Puppy doesn't like crate except at night...Cats hate puppy.

[Kingsroadie]

We only picked up our puppy yesterday. He is being very good and going to the loo outside mostly. He slept very well in his crate last night with minimal whining when put in (he was totally exhausted I think), but he is reluctant to go in it to sleep in the daytime, preferring to come out and sleep on the tiles. I have put his blanket and toy from the breeder in there for him. I have also got the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Positive Dog Training" which has been brilliant so far (thanks Slubber) - he is already sitting for me using a clicker and treats. That advises putting lots of treats in for him and then treating him and praising when he goes in. Which I do. He doesn't seem keen to stay in there though and I closed the door briefly whilst sitting right outside the crate so he could see me and he went mental. I waiting until he paused (stopped wasn't going to happen) and got him out. He is now asleep under the highchair.

However, I would really like to be able to shut him in the crate so I can have a shower etc without worrying he is going to wee everywhere or eat something he shouldn't etc. As an additional concern, our cats have gone on strike and won't come down to eat or use their litter trays which is a bit worrying (they are indoor cats although can go into our patio garden as it is enclosed), and I hoped if he were crated they would be more keen. I realise it is going to take time for them to get used to him but they have to eat and go to the loo in the meantime! We have tried introducing them with one of us holding them and one of the cats (girl) sat on the sofa with my husband when I had the dog on the other one. I am just quite concerned re their not eating/drinking/weeing!

So two issues and any advice would be most appreciated - thank you!

[Kingsroadie]

bump

[d0gFace]

Im no expert, but my puppy(14 months) doesnt go into his crate in the day unless told to. When he was younger Id tell him to go in/put him in if I needed to have a bath without fear of him doing something or hurting himself.

He'd bark and cry, so I left the room and returned when he was quiet and slowly increased the time. On days I wasnt going out Id put him in for 10-15 mins and let him out when he'd calmed down. Now hes anxiety free when I need to go out and seems alot happier. It took awhile as we spent alot of time together at the start which made it harder for him.

No idea about the cats, maybe they just need some time to adjust.

Hopefully someone else will have some better advice. :)

[emptyshell]

Took a good 2 months before my cat stopped sulking about the dog... another couple of months before she realised she could actually boss the dog about and he'd comply and she's still very much the force of power - if she wants him to move - he berluddy well moves. If he doesn't - she sleeps ON him!

Nothing can sulk as well as a cat!

[Kingsroadie]

Thank you everyone! The puppy is being put into his crate when he falls asleep and stays asleep and is being good when he wakes up. The cats are starting to come round I think. They have come downstairs now the puppy is in his crate and fingers crossed it will all begin to get better!

[Spamspamspam]

Kings I am a complete novice dog owner but I just wanted to add our experience for you.

Although you don't say how old your puppy is he has only been with you for 9 hours, maybe up to 13 hours by the time I write this thread. Wow what a change in this little guy's life, I am not surprised he is not wanting to be shut away in the crate at this stage. This is all new to him and he will want to be near you and your family for some time.

We put our puppy in her crate the first night and she slept from 10.00pm till 7.00am I though it was sussed and this is what she would do but I was wrong! The next night she cried and cried and cried. I tried doing the stay strong and ignore, then I wavered and caused myself a lot of grief then went back to ignore at night and that is sorted and pleasant for all.

Daytime was a bit tricky because we have a pretty fixed routine throughout the day and mostly someone if not 2 people are in the house all day every day. However regularly we are all out at the weekend and I didn't want puppy to feel anxious at the weekend when we were out, so I have had to change my weekly routine to let puppy know that crate is alone time and sometimes it can be for 10 minutes but other times can be 2 hours (working up to this!)She now loves her crate. We started by waiting until she was relaxed and then shutting the door for five minutes whilst we were all in the room with her, although everyone was talking and there we ignore any whimpering and then get her out when she is settled and calm, we then shut her door whilst she was sleeping and just left her be for half an hour with one of us in the room. We progresed to shutting her door and then letting her hear us in other parts of the house, then we left her and went out for ten minutes. Every time is different sometimes I shut the crate whilst I go up and shower, sometimes I shut her in and tell the kids to leave her alone, EVERYONE in our house knows that crate time is puppy chill out time and all are to leave her alone. She seems to really respect this and can comfortably chill without people waving and teasing her. It will take time - we have only had puppy for 3 weeks and some days it is hard to actually give her time out as both my husband and I are at home for the majority of the day but she needs to learn to be by herself, I would hate her to have separation anxiety I had a horse with that and it was so awful for the poor old girl . Today I thought I would step up a notch and let her have the roam of the kitchen and the utility with her bed in it whilst I went up for a shower. she cried so my husband said put her in her crate because that is comforting for her, I did and she was happy as larry :) she is crate now, door open her choice, I will shut it when I go to bed and she will be fine with that.

I make it as snuggly as possible, I am allways plumping up her bed, it's in a warm place, has a lovely snuggly teddy, if often magically makes cheese and cocktail sausages appear out of nowhere and has this amazing kong that only ever makes an appearance in the crate, it is covered it snuggly blankets, has a radio nearby and no one hassles you when you are in it - sounds like a luxury spa day to me!!!

Sorry for the long post!!! Just thought I would share what we have gone though.

[Kingsroadie]

Thanks a lot spam for letting me know about your experience! Yes, of course he has only been with us a for a very short amount of time and will still be sad and missing his family and settling in. I just wanted to start the crate ASAP so he gets used to it. Am already worrying about Tuesday when my husband goes back to work and I need to have a shower and therefore shut the crate door. I don't want him to go insane and then see it as an unhappy place but equally I sort of have to shut him in briefly?!

We are putting him in the crate and shutting the door when he is asleep (if he falls asleep outside it). But we are of course staying with him and when he wakes up he is calm and then I let him out immediately. He is being so good and I am so impressed with him - he's such a sweetie!

Thanks for all the advice!

[Kingsroadie]

Ps. His crate has blankets from his mother and litter, a couple of toys, a lovely blanket for him to sleep on and is covered - so a nice calm place (in theory).

Having said he was so good the first night last night he was in crate at about 11 (we can't just put him in so need to get him to sleep first then put him in), woke at 1am, 3:30am and 5:30am. The first time he was woken up by the baby we think as she had a nightmare. Then he started yapping away and we left him for a bit (thinking if he thinks we will come and get him out he will keep doing it) but he showed no signs of settling so we let him out and he did a wee. Same at 3:30 but did a wee and a poo and another wee at 5:30. I think we have learnt our lesson - seems to me that at the moment he is too little to go for very long without the loo so we'll have to let him out during the night for the time being.

Btw he is 8 weeks tmrw (we got him ever so slightly early due to weekend timing).

The cats are coming round, especially when he is in his crate. They are venturing downstairs buy themselves and have started eating and using their litter trays outside again.

Re trying to get him used to being shut in the crate - do you think I should start trying to shut him in for a couple of minutes when we are all there within sight etc? I tried that yesterday and he started barking and crying. But he will have to learn as I will have to go out and get shopping at some point !

[Spamspamspam]

What I did was read a lot from Midori and Minimu - if you search through a few pages you will see what I went through re nighttime. Some people say puppies need to be taken out to wee every couple of hours some say leave them for the night and just ignore even at 8 weeks. My puppy was 10 weeks when I got her so a little older than yours.

Your second night sounds like my night about 4 days in, even though puppy had gone from 11.00 - 6.00 every other night albeit with some crying I suddenly had an about turn and got up every time she cried, kept taking her out and she did nothing so I realised that was a mistake and went back to leaving her to cry, but it was never for very long before she settled back again and now she sleeps all the way through. Over the weeks I have worked out what is a I need a poo/wee bark versus a attention cry. Yesterday she got me up at half five and weed/pooed the minute she hit the garden so she needed it. I put her back in crate and went back to bed she was fine until 7.00 when bizarrely she went out and wee/pooed again - she hasn't done this before so think it was a one off. Today she was back to normal with getting up at 7.00 straight out for wee/poo.

Some others might be along in a minute but personally my puppy was taking herself into the crate by night two or three and then I would shut the door.

Is the crate in with you wherever you are? I move the crate into utility at about nine o'clock for night time, cover it in blankets, make it snuggly, turn on radio, leave the door open and she can choose to sleep in there or she can come into the lounge with me. More and more often she chooses the crate at about 10.30 - 11.00 I have to wake her up take her out for wee/poo then I pop her back in - she is desperate to get back to bed so not actually popping her in but closing the door behind her.

In the early days we took the crate into whatever room we were in and left the door open, now she is far more used to it I have changed that. When it is proper getting up time I move crate into dining room, take off blankets, plump up her bed and leave it in dining room all day with the door open she can choose to go in and out as she pleases - I put little bits of sausage and cheese in there a nice toy etc and just let her be, I walk around into the kitchen or into the garden and she knows she can get up and follow me, usually once she has seen I am still around she goes back in, I also work in the Dining Room so she can hear me on calls and tapping away at computer. I started leaving her and going out of the kitchen/diner when she was chilled and just popped to another part of the house for five minutes. I then progressed to shutting the door for a few minutes whilst we were in the room eating our dinner - yes she howled and scrabbled at the side of the cage but we all just ignored her and carried on talking. I might throw some cheese in the crate when she settles but I don't say anything to her, she soon realised that crying didn't get her attention but settling got her cheese. Be careful though with too many treats as I think we overdid it in the early days and she was sick - now it is tiny tiny bits and just a few. I did lots of different things like shutting the door for five minutes whilst I was tapping at computer and then going and opening it without a fuss. Like I said in my previous thread we did lots of different things like shutting the door and then leaving the dining room for a couple of mins - eventually I progressed to going up and having a shower, then leaving her whilst we popped out of the house - we would go round to the kitchen door and could hear her and she never cried. Eventually with lots of different types of scenarios she is more than happy to be in there.

I think the main thing is to ignore the crying in the early days - ALL OF YOU -the amount of times I had to tell my daughter not to look round and to carry on with her dinner! they will settle eventually, just carry on watching the tv and talking amongst yourselves. Our puppy didn't do it very much because she had got so used to going in and out by herself and had already commandered it as her sanctuary.

[Kingsroadie]

Thanks again Spam - yes have been searching threads for guidance. He definitely needed to be let out last night and apparently they can't go for as long under 8 weeks. as yours was 10 weeks when collected I assume by then they are usually starting to be able to hold it longer? We have an open plan kitchen/diner and double reception. We spend most of our time in the kitchen/diner as it's where my daughter plays and there is a sofa and tv in there too. His crate is in there so he is always with us. Today he has been going into the crate by himself a lot more (just for very short times and usually I have put some kibble in there for him to find) and I have been praising him like mad. Whenever he falls asleep I put him in and shut the door. He has stayed quiet when he has woken up and I have just sat outside with him stroking him etc and then let him out.

The door to the crate is always open with blankets etc and it is covered on three sides. I just want him not to go mad when I have a shower tmrw which I think won't happen sadly... My daughter is only 18 months. I have actually ordered a playpen so he can go into it in the kitchen/diner and she can play with her toys without being jumped and mouthed etc. He seems to do it more to her than anyone else as he recognises she is little I think!

Am just wary of "poisoning"the crate by making him upset and cry when he is in it... and I really think that he does need the loo in the night - he was not wimpering, he was barking really loudly - perhaps that's his loo cry!

[Spamspamspam]

It's your choice with the night-time as I say I was swayed by two different trains of thought! Just make sure that at night you make very little fuss just take him out in the garden and back in crate and ignore all cries as you know he has been to the toilet.

I don't think he will feel the crate is poisoned particularly if he is choosing to go in there and sleep he obviously knows it is a comfortable place to be. Incidentally I didn't make a fuss or praise our puppy when she was in the crate with the door open, I have never really said much to her when she is in the crate, we talk around her and do look at her and say something now but at the beginning we just ignored her because that would start her crying and barking again. She really recognises it as her time alone, if I praised her when she is in crate she would think there was some fun coming her way :). When the door goes and she is in crate she ignores it, when my daughter is running about and yelling/singing she ignores it. If she is out of her crate she goes mad to join in the fun or barks at the front door! - A lot of the crate threads do advocate lots of praise when they are in the crate but I didn't read that bit and by the time I did she was happily in love with her crate anyway!

I would just go and have your shower tomorrow, we all have to do stuff! My husband had to do the school run one day when I was at a meeting, he just shut the door and left her for half an hour, she had previously only been used to about five-ten minutes with us in another room - think this was on about day 5 or 6. She was fine and not crying when he got home!