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Sudden dislike of crate

2K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  Dober33 
#1 ·
Hi everyone

Monty is now 15 weeks old and since day 1 has always slept in his crate. We started off with the crate next to our bed but as he outgrew his crate and got too big to carry up/down stairs we moved the crate to the kitchen permanently. During the day his crate is in the kitchen and he would often voluntarily go there to sleep when we were at home. We were worried that the first night he was downstairs on his own he would cry but he surprised us by not making a sound. Occasionally he might whimper once we go upstairs but he’ll quickly settle himself down.

Last night however was a first. He whimpered more than usual so we put him out to the toilet. He went so we put him back in his crate and after some more whimpering he must’ve settled down and we got about 30 minutes sleep. Then he started crying, barking and howling like we’ve never heard before! We ignored it to begin with but as he’s been poorly lately I was worried he might be ill again so we put him outside again. No toilet this time but when we let him in he was straight onto his favourite spot of the sofa, curling up to go to sleep.

As I had an early start I slept on the sofa with him, just to get some sleep. He did cry a bit on the sofa too before he settled. Before anyone points it out, yes, I know this was a mistake and this will not become a habit.

Strangely this morning he didn’t make a sound when I put him back in the crate after his breakfast (our usual routine).

Has anyone else experienced a sudden aversion to the crate? Could he have been feeling unwell?

He used to voluntarily go and sleep in his crate whilst we were at home, although recently he prefers the sofa if we are downstairs. He has not been allowed to sleep on the sofa at night. When he is left during the day he is left in the kitchen, with his crate (left open). We make the crate as cosy as possible with lots of blankets inside and over it.

Any advice would be appreciated, I can’t face another night like last night!
 
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#3 ·
I'll echo Gretchen, if he still wimpered on the couch I don't think it's a crate issue at all.

Sounds more like he had a stomach ache, or perhaps got a cramp....who knows, but he was definitely feeling unhappy and sounds like he needed the cuddles more than anything.
 
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#4 · (Edited)
Hi everyone

Monty is now 15 weeks old..........As I had an early start I slept on the sofa with him, just to get some sleep. He did cry a bit on the sofa too before he settled. Before anyone points it out, yes, I know this was a mistake and this will not become a habit.

Strangely this morning he didn’t make a sound when I put him back in the crate after his breakfast (our usual routine).

Has anyone else experienced a sudden aversion to the crate? Could he have been feeling unwell?.......Any advice would be appreciated, I can’t face another night like last night!
Mistake...LOL, not from my lips...:wink2:

If your gonna use a crate:

- IMO there should always be one in a humans bedroom, besides the one crate in your kitchen
- dobe pups like to be near their humans 24/7...in mom-dad or in children bedroom

If the crate doesn't work, long term / and I'm not much of a crate fan, so bear with me.
- I teach house manners (throw pillows, blankets, leather material, oak coffee table legs, etc. are off limits)
- and pups dog bed is a leather sectional (by day) & master bed (by night)

^^ Given these daily spoils, the inviting crate starts to get ignored quickly here / something I do expect happening.
- our second girl (former Amy) always rejected crate time / so we adapted nicely, without it

Luckily I have trained puppy toy respect, from day1 - meaning hard toys & rubber balls are for chewing to their hearts content / stuffies are trained to be respected, and this distinction affords us very young puppy free reign house freedoms (unsupervised).
 
#7 ·
We keep Anzio"s crate in are bedroom. He has a small pet bed in the room as well stationed in front of the crate. The crate door is open. He checks my wife's side of the bed then mine and than crashes out in the pet bed or the crate. He decides. Monty may have been just a bit needy and looking to snuggle. I do give Anzio a tea spoon or two of yougurt he enjoys it and I think it is good for his stomach. A 6.oz container last about 5 days.
 
#8 ·
Thanks everyone - I did type out long reply yesterday but then my laptop crashed and it didn't post :|

So that first bad night happened on Tuesday and Wednesday night he was absolutely fine again! However Thursday we had the same problems, but last night he was fine again! The only thing I can think of that those 2 bad nights have in common is that we gave him a 'bed time biscuit' before bed - I can only guess that they don't agree with him and potentially give him tummy ache/cramps. Will see how he is again tonight.

Regarding the location of his crate he has been fine with it in the kitchen for the past month or so. We started with a crate next to our bed and we would carry him (and the crate) downstairs for the day and back upstairs for night. But when Monty outgrew that crate we got a bigger one which couldn't be moved between rooms (not easily anyway) and on top of that Monty is getting bigger and I struggle to carry him. My other half can carry him but I worry that if he wriggles I could drop him or fall down the stairs. So we made the decision to have him sleep downstairs. We worried that he would cry but we didn't hear a peep from him!

We've definitely spoiled him by letting his up on the sofa but not sure how successful we'll be reversing that now - most of the time we're just happy he's asleep :wink2:

Fingers crossed tonight goes smoothly.
 
#9 ·
Glad it sounds like you've figured it out and all is back to 100%

I'm sure soon enough he'll be a well mannered boy sleeping through the night and trustworthy enough to let have his own dog bed in the bedroom ;)
 
#10 ·
Ok so last night was another 'bad'night. I don't even think wanting to be near me is the issue as I left him on the sofa and went upstairs for 30 minutes and he was fine on his own so it seems it's just the crate?

And this morning his routine seems to have completely disappeared. Normally after his breakfast he'll go back to sleep in his crate for a couple of hours (even after the 'bad nights') but this morning he just wants to chew his toys. He is teething so could this be the cause?

His routine was working so well I'm so disappointed and frustrated it seems to have vanished.

We have considered letting him upstairs but the problem is getting him there. He's too big for me to carry safely up and down stairs, my partner can manage but he is not always here at the times he would need carrying. Could we let him go up and down stairs slowly, if we held his collar?
 
#11 ·
Not sure what your concern is with stairs but I would think he is plenty big enough to do stairs. My boy is 10 weeks and flies up the steps already. He does take his time going down though. Not sure about the crate ordeal. I have never had crate issues with any dog. My pup cries for about ten minutes and then he's fine. I do try to make the crate a good experience though. He gets treats and I sit at the crate and pet and love on him for a few minutes before he goes in. I want him to know the crate is not a bad thing.

Do you cover the crate? I cover the crate completely with a blanket and I think it helps give them a secure feeling. Leaving a few inches at the bottom for air of course. Do you leave the house often and crate him?(3-4 hrs). This helps to show the crying isn't doing them any good, and never get the dog out when he's crying. To me it just sounds like he's convinced crying will get him out of there.
 
#12 ·
Dober pups should be introduced to stairs, at 10 weeks young.
- in less than a month, babies are big enough to jump/crawl up on the couch
- at this time (12 weeks), they are more than capable of walking up or down the steps
 
#13 ·
With the stairs I'm sure he's more than capable in going up and down them but I'm worried about it damaging his hips/joints in the long run. Everything I read says this can be the case.

As an update last night he cried and whinged and I ignored it and after about 20 minutes he settled. He did this a couple of times and finally settled down. I put my dressing gown in with him this time so think that may have helped to settle him.

Here's a photo of the little monster - he likes to warm up in the sun first thing in the morning - I think he is more lizard than dog sometimes!

 
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