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Advice on crate


RustyHusky

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Advice please 😢 our little girl Rusty is having a hard time in her crate at night and when the crate door is locked when sleeping in the day.When the crate door is locked she scratches and chews the bars but worse is she keeps messing even when she’s been for a wee and poop before going in the crate. We’ve tried last night for the first night to leave her be after 4 nearly sleepless nights, but coming down every 2 hours as per her toilet schedule we’ve made note of, to let her out for a toilet and reassure her we are still here and it’s ok. We don’t praise her when she comes out of the crate. We leave a chew toy her Kong with some of her kibble or treats in. Tried the ticking clock wrapped in my t-shirt and a hot water bottle wrapped in a throw. She has a bed in there and we’ve put pillows in to make it seem smaller and cosier, even tried the throw from the sofa that she loves. We’ve also bought her a pen so we don’t have to lock the door if it’s causing her stress so she can enter and leave the crate but still be safe in her pen, and she escaped the pen last night. We noticed the crying had stopped and she was on the sofa when we came down for the first of our two hourly checks. Any advice would be great thanks as always for your time. Chris Abbie &Rusty 🐶🐾🐕

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I cannot help you mine have free rain of the house, they are only crated in the van and when we go camping and we did not need to do any training on that they just went in by themselves...

but no doubt there will be people responding with some of the answers to your questions.

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Not sure I can help except to say all ours are crate-trained (though crate not up at the moment). We encouraged them to get used to it by feeding and treating when they went into the crate, so never had any issues with our original two or our adopted four - and even the fosters get crate-trained, usually. Crate is viewed as a 'happy' place, so when it's up they'll each wander in and out (no favoured spots for each dog with us - they all share everything). Crate'll be back up next week as we've a foster coming in - she's coming to us to be nursed after her spay, so we'll want our others to leave her in peace.

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I tried it for 2 days and mine hated it, plus I wanted to be able to get them used to free roam around the house with no issues, there was a video on the forum somewhere showing how to get them used to going in it using treats, taking it slow and building the time up so she sees it as a good place. Husky’s love to be with us and near us maybe you could put the crate in the bedroom at night so she can see you.


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What helped us to crate-train our rescue was:
- luring him in with treats (always a positive experience to enter the crate)
- staying near him where he could see me, so that he feels relaxed and will settle/sleep
At first he was very restless and I would hear the crate going "clang! clang! clang!" often in the middle of the night (ugh). But then it seemed that he became relaxed in there, and I would only hear one gentle "clang" if he turned around.
After a few weeks, he accepted the crate as his "bedroom" and would go in on command ("go to bed!") turn around a few times and settle.
I then left the couch and moved back into our bedroom, and he was fine  (XL crate was too big to fit in bedroom)

I agree with the idea of crate in your bedroom, or if it won't fit, maybe using the pen to pen off a small corner of the bedroom (with waterproof liner/towels underneath). Perhaps she'll be calm if she can see/smell you. Seeing you asleep, is also a good message to her that SHE should be asleep! She is a cutie!! 

 

 

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I had a hell of time with my two.

One would sleep and the other would cry and so on.... just like human twins. LOL

I spent 6 months on the couch in the living room. I stay at home, hubby works long hours, and we had  diarrhea and sickness issues.

My pups turned 9 months yesterday and have had free roam of the house for two weeks now.

I did / still do crate training during the day. Started with putting the crates in the middle of the living room with the door open at all times. 

I would do all feedings in the crate. *say the command (crate-kennel- whatever word you want her to know) Start by not shutting the door. After a week or so I would start shutting the door but let her out the second she is done eating. Did that for a few weeks. Then I slowly started extending the time (30 seconds) using wait command. 

I also did a lot of other command training that really helped with the crate.

Sit, down, stay, release, 

Pups run to their crate when I give the command. I say sit and then give them food. They have to be laying down before I open the door. Even with the door open they are not to leave it until I say release.

They go in their crates to eat their meals and in the middle of the day I will give them their chewy. Normally last 45 to an hour. But the rest of the time their crates are open.

They go in on their own and nap or when they want alone time to chew on something.

Other then that, they have free roam of the parts of the house I allow them to. 

I have kiddy gates blocking the kitchen, cat room, and dinning room.

I also have a doggie door that stays open. 

These guys need to be near you. If you don’t have room in your bedroom for the crate make a den in your room. 

I have now moved their crates into another room that is Husky proof and keep that door open and they have beds in the master and living room.

It’s good to get them ok with being in crates in case they have to go to the vet or there is an emergency or something. But these guys are pack driven and need to be around you as much as possible. 

 

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All brilliant ideas and every everyone of them  could work;

to crate train is better in the day when you have the time if you are at home and that is by getting them in with a toy or a treat... once they bend down to pick it up, shut the door and give it 30 seconds don't make a fuss of her if she's whining but be around so she can see you; let her out and carry on.

If you can get her tired that will really help and then back in with a treat thrown in.. as soon as she bends down to pick it up she may watch you this time! but when she goes down to pick it up THEN close the door quietly and again, leaving for a bit but lengthen it slowly... and by all means give her a treat while she's in there through the bars to say 'good girl! bed!

ok I'm doing it with a new foster now 16 months .and actuallyI always thought my two are quite often dippy but they're proving to be Perfect Angels lolcompared to the 16 month old little monster cos he's bigger than my big boy and he's learning already by day 3 here with me that the crate his bed and it's there to wait in as it's also there for 'time out' if he's decided to go potty in the house and I mean going dipshit  &  doing zoomies and playing indoors, he goes back in there, so he knows already he can't romp  around - the bungalow is too small and they got a huge space the garden areas to run out the back; I let them out twice in the day for 45 minutes or even more and they run themselves ragged them back in for some 'time out';

my girl and he are wearing muzzles because she's a really cranky cow and she also  goes back into the big crate we have  'for time out', with her muzzle off and he then has the muzzle off so he can play with my boy and feel a bit more free - i swap him around so my girl has  muzzle free space too.

It's very true they do want to be with you and a slightly smaller crate or pen in the bedroom may be a really good idea but gradually move it out or towards the door, because ideally you don't want to be too disturbed and they will learn to settle down by themselves..  if they're in the hall, maybe not downstairs, but you can set the routine for time out 'bed now' downstairs while you're busy working.

Sorry it seems a bit lengthy I'm actually dictating cos it's quicker and ..then I go back and try and put some punctuation in; you can only take your time and you need time off at home to work on it because she is still VERY young, missing her litter pack and Mum probably too .. and she's been used to having some form of company around ...so if you can both organise some separate extra time off to be at home with her then you can get her into a regular routine and ...don't forget she needs to rest and sleep too so putting in the crate for time out when she's been running around for a couple of hours is a useful time for getting her to 'settle down' and sleep; classical music seems to work well and if you're worried that she is feeling anxious, apparently humming when you're around them can help to relax them because if you've got vibes then they will certainly sense it very quickly.

Do look at successdogs.com and absolutedogs.com

- they are both very good sites for training and while she's young this is the best time to instill a regular training routine for sit, down, wait, bed, -  whatever you feel you need to teach her around especially also to leave! If you don't I can probably 98% guarantee you will have problems by 18 to 20 weeks old so get the training in, study the sites, listen, watch and learn, and then put into practice;  they are so intelligent that they will outwit you before you even realise it and then huskies get handed in, abandoned, or given up ... and it's happening every day with anywhere between 8 to 10 huskies a day, in the UK... don't let that happen with you.

Good luck and.. enjoy!

Use only positive reward training. 🤗

If you if you can please look on my Facebook page and Marianne Cottee .. they also have their own Facebook page Chester and eski cottee so have a look there and see what I was doing yesterday which was only day two with my new foster he has no social skills because he's been a dog on his own his own as ours I have increased massively so he's in temporary Foster he may well become a failed Foster and we'll adopt him I have yet to run a few weeks trial with him and also maybe his owner can can changes hours I don't know but if you look on that on my Facebook session, my most recent video is is quite lengthy because Blu was not getting to stay still & wait. Lol

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Lol.. i get a fair bit of criticism, on muzzle.. tough.  It's not cruel.

All brilliant ideas and every everyone of them  could work;

to crate train is better in the day when you have the time if you are at home and that is by getting them in with a toy or a treat... once they bend down to pick it up, shut the door and give it 30 seconds don't make a fuss of her if she's whining but be around so she can see you; let her out and carry on.

If you can get her tired that will really help and then back in with a treat thrown in.. as soon as she bends down to pick it up she may watch you this time! but when she goes down to pick it up THEN close the door quietly and again, leaving for a bit but lengthen times slowly... and by all means give her a treat while she's in there through the bars to say 'good girl! bed!

ok I'm doing it with a new foster now 16 months old, and actually I always thought my two are quite often dippy but they're proving to be Perfect Angels lol... compared to the 16 month old little monster cos he's bigger than my big boy and he's learning already by day 3 here with me that the crate is his bed and it's there to wait in as it's also there for 'time out' when/if  he's decided to go potty in the house and I mean going dipshit  &  doing zoomies and playing indoors, that he goes back in there, so he knows already he can't romp  around - the bungalow is too small and they got a huge space the garden areas to run out the back; I let them out twice in the day for 45 minutes or even more and they run themselves ragged them back in for some 'time out';

my girl and he are wearing basket muzzles because she's a really cranky cow and she also  goes back into the big crate we have  for 'time out', with her muzzle off in there, and he then has the muzzle off so he can play with my boy and feel a bit more free - I swap him around so my girl has  muzzle free space too.

It's very true - they do want to be with you and a slightly smaller crate or pen in the bedroom may be a really good idea but gradually move it out or towards the door, because ideally you don't want to be too disturbed and they will learn to settle down by themselves..  if they're in the hall, maybe not downstairs, but you can set the routine for time out 'bed now' downstairs while you're busy working.

Sorry it seems a bit lengthy -  I'm actually dictating cos it's quicker and ..then I go back and try and put some punctuation in; you can only take your time and you need time off at home to work on it because she is still VERY young, missing her litter pack and Mum probably too .. and she's been used to having some form of company around ...so if you can both organise some separate extra time off to be at home with her then you can get her into a regular routine and ...don't forget she needs to rest and sleep too so putting in the crate for time out when she's been running around for a couple of hours is a useful time for getting her to 'settle down' and sleep; classical music seems to work well and if you're worried that she is feeling anxious, apparently humming when you're around them can help to relax them because if you've got vibes then they will certainly sense it very quickly.

Do look at successdogs.com and absolutedogs.com

- they are both very good sites for training and while she's young this is the best time to instill a regular training routine for sit, down, wait, bed, -  whatever you feel you need to teach her around especially also to leave! If you don't I can probably 98% guarantee you will have problems by 18 to 20 weeks old so get the training in, study the sites, listen, watch and learn, and then put into practice;  they are so intelligent that they will outwit you before you even realise it and then huskies get handed in, abandoned, or given up ... and it's happening every day with anywhere between 8 to 10 huskies a day, in the UK... don't let that happen with you.

Good luck and.. enjoy!

Use only positive reward training. 🤗

If you if you can please look on my Facebook page under Marianne Cottee .. they also have their own Facebook page : Chester and Eski Cottee so have a look there and see what I was doing yesterday which was only day two with my new foster - he has no social skills because he's been a dog on his own and because his owner's work hours have increased massively...  so he's in temporary Foster; he may well become a 'failed Foster' and we'll adopt him.. maybe, but  I have yet to run a few weeks trial with him and also maybe his owner can can changes hours .. I don't know but if you look on that on my Facebook timeline, my most recent video is is quite lengthy because Blu was not getting to stay still & wait.

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Thank you all so much! Night times are a breeze compared to the first 3 nights now. We are in our bedroom with her and a smaller crate and she is fine with it. We have set alarms every 2 hours for toilet and she lets us know with a small cry or tap on the crate. 

She understands sit and leave but is already testing us as she comes straight over for a treat when we praise her, but we’re alternating treats and praise fusses, when she only gets fusses she goes back to doing it so we put her in time out. 

Cant wait to take her out on walks to burn off some of her energy, but she has another 4 weeks to go yet.

as I said earlier we have begun with the obedience training and she is so intelligent, and quick to pick up on things. 

I am off work for another week to help bed in the routine, did anyone else have issues with chewing everything in the house? Our other dogs bed, table legs, draw handles, crate bars, skirting boards, etc. Despite the 6+ chew toys we have got for her.

 

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That is why I muzzled trained mine.

In my last post “pups first snow” you can see both are muzzled. They eat rocks and we have a peach tree that the previous owner planted along with grape vines and rose bushes. 

I use a basket muzzle. 

Started with a little bit of peanut butter on the inside and let them lick it without clipping it on. Once they were fine with it then I could clip it. They don’t mind it and have figured out how to play ball with them on.

I would use a command that was only for stop chewing.  Nah-ahh. I would catch them chewing say nah-ahh and then put the muzzle on saying No chew. Once they moved away and show no interest in what they were chewing I take the muzzle off. 

Mine eat stuff on walks. Nails, batteries, plastic, anything they can scope up while on walks.

 I would suggest trying to train the leave it command first. Offer something of higher value to them. Say leave it and when they turn to you offer the higher value treat. 

But after my 5th visit to the emergency vet and the vet suggested I use a muzzle, and even had a home trainer try to help me train them on leave it.... 

The basket muzzle has really saved their life.

Now (95% of the time) I say Nah-ahh and show them the muzzle and they  immediately stop.

I also use butter apple spray in the house.

Good luck.

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