and receive a treat for doing so.
You should probably take her to bed and when you leave the house you could put her in her crate and give her a bone. You should have her crate viewed as a positive place so she won’t be afraid to go there if she is scared or needs time alone. If your home you could leave her out unless you are busy. When she is bad I wouldn’t banish her to her crate though. That will probably scare her and then it would be a negative place rather than a positive one. At night when you take her to bed you could give her a bone. We have 3 labs and that’ss what we do with all of them.
Never use the crate as a bad tool . It should always resemble Good . Yes she can sleep in her crate . You can put her crate in your room and that way she will still be close to you .
When your not home , Yes make sure she is in her crate . At least until you feel you can trust her to be out and about threw your house !
Her crate should never be used as punishment.
as for the training.. not sure. I left my dog in a crate for a year while i went to work..but he sleeps on my bed then and now.. up to you. Just realize that once they are allowed on the bed. it is extremely difficult to train them to stay off the bed
the crate is always a poitive place put the crate in your bedroom and take it in there at night and when youre not home or whenever. At first give a treet to go into the crate then eventually the dog will get the hint.
good luck
i love the crate and so does my dog
With my dog we trained her to sleep in her crate at night. When she was a puppy we locked her in but once she got used to it we left it open at night. She now loves it in there. Also to punish her we put her in and closed the door. So she associated a closed door with punishment and an open door with good.
have her sleep in the crate.. its great with potty traiing. when she is being bad– put her in her crate and scold her
“Should she sleep in the crate, or should we take her bed out of her crate and bring it in our bedroom with us?”
I believe she should sleep in the cage for at least the first couple of weeks you have her. This will help create a sense that the cage is a safe place for her.
“At what times do we tell her to go in her crate?”
Personally, I think that a dog should only be caged while you are gone, or asleep. This is the way I handled my dog (She sleeps in bed with me now), but she ends up spending a lot of time in the cage on her own with the door open.
“Should we banish her to her crate when she is bad, or should it be viewed as a positive place?”
Never ever ever associate the cage with punishment. First off, dogs don’t understand a timeout. You can’t expect a dog to understand that she’s in the cage as punishment for something she did 20 minutes ago. The cage should be a place where only good stuff happens.
Ways to make the cage a positive place:
Randomly leave treats in the cage.
Introduce new toys by leaving them in the cage when your dog isn’t looking.
Have play sessions with your dog in an opened cage and you sitting in front of it.
BTW…I really don’t like the word crate. I think some people use it to make themselves feel better about doing the wrong thing. I know a trainer that recommends you “crate” your dog for 23 hours a day for the first 4-6 weeks you have them. I think that is just plain cruel.
It’s a lot easier to think of crating one’s dog for 12 hours at a time than it is to think of CAGING a dog for extended periods.