Barking in crate

[kotasue 0]

Hi all, we have the little guy home for 5 nights now. We will be posting pics soon, but Mom is trying to get him fixed up a little first. he was a little bit of a mess coming from the pound. Anyway, we are crate training him form day one, and he does not like it. he spent the first night in a crate in Mom's room and she didn't get any sleep becasue he barked all night with only a few breaks for sleep. The next night he spent n the crate in the other end of the house where we all could sleep. he barks for about 30 minutes and then sleeps the rest of the night mostly. he makes it for 8 hours and then will bark if you are not there to let him out to pee. But you can tell it is a different bark, not the mad "I'm locked up" bark. We also put him in once during the day so that he gets used to it while we are here, but he barks all the time if he can hear us. Eventually he will stop for breaks. we don't get him out while he is barking. We have tried ignoring him, shushing him, I even tried squirts from a water bottle, but all that just makes him bark more. he gets really mad. if you try to talk to him, he barks more. he is about a year and a half old, maybe on to two. We may be fighting an ingrained habit if his previous owners let him out when he barked. We covered the crate with a blanket except for the front, and when he comes in from a pee walk we put his treats in there. So he goes in on his own to get treats or to check and see if treats have appeared on their own. Any advice on what to do to get him to stop barking? Mom wants him ultimately to sleep in a regular bed in her room, but for now he has to be in the crate because he chews and is not housetrained. Promise pics soon!!! Thanks so much, Julie

[bellasmomma 12]

30 minutes of barking before an 8 hour sleep doesn't sound too bad to me since he's new to your home. Just keep it up and the 30 minutes should get shorter. Try a very special treat that he only gets when put in the crate. I do that with Bella and she loves her crate. If he came from the pound he was in a cage all day every day and his barking was probably constant considering how noisy those places are. Good luck, you'll be resting in no time!

[puppyluv 0]

I don't know if this will work for your pup but it worked for ours. Whenever we put ours in the crate during the day I covered the crate with a big towel so he couldn't see out. After he stopped barking I'd wait a few minutes and then give him a treat and praise him for being quiet. I would then cover the crate with the towel again. At first he would start barking and fussing again but after I repeated giving him a treat for his silence he got the idea. Eventually we didn't have to use the towel anymore. (We used the towel to block out visual stimulation.) At night we would tell him to get in the crate with a treat and cover it with the towel. He ate the treat and went to sleep with no problems.

I had a friend who tried this and it didn't work for her. So she covered the crate and whenever her pup barked she would gently shake the crate and startle the pup and it would stop barking. I've read other articles about using indirect punishment methods to train pups. That's where the pup doesn't know where the punishment is coming from and he/she doesn't associate it with you. All of the punishment methods where gentle and mostly relied on startling the pup. (ie. loud claps, soda can of coins, throwing an object like a shoe near the pup- not to hit just to startle) I did throw a slipper beside the pen when our pup was trying to climb out and he stopped. (Of course he also barked at the slipper) :dede:

[Stacey 7]

I recommend feed in the crate. Make the crate a "fun" place to be and that is not evil as they think it is. He is just crying because shih tzu are companion dogs and prefer to be with you 24/7 lol

But the crate is definately needed IMO for a great homelife as long as the crate is not used for punishment.

All three of mine will "get in the box" on command.

[Sally 1]

I don't crate, but did you introduce the crate very slowly? First with an open door and treat inside. Letting him go in and out. This should be slow and not negative. I don't believe in neg. things like squirtling water in their faces. Teaching them to trust you and to like the crate is the humane way to help them.

[tzuhouse 4]

I still cover the crate when it is sleep time. Mine sleep with me, but occassionally I put Maddy in his crate if he wakes very early in the am. He will go right back to sleep for a couple more hours. When they were crated for training periods when younger, I always covered all but the door. I was told about it eliminating the visual stimulation as well as helps the little ones feel more secure and of course warmer. Good luck...

[enchantedmountain 2]

be patient it will get better. Some take a couple of days some take a week or so, but they will eventually get used to it. I also would cover the front of the crate at night, until they get used to it. I did this because in the morning sometimes my kids would get up to get ready for school and the puppies think it's time to get up, if I covered it, they know that it's not time for them yet.

[kotasue 0]

Thanks for all the helpful info. Last night he made a major step forward at night. He only barked for about two minutes, then I had to come back out again and he barked another couple minutes. So great strides for when he is alone and it is quiet and dark. As I type though, he is still throwing a major fit becasue he is on while we are here and he can still here and see us. I want him to get used to being quiet then too, so that Mom can keep him in the room with her at night and still sleep while he is in the crate. he still isn't house trained, having had accidents two times, and once on the dog bed. we are taking him out every hour, and this morning he peed 40 minutes after having peed outside. Julie

[Riquena 2]

Hey Julie, my Chico did the same thing too when he first arrived. The first night he cried for a long time, then I took him out and slept in the spare room and let him sleep with me, especially since he had a long flight from Indiana to Texas, and then to Orlando, FL. The next two to three nights he cried and cried with few minutes of quiet in between. Needless to say I tried everything from squirting him, yelling at him to stop made it worse, putting him in my room in the crate with my hand hanging from my bed where he could see it, bought a wind-up clock so maybe the ticking would help, I even tried reassuring him with treats and quiet talks to let him know it was okay to be in there, even laid down on the floor next to him for a bit with my fingers through the crate door, covered the crate, left a night light on, and NOTHING worked.

One night I took him out for a long walk and lots of play, and at bed time I heated up his towel in the drier. (I had heard a hot water bottle works, but I didn't have one.) That night he slept all night (and so did I). I'm sure he was tired too, which helped. Now, he might still cry a little, but I've learned to ignore him and he shuts up and sleeps. He won't go in the crate on his own, only maybe to pull out his bed and toys, but when I put him in for the night and he goes all the way to the back of the crate, I know he'll be okay for the night. I have two pups, and they spend most of the day crated while I'm at work, so he has gotten used to it, and I leave the television turned on as well. On weekends, I give them a few minutes of crate time every about every two hours. And like the other posters mentioned, don't crate as a means of punishment. At night, I always tell them "I love you babies, good night" after they're crated, and they sleep. Mia never had a problem with the crate and she will sometimes go in just to chill out. It does take a little time, and lots of patience and learning to ignore, but I know it's hard. I myself cried a few times in the very beginning out of exhaustion and frustration. Now even if he's being a whiner, I can't imagine myself without him, or her.

[Kecats 0]

Sounds like you're making great progress! But I will post what I did, incase someone else reads this, needing the same help.

Like I saw mentioned, never use it for punishment. Never take them out because they are barking, wait until they quiet down for atleast a minute or two, then take them out w/ praise.

Here is what I did w/ Holly.

When I put her in, I told her Good Girl...... I'd stand there and praise her over and over, tell her how good she is. If she barked, Id get up and walk away, if she quieted down, I went back and praised praised praised! All while in the crate.

We did the typical, put her in at bedtime, let her bark, and ignore her. Her drove us nuts, we couldnt fall asleep, I was afraid she was going to wake son, etc.

So I took about a chunk of the day doing this routine over and over ....... then after about an hour of quiet, I'd let her out........... Go outside, Play with Cooper, put her back in........... Did the same thing.

Finally it worked, that night, she was quiet and hasnt barked in there since.