hi, i'm dani and me and my boyfriend have a lovely 14 wk old beagle but she refuses to stay in her crate quietly!! when she goes in all she does is howl or steal her treat and run away again so I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on how to do it....other than listen to her howl for two hours which is our recent method!!!
Why not feed her in the crate and give her all her treats in there too . A kong filled with goodies might be a good thing . Maybe make her associate the crate with good things . I'm no expert and I'm sure somebody will have more expert advice :?
Ours never objected to the crate, and on the odd occasion she did whine to get out we found it best to just ignore her complaints. The more we responded the more she whined. But if yours really doesn't like the crate what about some reverse psychology? If she's anything like our Beagle it will probably work. Put a treat - something really desireable in her crate and shut her out. Hopefully she'll be desparate to get in. After a while, open the crate and let her get her reward. Don't try shutting her in at this stage. If you keep repeating this she'll soon start to think of her crate as a place she wants to get into. I think the fact that you're not letting her in will make it more desireable. Another thing to do is put the bed she likes to sleep on inside her crate (assuming she's got a soft dog bed). I'm sure she'll very quickly get to love her crate and think of it as a nice cosy den.
we're trying to do it because me and my boyfriend are both students and there are some times when our timetables will overlap and she can't be left to chew everything, which she does! Also, our work ours clash sometimes so we were trying to get her to stay in then as well. At the minute she sleeps in our bed but we are trying to break that habit too!!! I think I'll try the reverse psychology thing and see how she gets on, thanks very much It's walking time now though so bye
She simply thinks she is pack leader - so why should she go in her crate at all!! You are well on the way to establishing problems.......
hence asking for help we're trying as hard as we can but she's never liked sleeping in her bed, which is why she was in ours
Don't worry too much about her trying to take over world domination just yet, there is no way any 14 week old puppy could be packleader of anything Making her crate a nice place is what's needed, and the reverse psychology advise sounds a good idea Remember not to shut the door on her until she happily goes in there, and then only shut it while she is eating her treat/kong/ what ever you have given her. I would not expect her to be happy in there for a little while, as she has already learnt NOT to be, and changing her perception of being shut away can take a while.
Our little Beagle has always slept in her crate beside our bed. So she can see, hear and smell us all night long. At about 6 am she wakes us up to get into bed with us. So she always has an hour or two actually sleeping in bed with us. I know I only have experience of one Beagle, but my feeling is that they aren't really the kind of dogs to try and dominate you. Yes, they'll try it on - we've found ours to be very manipulative. But we've always found that it works much better if you coax them into things - make them want to do what you want them to do. If you get too firm they get stubborn!! We just ignore ours when she whines in the crate because we know she likes it there. But if yours hasn't learned to like it yet then I think I'd be inclined to get her used to it a bit more gently. But do get her used to it. It's worth the effort. Ours is 10 months old now and I still wouldn't leave her loose in our bedroom whilst we were asleep. Beagles can be very destructive - you'll wake up one morning to find half your duvet - or half your bed even - in your pup's tummy! Also, we can go out and leave her for up to 3 - 4 hours in her crate knowing that she's safe and content. Get her REALLY tired just before bedtime. If she's desparate to sleep she's more likely to be happy to crawl into her crate. Have you got any photos of her? If so, post them up. We're getting a second Beagle pup in a few months and I need reminding of how cute they are when they're tiny!
I know it sounds silly, but could you even put her crate ON your bed at first? Just for a little while?
Of course not ....but you are heading the right way. Surely dog training should be totally consistent? You don't start with one method then change to another when the problems start.
Well for what it's worth I think dani_ella_87 is doing EXACTLY the right thing. Sometimes there's a fine line between consistency and pig-headed stupidity! If something isn't working then you change it. Paul & I were positively anal when it came to planning how to raise our pup. But we gave in over lots of things, and changed our mind about lots of things. For example, we weren't going to let her on the furniture but she was more persistant than us and she won. We obviously didn't want her jumping onto the dining room table but she wore us down and we actually started to ignore her! But we kept chiping away at things and over time we've managed to get the upper hand. She now knows where she's allowed to go and where she isn't and mostly she does as she's told. It could well be that starting her out in your bed when she's really missing her mum might have been the best thing you could have done for her. You'll never know. But now she's bigger and settled you're definately doing the right thing getting her settled in her own little crate! A crate is probably the most important thing a beagle owner can have!!!! Anyway, your little pup is gorgeous. Please do post up more piccies. I can't wait until we have our next pup! This is a piccy of Beanie the day we got her. She's nearly 12 weeks old, and as you can see she was quite happy with her crate once we put her favorite bed inside it:
My dogs more or less crate-trained themselves. I left it open with a nice bed in it and my leo would walk past it and gradually went in it, eventually building her confidence and she uses it like a den or if she wants time out then i'll find her in it asleep. My gsd pup is a mix and match, he sleeps in the crate at night in case he has any accidents which doesn't really happen now and then in the wee small hrs if he's asked to be let out or i wake up then he sleeps on the bed with me and my leo girlie. I tend to leave it open during the day for their choice though.
Hi I'm not a fan of crates - they seem to be a fashion which has exploded in the past 15 yrs or so. No doubt they have been around a lot longer than that but my view is ..... if you don't have the time to spend to be with and train your puppy, then maybe you shouldn't have one until you do. That's only my view, I don't like the idea, and indeed the reality that many dogs spend a great deal of their time in a cage - why get a dog to put it in a cage? why get a dog when you are away at work or elsewhere all day? Many of us here in the UK and indeed elsewhere, think it is a right to own a dog whereas I'm more inclined to think it should be a priviledge which is earned, not a right. Only my opinion and I do appreciate for some it is an invaluable training aid, but for a great many it amounts to something quite different!
'why get a dog when you are away at work or elsewhere all day?' Unfortunately - in todays world most people have to work - not everyone is afforded the luxury of being able to stay at home. Therefore if they have the use of a crate then it enables then to have a choice of keeping any animal knowing 1. it will be safe and not harm itself, 2. if said animal is destructive then it protects the house if you do not have facilities to keep them outside. A crate is an invaluable training aid - yes i agree but i would also say it is unfair to assume that animals would be kept in it for the whole time. I'm afraid i completely disagree with the people who use crates to cage their animals when breeding and then expect them to remain in the cage quite literally until they are homed However back to the original post - patience will win over - other than that - you may have a new bed partner, lol. Good luck with the crate training
lol we wouldn't lock her in there all day...she goes for 2 hours walks at least twice a day, the only time she goes in a crate is when we do want to socialise (we're only 21 after all and at uni!!) plus our timetables. we are flexible as much as we can and we are here MOST of the day just not all of it. we put her in the crate today and for nearly an hour all she did was howl, it was awful but i will keep trying!!
Crates are wonderful things!! Don't knock crates because of a minority of irresponsible dog owners. The first dog trainer I went to made similar "irresponsible dog owner" accusations against people that DIDN'T use a crate. She was fond of siting one example of a woman who left her puppy in the lounge while she went to answer the door. The puppy chewed though an electric cable that had been encased in protective ducting and electrocuted itself. It survived, but it lost most of it's tongue and some of it's teeth. This particular dog trainer was fond of saying that it's impossible to watch a pup 24/7 and puppies can do all sorts of things to put themselves at risk. Even if left for a few minutes. Let alone all night long. A puppy sleeping in your bed with you can devour a big chunk of your duvet which can cause a bowel blockage. Now I'm sure people that don't use crates go to great length to keep their pups safe and sound when they can't give them undivided attention. But I'd love to hear of their methods if they think they can keep their pup as safe and content as it would be in a crate! The general advise seems to be that it's safe to leave a dog up to 4 hours in a crate. The longest I've ever left mine is 3.5 hours and she was fine. If we leave her alone we always make sure she's VERY tired before she goes into her crate. That way she flakes out the minute we put her in and doesn't even notice that we're gone. We used to put a radio on in the background so it wasn't too quiet. When we first got her we did consider setting up the webcam so that we could check her in her crate from our mobiles when we were out at the shops. We never did this though because we weren't out much and she was always absolutely fine. But if you have the equipment it might be interesting to see whether the crying is just for your benefit. If she's anything like my Beagle she might just go to sleep if she realises that there's no one around to manipulate Try not to let her know that her crying is upsetting you.
I certainly agree with this - full time working and a dog don't mix. However, correctly used, a crate is invaluable. It is impossible to watch a pup 24/7.
