Puppy cries/barks in his crate

My husband and I have an 11-week old lab mix puppy. We've had him for about a week now. We are housetraining using the crate, and for the most part that has been going very well. There have been very few accidents around the house and he does view the crate as his "safe place" (taking naps in the crate, carrying toys to it during playtime, etc.).

However, last night he started barking in the crate. For a week, he has been fine, perhaps with the occassional whimper before curling up and going to sleep. He is fed and taken outside to relieve himself on a relatively regular schedule, so for the most part we are fairly certain this is looking for attention rather than potty.

Everything I have read about crating a puppy his age tells me to ignore him when he barks in the crate, which is what my husband and I have been doing. We wait for him to quiet down before we pay any attention to him whatsoever. When he calms down and gets quiet again, we praise him for it.

Is there anything else that I should be doing? I know that this is a process that takes time and patience, but if there is any key element that I am missing I would really like to know!

Thank you very much!

It sounds like you're doing everything right. If I were you, I wouldn't wait for him to be quiet and then praise him. If you can supervise him or if you want to interact with him, then take him out of the crate (but only if he is calm and quiet). Otherwise, just let him get used to enjoying his crate without you intervening.

Okay, that makes sense. How can we help reinforce that his crate is a good thing that he can enjoy?

He always has at least two chew toys in there, usually a white bone and a puppy kong. I give him a treat when he successfully goes in his crate as I leave for work (along with the phrase "in your crate"). At night, after his last trip outside for the day, I smear a little dab of peanut butter inside his kong as a bedtime treat.

Is there something else I could be doing? Or am I just reinforcing the wrong things?

Thanks for your advice!

yeah this is about the only thing I don't think should be praised in the usual way simply because it once they have quited down praising them can start them up again. What you are doing is for the most part perfect though. As Herschel said, only let him out of the crate when he is silent. Having the treat and kong in there will make the crate a positive place. If you want the kong to last a bit longer you can try some other stuff to put in there (since too much peanut butter at once may give diarrhea) like plain yogurt, cottage cheese or his own kibble. You can freeze the stuff in there too which will make it last even longer. Also to make it a more positive place feed him his meals in his crate. But for he most part do what you have been doing and ignore the barking unless you think he has to potty, if he has to potty it would be wise to listen.

Maybe a blanket hanging on top and 3 sides of crate to make feel more secure.

When one of my dogs was a puppy, he didn't like the wire crate, as soon as we bought one of the heavy plastic vari-kennels, he was happy.

I really appreciate all your help thus far. I have been trying all your suggestions and it has helped in many ways. However, his crying at night still seems to be getting worse. (That, or it just feels that way because I am getting less and less sleep.)

He's typically fine at the beginning of the night. He goes right to bed (usually in the ballpark of 10pm) without any fuss. I have an alarm set to get me up in the middle of the night to take him out for a potty break. I try to set that alarm to go off about four hours after he's gone to bed... so usually in the 2:00-2:30am range, though I try to move it around a bit so he doesn't get attached to the idea. Then I get up in the morning about 6am.

The problem now is this, two out of the past three nights he has pooped in his crate overnight. After the first problem, I switch from checking on him once a night to twice a night (at 2 to 3-hour intervals). He was fine one night, and then last night he made a mess again, sometime between the two overnight trips outside.

I took him outside on the first trip, where he did his all of his business like a good boy. Then I put him back in his crate and went back to bed for about 2.5 hours. During most of this time he was barking like a crazy thing, but I ignored him because he had just been outside and pottied. By the time I got downstairs for the second trip, there was... well... crap in his crate. And now that this has happend twice, I am worried about it becoming a pattern.

I know he's a puppy and that mistakes happen, but aside from what I'm doing already, what else is there I can do? I don't want to give in to him every time he barks and cries, especially when I know he's already pottied and shouldn't have to go again within two hours.

He gets fed his dinner between 4:30-5:00pm, and is taken out AT LEAST three times to poop before bedtime. Once right after he finishes his dinner, once just before going to bed, and once or twice in between. That is what I've read on all the housebreaking "schedules" as plenty, but should I be doing more?

I apologize for sounding like a whiny crazy woman in this post. Sleep deprivation due to cleaning a poopy crate is probably a factor.

Please help! Or just tell me I'm nuts and to keep being patient. Either one I'm okay with.

Is his crate in your bedroom? Dogs are pack animals, and the pack sleeps together. Many puppies get very scared when they are isolated from their family.

Are you still giving him a filled kong at night?

You may need to stop giving him anything to eat and see if that helps.

edited: wow I just realized how bad that sounded... I didnt mean stop feeding him... i just meant dont give him treats when you put him in the crate for bedtime

Unfortunately, we have circumstances that prevent us from keeping his crate in our bedroom. The first week that we had him, my husband and I slept in the living room (where his crate is, since that is where we are the most during the daytime), and then a few days after that it was just me sleeping down there with him until he started to calm down. Then he was fine for a little bit before the barking craziness began a couple days ago. While we were sleeping downstairs with him, my husband and I kept a small fleece blanket in our sleeping bag at night so that it would smell like us. Once we went back to bed upstairs, we would leave the blanket next to his crate so he could smell us on it.

Last night he was better, he didn't bark in the middle of the night even when I went down to take him outside at 2am. This morning he started going nuts once he heard me get into the shower, but hopefully he's starting to get the hang of things.

EDIT: I just realized that my timeline didn't make any sense, since we've only had him a week and a half! We both slept downstairs with him for the first week, both of us for the first 4-5 nights, and then just me for the next 2-3nights. Apparently simple math evades me at 8:00 in the morning.


Sortof. We never really *filled* his kong, we would more just stick a small something inside (a one-finger scoop of peanut butter, one puppy milkbone, a couple pieces of kibble, etc.). I'll try taking that away if the problem happens again. Like I said above, he did okay last night. He really seems to like his kong at night because it is the special "bedtime" signal. Oh well, if that is causing the problem it wouldn't hurt to take it away for a few nights to see if it helps.

And I understood what you meant. No worries!



Thanks!

Hmm..if this were me I would try two things--on the last potty break outside before bed I would be giving exercise--ie take him for a walk--that should get any last bowel movements to go. I would think I would try leaving him go all night too--perhaps he is getting all too familiar with his potty breaks at night. Wrigley could go the full night 10pm-6am at 11 weeks and he is a small breed. If he cries in the night during the attempt I would take him out (don't even acknowledge him at all) let him out--praise if he goes potty and put him right back in the crate--if he cries again--ignore ignore ignore!

We have had poor luck trying to leave him alone all night. That is when his barking fits are the worst! What I trying to do is wean him off the outings in the middle of the night. I try to get up at a time before he is barking, take him out and back in, and then ignore him the rest of the night if he barks again. Gradually, I am going to push the time later and later until he is sleeping through the night with no accidents.

We try to make sure he never goes to bed without a good poop on his last trip outside. I think that as he learns that he CAN hold it, things will get better. Maybe an evening walk would stimulate the process a bit more... He gets walked twice a day as it is, once over lunch and again when we get home from work, so it never occured to me that a third walk could be in order.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Well, the crate saga continues...

He's been doing much better at the past two nights! However, he seems to have transfered his issues to the daytime hours. My husband is the main caretaker during the work day. He takes Morgan outside last thing before he leaves for work (about 8am), comes home for an hour for lunch (usually 11:30-12:30ish), and then he's also the first one home for the day (about 4pm).

Anyways, Morgan has messed his crate three times in the past two days. Once yesterday when my husband got home for lunch and again when he got home for the day, and then already over lunch today as well. He has been fine during the day up until yesterday, so what could have changed?

I know with all my posts that I probably seem like a spaz about this. I still know that this is almost guaranteed to be just an issue of time and patience. Morgan has a vet appointment next week so we can rule out any health problems if that may be the cause, but I strongly doubt it. And being at work 40 minutes away, I don't know if I should be more worried about a crate-pooping puppy or a husband who is frustrated with cleaning up.

Oh, the joys of puppyhood.

Excellent. I just got another call from my husband, where I learned a couple things. One being that my husband has come down with some nasty bug and is sick nearly to the point of delirium... and the second suddenly explains Morgan's poop issues.

So in the phone call, my husband explains that although Morgan made a mess before lunch, he was okay after work. So Husband takes Morgan outside, where only pee takes place. They then come back inside, Morgan is given his dinner, and then is put back in the crate. Lo and behold, a few minutes later... a new crate mess!

I am pretty sure that my husband has been sick for the past couple days, but trying to hide it (he does that), until now that he's had to clean up four dog poops he's feeling sicker. I'm also thinking that as a result of being sick, Husband is not enjoying standing out in the snow, thus has not been waiting for Morgan to go #2 on trips outside and justifying this as "he doesn't need to go". But then add 3.5 hours on that... Morgan DOES have to go, and being 12 weeks old he can't wait, especially when there is nobody home to take him out.

Seems like my husband may need more training than our puppy. LOL!

Okay, now that I know that this is happening, I may actually be able to solve the problem. I'll get back to you all on this thread in the next couple days after I see how this goes.

It's things like this where I just can't help but laugh... All this time I was worried that something was wrong with Morgan, and really there was something else going on and I didn't get the whole story.

Try this as a last resort

Okay I know that negative reinforcement is pretty controversial, but my vet suggested this as a last resort and it worked immediately.

Again, this is rather controversial, but it stopped the barking and got my apartment management off of my case.

Put the dog in the crate and cover it completely with an opaque blanket so it cannot see you at all. Pull up a chair next to the crate and wait. Whenever the dog barks, hit the bottom of a sautee pan on the top of the crate. (Please make sure not to hit the dog, you can usually estimate where he is by watching the blanket and seeing the movement from his respiration) This will startle the dog and make him associate barking in the crate with an earthquake. :yikes:

I sat there and did this for 45 min. It is very important to remain absolutely still and quiet while doing this, the dog needs to think this is a natural occurrence, and not a punishment from you. So obviously don't say anything while doing this. You might instinctively want to say "quiet!", but make no noise that will let the dog identify you as the cause of the "earthquake".

It worked so well for me. Please consider trying it and see if it works for you.

WOW! :yikes: I hope no one EVER does this!

Also, OLD THREAD ALERT!

Hello,

I've followed this thread all the way through, and it seems to me you are doing the right things. You just need to be patient. Your puppy is just getting the hang out of how things are going to work. He's trying to figure out whether or not he can get your attention by crying; he's learning whether or not he can depend on a potty routine; and he's testing how he can get your praise.

I don't know if you're familiar with this formula, but they say you shouldn't keep a dog in a crate longer than his age + 1. So for a 3-month old dog, he should never be in there more than 4 hours. It sounds like you are following that rule, but I thought it would be good to know for future reference (how to extend crate time).

Stick with what you're doing! It will pay off!

It DID pay off, I don't think Morgan has barked significantly in his crate for several months now.

Actorguy (and any lurkers who are reading this) - punishment methods do work to teach dogs what not to do, I'm not disputing that. The trick with punishment, though, is that it must work within two or three trials for it to be effective. So the most troublesome part of your above post to me, is that you sat next your dog's crate for 45 minutes. I don't know how many times you did the punishment, but I'm sure you didn't sit there for that long waiting for him to bark a second or third time. I'm glad it worked for you, but for the majority of dogs, if this same thing happened to them, they'd probably be back to barking within the week.

Also you said that you got the advice from your vet.... Unless the vet is also a behaviorist, it's almost never a good idea to take training advice from a vet. Vets have no education in dog behavior, much less learning theory, and the advice they give is no better than the advice any person off the street could give you. Better to talk to a trainer (or come here - many of us are also trainers).