You have a 6-old human and a Doberman puppy? That is a recipe for insanity.
You have to realize that your puppy is about as equipped to handle the world as your human baby. The puppy may be in a fear stage (there are several dogs go through), may not be getting the type of mental exercise he needs, and as
@NOLAdoberman67 wrote, has you trained.
You aren’t even to the worst part of Doberman puppyhood. Consider returning the puppy to the breeder OR start educating yourself on dog behavior.
Are you creating enrichment opportunities for the puppy by exposing him to all sorts of sights and noises and textures and and and…? Everything you do now will either create a dog that fits in with your family as a fun and gentle companion or become a dog that makes up his own rules. You should have him in a puppy class.
Many people struggle with crating. If you are one of them, here are the times I used to get my boy comfortable in the crate. Remember, all puppies are different and some will take to crating in a day and others may take 6 months or more.
CRATING TIPS
- Start feeding every dinner in the crate WITH the door open or doing a kibble scatter in the crate with a portion of the pup’s daily amount of food.
- Several times a day, play “go crate”. Take some high-value treats and toss a couple into the back of the crate. Let your puppy go in to get the treat. WAIT until he does this. It may take awhile but if the treat is good enough (I’m talking hot dogs or chicken breast or cheese) the puppy will get it. Toss it and say “go crate!” Or “kennel up!” in a high, happy voice.
- - When the puppy comes back out, toss another treat and repeat the command and praise when the puppy gets the treat. If you do this enough, your puppy will begin to go into the crate on his own because he will associate the action with something fun.
- In the meantime, as you teach that, make the crate comfortable and safe. Try it covered, try it uncovered. Place the crate is somewhere near the action but on the periphery so the pup has comfort of you being there but the family traffic isn’t such that there is a lot of action with people passing back and forth, children playing, or loud reactions to a sports game, etc.
- When you put the pup into the crate, be calm and gentle but don’t coddle the pup, just be matter of fact. There should be a durable puppy safe toy to chew as chewing generates self-soothing. Close the door and leave. Put in ear plugs, if you have to. Living in a condo building built in 1938 I didn’t have that luxury as sounds carries in the strangest ways. So what I did was to get an app on the iPad and iPhone which sets up a baby monitor situation. When my pup would start to scream, I could engage the microphone and speak to him. That helped a lot.
- If all else fails and your puppy is really distressed, and never calms down in the crate, speak to your vet about medication. I can’t speak to that but I do know some folks whose puppies were self-harming because they were so distressed in a crate.
At the end of the day, it is your responsibility to care for your puppy and help him learn the ways of these strange aliens, known as humans. You need to set him up for success. It won’t always be easy to keep your patience and train everyday, but if you can do that, you will have a wonderful companion that will enrich your life in ways you can never imagine!
Please keep in mind that this is only my experience and I am just a dog owner with 25 years of experience with working breeds. I am not a dog trainer per se nor I am not an animal behaviorist, so I can’t guarantee this will work for you. That noted, any time you invest significant time in training and engaging with your dog will result in a deeper bond and easier training of other skills. Good luck and I hope this helps a bit.
