New crate a HUGE success!!

[ladybug1802]

I bought a dog crate for Dylan from good old ebay and collected it this evening. I put it up, put a nice comfy duvet in it, covered the top with a blanket and put it in position.....I put it in a different place to his bed as wanted to give him the choice of the crate or his normal bed...didnt want him to feel forced into the crate if his bed was there.

Well.....he adores it!!! He has spent most of the evening in the crate....hasnt been near his bed! He is currently curled up in the crate snoozing! To begin with he took himself in there and sat there while I had my dinner.....then he came out when I went into the kitchen, realised I wasnt doing anything exciting, and took himself back in there, and when I came back he was sitting in his crate!

Brilliant! So tomorrow I may move the crate to where his bed is, and put his bed in the crate, with the duvet at one end, as the crate is longer than his bed! Is this a good idea...or would it be better to leave him with the 2 options for the time being??

[Horace's Mum]

Fantastic news!! Personally I would leave him with the choice for at least a couple of weeks until you are sure he is happy with just using a crate - but then I'm the one who has beds in every room and had a crate and bed in the living room until I moved! Also, even though he seems very happy with his crate, don't be in a rush to get the door shut or shut him in - make sure he gets little rewards for using his crate of his own accord, and maybe do a bit of clicker work to teach him a crate command and reinforce the fact that it is his choice and it is a good place. Then close the door but don 't lock it for a few weeks, and only when he is happy to stay in his crate with the door shut should you start to lock it. Just remember to keep all the praise for when he is in the crate, and nothing exciting happens when he comes out of it.

[Mattie]

I would always leave him with a choice, as he gains confidence he may want to be in his bed and not the crate.

I had a dog that wasn't trained to use a crate, in fact I never had one until he was about 9 years old, when Gracie came and attacked him I had to get a crate, Joe love the crate, he spent most of his life inside it and was more comfortable if it was covered. Most evenings he would come out and sleep somewhere else, it was his choice. Even when I moved into this house he would spend a lot of time in his crate but would come out for a couple of hours.

[ladybug1802]

Ah thanks guys! I will definitely leave it where it is in that case. In fact after I had posted, he did come out and go on his bed for a while....then a bit later took himself back into his crate for a sleep! When I went to bed he was sleeping in his crate! I did start using the clicker even yesterday.....I clicked when he went in there, and then threw some treats in there gradually after clicking.. So will definitewly carry on with the clicker training in relation to this!

I was going to use the command 'den' for the crate....until I realised this sounds very similar to 'bed'! As I dont want to confuse him I am going to use 'crate'...no chance of confusion!!

[wvvdiup1]

That's great news, Ladybug1802!