Crate Training

[kaialiang]

Hi All

I am new to this forum and would love to get some advice from all of you. We have a french bulldog named Bella who is just under 6 months old. When we first got her we introduced her to her crate right away and she loved it. We would leave her in the kitchen sometimes and she would go into her crate and nap by herself. She would even run into her crate after I cleaned her ears or if she was upset and wanted to get away. She slept in her crate through the night without needing any potty breaks and no crying. She never barked or cried in her crate. When we are not home we leave chew toys in her crate and we also play music to calm. This all worked for the first months of having her. As she got older we introduced more rooms to her and as she is more house broken now she is allowed to freely roam the living room area.

Since we got her she has always been crated while we are at work and in the summer we had some help with our cousins who stayed over to let her out of her crate for a potty break and some play time. We now have a dog walker who comes by midday for a walk. We have started noticing that she is more resistant in going into her crate in the morning as well as at night for bed. She does not bark or cry at night however when we go to work I can hear her howling in the morning when we leave which never happened before. I also noticed that she never goes to her crate to nap like she once did.

Has anyone else experienced this? Has she just gotten sick of her crate and would prefer to stay out? How do we get her to love her crate again? Is this a normal thing for all dogs to stop liking their crate?

Thanks!

 

[Frenchie Grrrl]

Are you giving her a treat when you have her go in the crate? At this point, I would think that it's not so much that she dislikes her crate, as much as she now knows that when you put her in there that you will then leave. Giving her a treat every time might help her pop in there more quickly, although, she will probably still whine when you leave. I'm sure it's short lived.

She probably doesn't go in there voluntarily as much just because she's adjusted to you and your house and doesn't need to get away like she used to, and there are probably more comfortable areas to sleep. If she is reliability house trained, and you have a small safe area for her to stay in while you are gone, you can give her more space. Once Gus was housebroken, I would put him in this little gated area off our kitchen. I knew he wouldn't potty around the house, but I wanted to know he was safe. I had a friend who lost a 4-5 month old puppy because he found a potato chip bag and got his head stuck in it and suffocated. Now that Gus is past the puppy stage, I feel like he's safe to have run of the house and I didn't even buy another crate when we brought the new puppy home.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about a little whining. It really sounds like you have a great routine for your puppy. Just add high value treats, if you aren't already.

 

[kaialiang]

Thanks for that! We do give her treats when she goes in in the morning. I guess we just feel bad when shes howling when we leave. We have a camera set up so when we hear her crying it makes us feel so bad. But your right she usually falls alseep after that. I don't think we are ready to go give her more room just yet since she is not completely reliable just yet. Hopefully in a few months we can trust her more.

 

[Cbrugs]

Jax will bark and whine when he goes into the crate because we are leaving but he stops shortly after and goes to sleep. So I think it's the just the fact that she knows you are leaving.

 

[FroxerMom]

You guys sound like you did a wonderful job making the crate a positive place for Bella to spend time. I would personally not worry too much about the howling when you leave. I'm sure it stops quickly.

My own FB is a big fan of her crate and will go in there from time to time on her own to nap, and even though she likes it she will still bark sometimes when I go to leave.