Crate SCREAMING

[elegy]

Oh em gee. Bean came home yesterday. He screamed the entire way home in the car. He screamed off and on all night. He screams any time I crate him. SCREAMS. Not just whines or complains. SCREAMS. NON STOP.

I drop treats in on him whenever he pauses to take a breath. I fed him in his crate with the door open and that was ok. I am only leaving him out when he's not screaming. But it tends to be a long wait.

He ignores a Kong stuffed with cheese. He has toys. He isn't bored. I let him out and he went right to sleep.

I really, truly, do not know what to do with this. He *has* to be crated at night for his own safety. He needs to be crated during the day. He will need to be crated in the car, at flyball tournaments, at agility trials. It's just not optional.

Halp?

[Red Chrome]

I put a dark blanket over the crate. If that doesn't help combined with what you are doing already, IDK.

I have been known to slap the side of the crate with a loud Knock It Off. Usually it catches them off guard enough that I can reward for being quiet right away and let out. That combined with what you are doing may help?

[Shai]

Yep I did the dark blanket, the food, ignoring, staying nearby, staying far away...nothing made a difference. Mira screamed so loud she could be heard from the side walk and she would do it for 8+ hours at a stretch (say, at night when we were pretending to be asleep).

Howling, screaming, the most horrible ear-splitting wails...my word that girl came with a set of lungs.

Two weeks and she gave it up. Thank goodness. I hope Bean gives up faster.

[Laurelin]

I gave up before Mia gave up. So I'm no help. The first warning should have been the six hour drive home where she shrieked for all 6 hours. I went about 2 weeks trying to wait her out overnight then we moved into my apartment and I was too worried about her making my neighbors mad that I just gave up and she slept on the bed overnight. She took to an x-pen with Summer right away thank god.

It wasn't until Mia was 2 (ish) that I could crate her without her screaming. I know that doesn't help at all, but I really think it was a maturity thing with her.

[Kat09Tails]

My answer is tough love and an I pod.

[Barb04]

What kind of crate are you using? My dog only liked the vari kennel (hard plastic). If we put him in the wire type crate, he cried.

Do you have the crate next to your bed? They seems to do well starting out there knowing you are close by and slowly move the crate further away.

[*blackrose]

Yah, I gave up on Chloe, too. LOL She would scream and stress and freak out when she was crated, but if she was left loose in a confined area (like an ex-pen, or baby gated in a hallway) she was fine. So I just stopped crating her. She has no problem being crated in certain situations (like, when we're at the groomers, she stays in her little crate/kennel without any problems whatsoever), but she will still scream if she is stressed out about the situation (which has less to do with her not liking the crate and more to do with the fact that she's stressed - she'd scream outside of the crate in those situations, too).

So....I'm no help, unless an x-pen is an option to try while you work with her on the crate to see if it helps.

[Shai]

Since I'm guessing you plan to bring babydog to trials and such, just remember that staying consistent and strong now WILL pay off...Mira hits a crate at a busy trial now and just goes to sleep...

[SaraB]

Zinga was AWFUL in the crate, I'm talking screaming, trying to climb out and bonking her head, trembling, wouldn't eat or even glance at treats. There have been a lot of car rides where I thought my head was going to explode. Here is what worked for us (keep in mind she's still not perfect and will scream if I put her in a crate when she's not tired):

-At night, I don't stick her in the crate right away. We do 5-10 minutes of forced cuddle time until she has fallen asleep and then I put her in her crate. She hasn't made a single noise in the crate at night since.
-In the car, again I made sure she was tiiiiired before going in the crate, but there wasn't a whole lot you can do while you are driving, so I just stuck it out.
-About her refusal to go into the crate, we have done a lot of crate games. Every single meal consists of me hand feeding raw ground meat with her in her crate. We practice staying in with the door shut, holding her stay with the door open, driving into the crate, releasing out of the crate, etc. While this is great in general, what it does is teaches the puppy that it is OK to eat in the crate so that you can start introducing kongs and RMB's and what not to work on the duration aspect. Zinga is officially finishing kongs and staying engaged in RMB's at this point (she's 12 weeks old).
-Because I think a lot of Zinga's resentment towards the crate resulted from her long flight overseas, I have only used plastic crates unless we are working on crate games. I don't want any of those negative feelings transferring to wire crates so I have always made sure she enjoys her time in those crates.

Hope that helps some!!

[elegy]

I have been trying to feed him in his crate, but he's not impressed with kibble. He was raw weaned, and obvs that is tastier than my stupid kibble. But I am not comfortable with raising him on raw. Clearly I need to buy something to help bridge that gap.