Crate training my lab

[Woahtherehoney]

Hello all,

can anyone give me some advice on how to crate train my lab please?

We are trying ti get her to sleep in there and also need to crate her if we need to pop out as she’s intent on destroying my house and winding my cats up haha!

We’ve tried short bursts leaving her and coming back into the room, putting treats in and letting her find them whilst we leave her, laying with her for a while to calm her whilst she’s in there, putting it near our bed, putting it in a different room…nothing seems to be working! She whines incredibly loudly and growls and so we can’t leave her for more than literally 2 minutes.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

What age is she?

She’s nearly 4 months so she’s only a pup - she wasn’t crated by her breeder so it is a new experience for her but we need to try and get her comfortable with this. Neither of us are getting any sleep and neither is my stepson when he’s over because she’s just losing her mind in her crate.

I was very lucky with this when we got our lab.

He was about two or three months old. I had just bought the crate, put it up and arranged his bedding and toys in it. I struggled to keep him out of it while I was preparing it, so eager was he to dash straight in there. When I let him go he shot straight into it, played a little and then went to sleep for ages. He couldn't have cared less whether the crate door was open or shut either. He literally crate trained himself instantly.

I know there are plenty of cases where that doesn't happen so easily though and I should think that you need to keep going as you are.

Feed him in there for now, and leave a wide based water bowl. Make sure he has had something of a walk or a run about the garden playing games so that he is tired. Then there may be more chance of him just taking himself in there to snooze.

Coming to a new home is a lot for a little puppy. They’ve left their siblings and mum behind, did the breeder not give you a blanket or anything with mums scent on it? It’s a huge change for her to get used to a crate if she’s never been in one, it’s going to take time and you might be stressing her locking her in. Have you tried laying a line of treats from outside the crate to encourage her to go in on her own? The growling would concern me at such a young age tbh. The only reason we crate trained our labs was because they travel in crates in the car for safety but they often went and slept in them with the doors open when they got tired. I put fluffy blankets in and left a radio on low too and we set the crate up in a room where we spend a lot of time as a family.

Sorry, just saw that your lab is a girl. The rest still applies though.

Maybe a Kong with a little stuffing (mine loved peanut butter) would help if you put it in there, or one of those treat balls that they have to shake to get the treat out?

You need to get her to associate the crate with good things before you can expect to leave her in there for any length of time. I would do a mixture of the following:

Feed her every single meal in her crate.
Give her lots of chews and high-value treats in there.
Put something in there that smells of you (or her litter-mates if you have it).
Get one of those toys that have a heartbeat to replicate her mum.
Cover the crate with a blanket to make it nice and cosy.
Lots of games that involve the crate as a nice, safe space to be.

It can take weeks before they happily settle in their crates alone, and some dogs never really take to their crates at all - so it may be worth having some kind of back-up plan in mind just in case.

I would start my tossing a treat into the crate, hopefully he will go in get the treat, get him to the stage where he will knows that entering the crate of his own accord earns him a treat . Slowly build up to him going in crate and being completely relaxed and waiting for his treat, you can put a treat through the bars towards the back of crate too. Have the door open all the time.

He should be able to go into crate lie down/totally relax and wait for treat while you walk around the room in sight . If he comes out just wait for him to go back in the crate, he should associate the crate with a treat. keep door open all the time at this stage.

Next start by shutting door while he is eating the treat, if at any stage he wants to open the door with paw/nose or get out, YOU have to open the door before he does. He should get to the stage where he eats first treat with door closed and know that staying in crate means another treat will come along.

Next stage is building up to him in crate relaxed with door shut and you walking around room, he should think him in crate means you go out. It should be the same as him on bed/sofa except it's in a comfy crate with door shut.

Slowly build up to being out of sight , this might take weeks and if at any stage you rush and he whines/paws door gets upset you have to go back to start.

I think some dogs take to it better than others, but if get to stage where he can happily spend short periods in there its easier if he has to go to vet etc.

I think we were lucky with our dog as she is naturally independent and I used to wait till she fell asleep on my bed and transfer her to crate. we also have the largest size and she is only smallish, the door is always open and she takes herself off in the day to sleep/rest.

Sorry I meant he should NOT think him in crate means you going out!