quick question about crate training

[pimmsgalore]

We have a lab collie cross, got him at Easter and immediately crate trained him on advice of rescue (he had been badly beaten and starved before coming to us and has some nervous tendencies).

Now 6 months on and he is a wonderful dog but the more he relaxes the more he shows his collie traits (think he is more collie than lab). At the weekend we got a new hoover which is louder than my previous one. Cue the herding the hoover, barking at it etc etc.

In order to be able to hoover this morning I have had to stuff his kong and put him in his crate, he has then been happy and relaxed whilst I have hoovered (he was barking, leaping and snapping at the hoover before I put him in his crate).

Is this ok or is this using his crate as a punishment. He seems happy enough and now I have opened the door he is just lying in there chomping on his kong. I just don't want to get into the habit of every time I hoover having to put him in his crate. Will it work in making him happy about the hoover so he stops herding it or will he forever be in his crate when I hoover (which is a lot with 4DCs and a dog)

TIA

I am sure someone with more knowledge will be along soon but no you should not use the crate as punishment ever. It is a safe happy place for your dog to be, not an area to be wary of due to its use as a punishment. However I don't think what you did today is a punishment, you gave him a safe place to be with something good (kong) and reduced his stress levels whilst you carried on with your daily tasks.

One of my dogs is terrified of Hoover so he goes upstairs whilst I Hoover down and then we switch, I have hoovered everyday of his 5 years and still he is scared! Another one likes to bite the Hoover so I just stop and tell her to leave it and she does, the other dog couldn't give a stuff as everything is his favourite thing!

Have you got a switch on your Hoover that can turn down the volume? This may help.

As for the longer term I don't know if you will always have to use the crate, but please do t use it as punishment.

I don't use it as punishment but wondered whether he would see it as being punished, which is what worried me. I wouldn't want him to see it as a punishment.

When I put him in I stopped hoovering, went and got a kong, had a play with him then took him upstairs to his crate put him in, then went down to finish hoovering, then upstairs and hoovered along past his crate, bedrooms etc, he wasn't bothered about the hoover once in his crate but he usually only goes in it with the door shut when we go out (he sleeps in it at night but with the door open) so though he may have thought he had been bad. I tried not to make a fuss about the herding of the hoover, the away and leave commands hadn't worked and I could tell he was stressed so just chose to turn it off, calm him down then put him in his crate before starting again.

*thought not though

I think you are over thinking it! The only way the dog would view it as punishment is if it had ever been used as such. I think what you did was fine, and would advise doing this again whilst hoovering. The dog will be happier because he had a good time with you, got a kong and then didn't have the stress of trying to herd the Hoover. I think you did the right thing.

Thanks morethan that was what I needed to hear

Your welcome. Happy hoovering!!

If he's happy then he doesn't think it's punishment. Our lab was crate trained until he was 12 months old and he would happily sit in there while I did things where I needed him to be safely tucked away.

If it gets the hoovering done without incident then just do it.

He never saw the crate as punsihment as it was his bed; if he was naughty he got put outside and he knew the difference.