I've crate trained several dogs but Artemis is my first husky and by far the most challenging. That little girl does NOT like a crate. I guess I should say she doesn't mind her crate as long as the door is open. With the door open she'll go in and out, take naps, etc., but if you shut the door, all hell breaks loose. She howls, whines, attempts to chew the grating, digs -- just generally freaks out.

We're working it slowly and she's been doing better. I'm doing all the right things -- high quality treats, feeding her inside the crate, not letting her out while she's misbehaving, etc. Really, we're making progress, it's just slow.

My problem is that at the end of March my husband and I have to go out of town and there's no way we can bring her with us. There's no way I can send her to a friend's house for the weekend if she's not crate trained. (have i mentioned she's more destructive than a tornado?) I'm trying to find someone who would be willing to come sit her at my house. If I can't find anyone, my only other option will be to have her kenneled at the vet. I have a feeling if we have to resort to that she will come back REALLY hating the crate. I'm bringing her to the vet to have her spayed Friday so I'm going to talk to the vet about it then. I'm sure sedation will help but I can't help but think she might still relate "crate" and "jail."

Has anyone else had to kennel a dog that didn't like their crate? Did it make things worse or did it actually help in any way?

Thanks!

She's so young, I'd honestly start using tough love. Siku screamed the first few nights in her crate as a puppy, but we just ignored her and let her out every 3 hrs to go potty. She realized pretty quickly that screaming wasn't going to get her out of the crate. Maybe try that for a few days and see if she gets the point too.

I have the same exact issue! Like Sara said tough love is pretty much the only thing you can do. We're still working on his crate training, but it's a work in progress. If I have to leave, I put him in the crate w/a kong or a bully stick.

We got her at 6 weeks old and started crating her in our bedroom at night right off the bat. We go to bed around 10 PM and get up around 3:30 AM so it's not like she was in there for a super long period of time. (I was setting my alarm for every 2 hours for potty breaks) She was so loud that we would move her to various rooms in the house further and further away just trying to get some rest. After 3 weeks of absolutely no sleep -- and I mean NO SLEEP because she was RELENTLESS -- we finally had to give in and put her and her crate in a bathroom with a baby gate up that way we could leave the kennel door open. We gave that a week and she was still freaking out so we finally just started closing the entire house except for our room, the hallway and the kitchen area. She's fine with that. The funny thing is she doesn't sleep in our room, she'll sleep in her open door kennel in the kitchen. We've since tried putting her crate in our room again but she wasn't having it. I don't think her issue is with crates, I think it's just a form of separation anxiety. She's fine being away from us as long as she knows she can get to us if she needs/wants to.

I was wiling to keep toughing it out but my husband, who works extremely long days, got to the point where it was "if I don't get sleep, the dog has to go." And when I say freaking out I mean I thought she was going to physically hurt herself. Her crate would be full of saliva and when you would finally let her out she would drink soooo much water then just collapse in exhaustion.

Has anyone had any luck with thunder shirts? I tried to find out at Petsmart the other day but they're not going to start carrying them until mid-March. We're up to a good 20 minutes in the crate with minimal fussing as long as you're there to tell her "no" when she starts acting up. Who knows, maybe kenneling her at the vet would be good because she'd get 3 solid days of a pen and "tough love."

we have dog resorts here, they are actually pretty nice they get a room and a bed and some even have cameras so you can watch them form your computer while you are gone in most cases it cost around 30-40 per night but then she woulnt be locked in a crate and they will usually let them have play time in the romp room you may want to check something like that out

We have one of those here and people can pay extra so that their dog can have a human to sleep with overnight.

Karen124 wrote:

We got her at 6 weeks old and started crating her in our bedroom at night right off the bat. We go to bed around 10 PM and get up around 3:30 AM so it's not like she was in there for a super long period of time. (I was setting my alarm for every 2 hours for potty breaks) She was so loud that we would move her to various rooms in the house further and further away just trying to get some rest. After 3 weeks of absolutely no sleep -- and I mean NO SLEEP because she was RELENTLESS -- we finally had to give in and put her and her crate in a bathroom with a baby gate up that way we could leave the kennel door open. We gave that a week and she was still freaking out so we finally just started closing the entire house except for our room, the hallway and the kitchen area. She's fine with that. The funny thing is she doesn't sleep in our room, she'll sleep in her open door kennel in the kitchen. We've since tried putting her crate in our room again but she wasn't having it. I don't think her issue is with crates, I think it's just a form of separation anxiety. She's fine being away from us as long as she knows she can get to us if she needs/wants to.

I was wiling to keep toughing it out but my husband, who works extremely long days, got to the point where it was "if I don't get sleep, the dog has to go." And when I say freaking out I mean I thought she was going to physically hurt herself. Her crate would be full of saliva and when you would finally let her out she would drink soooo much water then just collapse in exhaustion.

Has anyone had any luck with thunder shirts? I tried to find out at Petsmart the other day but they're not going to start carrying them until mid-March. We're up to a good 20 minutes in the crate with minimal fussing as long as you're there to tell her "no" when she starts acting up. Who knows, maybe kenneling her at the vet would be good because she'd get 3 solid days of a pen and "tough love."

Karen,
We experienced the same thing, however not on the scale that you described (timeframe wise.) Our pup is getting better used to the crate and we now have one in our bedroom for sleeping and the other in the kitchen area where we're trying to get him used to being during the day. We got zero sleep for the first three nights and I also thought that he was physically going to hurt himself so we gave in (which we know is not good.)

Last night worked well. Our trainer recommended the "clicker" training method, which seems to be going well. We slept in our bed with our heads at the foot of the bed so we were closer to him in his crate, and every time he was quiet, we used the clicker and praised him. It shortened the time he was loud, and he actually allowed us to sleep. We also put a wind-up clock next to his crate for the ticking sound. He woke us up around three, we took him out and put him back in the crate. He started to cry but settled down and was fine after that.

I also think that our little guy is suffering from separation anxiety also. I was having flashbacks of how I felt the years I worked the overnight shift when we got him!!! It's a horrible feeling being sleep deprived, not knowing how to help your buddy, and also second guessing yourself. I totally relate and hope things get better. Good luck!

Raptor105 wrote:

Karen124 wrote:

We got her at 6 weeks old and started crating her in our bedroom at night right off the bat. We go to bed around 10 PM and get up around 3:30 AM so it's not like she was in there for a super long period of time. (I was setting my alarm for every 2 hours for potty breaks) She was so loud that we would move her to various rooms in the house further and further away just trying to get some rest. After 3 weeks of absolutely no sleep -- and I mean NO SLEEP because she was RELENTLESS -- we finally had to give in and put her and her crate in a bathroom with a baby gate up that way we could leave the kennel door open. We gave that a week and she was still freaking out so we finally just started closing the entire house except for our room, the hallway and the kitchen area. She's fine with that. The funny thing is she doesn't sleep in our room, she'll sleep in her open door kennel in the kitchen. We've since tried putting her crate in our room again but she wasn't having it. I don't think her issue is with crates, I think it's just a form of separation anxiety. She's fine being away from us as long as she knows she can get to us if she needs/wants to.

I was wiling to keep toughing it out but my husband, who works extremely long days, got to the point where it was "if I don't get sleep, the dog has to go." And when I say freaking out I mean I thought she was going to physically hurt herself. Her crate would be full of saliva and when you would finally let her out she would drink soooo much water then just collapse in exhaustion.

Has anyone had any luck with thunder shirts? I tried to find out at Petsmart the other day but they're not going to start carrying them until mid-March. We're up to a good 20 minutes in the crate with minimal fussing as long as you're there to tell her "no" when she starts acting up. Who knows, maybe kenneling her at the vet would be good because she'd get 3 solid days of a pen and "tough love."

Karen,
We experienced the same thing, however not on the scale that you described (timeframe wise.) Our pup is getting better used to the crate and we now have one in our bedroom for sleeping and the other in the kitchen area where we're trying to get him used to being during the day. We got zero sleep for the first three nights and I also thought that he was physically going to hurt himself so we gave in (which we know is not good.)

Last night worked well. Our trainer recommended the "clicker" training method, which seems to be going well. We slept in our bed with our heads at the foot of the bed so we were closer to him in his crate, and every time he was quiet, we used the clicker and praised him. It shortened the time he was loud, and he actually allowed us to sleep. We also put a wind-up clock next to his crate for the ticking sound. He woke us up around three, we took him out and put him back in the crate. He started to cry but settled down and was fine after that.

I also think that our little guy is suffering from separation anxiety also. I was having flashbacks of how I felt the years I worked the overnight shift when we got him!!! It's a horrible feeling being sleep deprived, not knowing how to help your buddy, and also second guessing yourself. I totally relate and hope things get better. Good luck!

The clicker works great. I would set my alarm every hour. She cry for those hours. but I would take her out and put her back in. It only took us 3 weeks of this then she went in there on her own. She now loves her crate. She will not sleep anywhere but her crate!