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Posted by reena on March 18, 2003 at 16:28:43:
In Reply to: Ok, so I\'m a new, concerned parent :-) posted by glunky on March 18, 2003 at 12:01:46:
I think part of the problem with her crying is that you are putting her in her own room. Dogs are extremely social animals and want to be with their humans. I'd crate her in the bedroom where she can hear you breathing at night and know you're nearby. Additionally -- your bedroom will smell like you, which will be comforting when she's alone.
You've really only had her for an extremely short period of time. Right now she's probably in a bit of a state of shock having been removed from her mother, siblings and only home she's ever known. You need to give her a few days to settle in and feel less stressed out from the change in her life.
You should also start spending more time making her feel better about being in her crate. Below is an article I wrote on introducing the crate in a positive manner:
You need a fanny pack filled with yummy stuff. Not kibble or dry biscuit, but liver, or Rollover, steak, chicken, Beggin Strips, etc. I started out with my dog Holly by tossing treats next to the crate. Once she started feeling comfortable with that I tossed them just in the doorway to the crate. After that I tossed treats in a little further. My next step was to show her the treat in my hand, and put my arm in the crate as far as I could so she was forced to go in after it. Once she was going in and turning around I stopped giving her the treat from the hand that was luring, and started giving it to her from the opposite hand. I also started putting a cue on it "Holly crate". Shortly after that I stopped putting food in the luring hand so she got both a hand signal -- me swinging my arm into the open crate door, and me saying "Holly crate".
This was all done in very short 5 minute sessions. You can do two sessions per hour -- just don't try and work on it for more than 5 minutes at a time. Note that up until this point I haven't yet touched the door of the crate. The door is open at all times.
The next step is to get the dog in the crate, shut the door and feed several treats in the crate through the bars of the door. Immediately open the door and say "OK!" releasing the dog. Do this for several sessions.
The step after this is to fill a Kong with really yummy stuff, put the dog in the crate, put the Kong in the crate with the dog, close the door and latch it. Wait about 5 or 10 seconds and then immediately open the door, take the Kong away (assuming you don't have guarding problems) and say "OK!" Now the dog is a bit disappointed because he really was enjoying that Kong. So the dog learns that really great stuff happens when he's confined to the crate, and it's a bit disappointing when the crate door opens.
The step after this is to put dog and Kong in crate, close door and walk away to the doorway. If the dog is barking ignore the dog, stand in the doorway facing away from the crate and wait for silence. After 3 seconds of silence turn and head back to the crate. If the dog starts making noise do an about turn and walk back to the doorway to wait for quiet again. Repeat until the dog is quiet while you walk towards the crate and let him out. NEVER EVER let the dog out while he is barking. If you always walk away when making noise, and only walk towards the crate when there is silence your dog will learn that the only way to get out of the crate is to be quiet.
The next step would be to leave the room, turn around and come right back. Then leave the room for a few minutes, and come right back. Then for 5 minutes, then 15, then an hour. And now your dog is crate trained.
I know it sounds as though this is a one month process, but you really can do this in just a day or two. You just need to do many, many short sessions throughout the day.
I also still play crate games with my dog. I'll say "Holly, crate". She'll get in the crate and lie down, and then I'll yell out "OK!" and she comes running out for petting. We'll do this several times and I won't go to shut the door. So she learns that the crate is a fun place to be, and if she goes in it doesn't always mean I'm leaving and she'll be shut in it.