Crazy 5-month Samoyed Puppy and Crate Training/Sep. Anxiety

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emilysouthwest
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:53 pm

Crazy 5-month Samoyed Puppy and Crate Training/Sep. Anxiety

Post by emilysouthwest »

OK, so I posted here before about my Samoyed puppy who hates her crate. It is now over a month later and she still hates her crate. I talked to a dog trainer who suggested that I keep her in the kitchen with gates while I'm away and slowly reintroduce her to her crate.

So the gates worked very well for a while (though I have to by four gates--two for each door since she figured out how to climb over just one). Sure, she would whine a bit when I left, but then she would usually settle down and sleep. But within the last three weeks she has figured out how to pull even the most secured gate down. We have even tried putting her crate against the gate, but (I surmise) she climbed on top of her crate and crawled through the gates!

When she gets out, she always goes upstairs (which I'd prefer that she not go up and down stairs at this age) and get an item to bring downstairs and chew. She has gotten into a box of granola bars, for example, and I came home to find a couple of empty wrappers! She also got into toilet paper and shredded it. At least she hasn't urinated in the house, which I think speaks to the fact that at least she is pretty well housebroken. Still, she obviously cannot be trusted with the run of the house while I'm away.


So out of necessity, I have had to keep her in her crate when I go places. Usually, I'm away for less than three hours at a time. I teach classes at a University, so I'm not at work all day. I thought she was finally starting to warm to her crate because I brought her to my parent's house and although she barked all night when she went into her crate, she seemed to do okay during the day.

But now that I am back at my own house (I keep the crate in the kitchen), the moment she goes in that crate, she barks and barks until she is exhausted and completely dehydrated (as soon as I let her out of her crate, she runs to the water bowl and will drink up to three or four bowl-fulls of water!). Something within her clicks and she goes into frantic mode. When I come back, there is literally a big puddle of spit on the floor next to her crate, her paws and face are covered in slobber, as is anything in her crate--toys, blankets, bones. More recently, she has even urinated in her crate! Even if I stay at the house, she barks and barks, though she doesn't seem to reach that ultimate freak-out level. So I think part of her freak-out is owing to separation anxiety and another part is owing to the fact that she just doesn't like to be enclosed.

So I am going to just start putting her in and out of her crate when I have spare time during the day to work with her. I have done this to some extent before, but I'm going to now work with her for a half hour or more at a time, putting her in the crate and letting her out right away, keeping her in there for five, ten, fifteen minutes, staying in the same room as the crate, walking out the door, going elsewhere in the house. I'm hoping to trick her brain so that she does not necessarily associate her going in the crate with my leaving. But I am afraid this is going to be a very time-consuming process and I'm a grad student and should be writing my thesis!

Anyway, I've written a book here. But I was wondering if anybody has any other suggestions/tips on how to help her adjust to her crate. She needs to be adjusted; her cleverness has left me no other option than to put her in the crate (BTW, we have to put a lock on the bottom of the crate door, as she has learned out to unfasten the bottom clasp and then stick her head and neck out, risking strangling herself!). It just makes me feel so bad to leave her right now, it is stressful to think of her stressing out, and it is a pain to come home to a wet, anxious dog and a slobbery floor! Not to mention that after she drinks so much water, she will urinate about four or five times in a row when I take her out about an hour later!

Any advice would be so much appreciated!
Emily
ckranz
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Location: San Diego CA

Post by ckranz »

I am not sure all the things that have been suggested for. What I can suggest are some simple crate games.

What is your dog's favorite treats or food. I like to use meat based treats. anyhow. while holding 20 treats, put your dog in the crate. Drop the treats in 1 by 1. Once your dog has eaten the last treat let her out of the crate and restock with another 20 treats.

From here shape the exist so she only gets treats for entering the crate. She puts a paw in and 20 treats 1 after another while in the crate.

Repeat these about a 1000 times each. (Not all in one sitting)

The final part of the game is to place 20 treats in the crate so your dog knows there are treats in the crate, but the door is shut. This will help to enhance the desire to go into the crate. After a few seconds open the door so she can claim her reward.

Some other things that may help her while she is in her crate for longer periods of time:
Cover the crate with a sheet/towel or blanket to eliminate visibility outside of the crate. This may help her calm down.

Another thing is to try having the radio or tv on at a low volume when you leave her .
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Nettle
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Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 1:40 pm

Post by Nettle »

What do you do with he she isn't in her crate? How much time do you spend with her, what happens, what do you feed and when?
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
emilysouthwest
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:53 pm

Post by emilysouthwest »

Thanks for the advice! I do always give her a cong with puppy cheese whiz (or liver paste) on it when she goes into the crate. She loves that for about 5 seconds as she licks it. She ignores any other treats I put in, such as the natural balance venison biscuits. But I like the idea of using meat. Maybe small pieces of actual (maybe even raw?) chicken or beef would appeal to her so much more because they would be smelly. So I will try that. It sounds like a fun game.

Yeah, I tried putting the blanket or towel over the crate, but always inevitably end up with a shredded towel or blanket (stupidly lost a nice Egyptian cotton blanket the very first night she spent in the crate). I always leave the radio and/or tv on when I leave her in the crate. I think it helps a smidgen.

To answer Nettle's questions: When she isn't in her crate, she is usually in the living room with me, in the kitchen, in the hallway sleeping, or out on the back porch when it is cool outside (she loves cool weather). In terms of how much time I spend with her, she is almost always around me when I am home (which in some ways has made her a bit too dependent, I fear, but due to my schedule right now, I am usually at home). In terms of time that I am spending specifically with her--playing, walking, obedience training--it depends on the day, her energy level, etc., but I would say that we usually take two 15(ish) min. walks each day plus shorter trips to the bathroom, that we play for about ten or fifteen minutes about three times a day, and that we do obedience training usually twice a day for five minutes or so. I also try to brush her for about five minutes each day.

I feed her three times a day right now. I leave the food down for twenty minutes, unless she eats it before then, which she has been doing in recent weeks. Right now I have her on Avoderm, but am going to try her on Merrick as soon as this bag of Avoderm gets low.
emilysouthwest
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:53 pm

Post by emilysouthwest »

Also, as one additional piece of information...she sleeps on the floor of my bedroom at night on a dog bed. I tried her in the crate at night for about two weeks when she was 12 or so weeks old, but she barked all night. I tried her in my bedroom for several nights and then in another part of the house. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much. It was pretty miserable. I might have persisted, but I live in a townhouse and the walls are so thin that the neighbors undoubtedly could hear her.

(A couple of weeks ago when we were at my parent's house, I again tried her in the crate the first night, but again, she barked for about five hours straight. Nobody slept well and nobody was very happy with her the next morning.)

So I kept her in an ex pen at night for several weeks until she got into the habit of trying to climb out at 4, 5, 6 in the morning. And now she's big enough that she can just knock it over. But she sleeps through the night on the floor and hasn't had any accidents (from 11-7). She's been on the floor now for about two weeks. She's still in the trial period (one accident and I'm going to have to consider other options), but so far she has been doing great and I'm much less tired.
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