Puppy going in crate when not tired

[Sarahmoore0510]

Hi! Our almost 11 week old puppy seems to like his crate, will go in on his own to sleep and sleeps there at night downstairs without a problem.

My question is how to I encourage him to go in when he’s not sleepy - there will be times when I need to do school run or nip to shops when it would be necessary for him to go in his crate for 30 mins or so.

However if he’s not tired he makes such a fuss..not just whinging but full on barking. I’ve tried treats and leaving a kong (tried various fillings - PB, chicken, frozen dog food) not interested! Maybe I’m asking too much of a 11 week old puppy?!

Any advise on this would be amazing!!

If he's barking in there then you're moving too fast for him, you need to go at his pace. It's great that he's going in voluntarily when he's tired but you want to make sure the crate is always a positive place for him or he could end up not liking it at all.

This crate training guide is brilliant. It sounds very long winded but puppies generally catch on really quick, especially if they've already been exposed to the crate.

Sounds like he doesn’t want it when you want him to. Which is fine, he’s probably just asking to take it slower.

He obviously loves being near his mama.

That crate will soon be his little safe place. If you stress, he stresses. It’s no big deal.

I hope you have a great Christmas with the new addition ☺️

He's only young. I would imagine when you go to put him in there he knows you're going to leave him, right?

Maybe you need to start popping him in there at random points through the day and just carry on with whatever you're doing, and give him a treat/kong. So he doesn't always associate the crate with you leaving him in there?