Hi, this is George

[Natalie]

What did you do wrong? And how did you correct it please?

Well, when he cried in the crate I just ignored him... I feel terrible about this now. And almost certainly left him on his own for too long, too early in those first few weeks. He had a crate with a pen around it so had a bit of space, and a place to toilet... but it made toilet training a longer affair.
What I didn't do was put enough effort into making the crate a great place to be and building up his time in there. Yes, it was cosy and quiet, but not interesting enough.

I spent a long weekend doing intensive click and treat for quiet in the crate, just a few seconds at first and building it up to minutes and walking away. I also started to feed him more in the crate, and let him have kongs and chew toys smeared with peanut butter in there... and quite soon he happily took himself there to sleep. I have a sneaky feeling we just got lucky though... we could possibly have ended up with a dog with separation anxiety.

 

[kateincornwall]

Welcome again ! He is utterly divine and he will improve , I promise !! I have Nelly who is a rehomed little dog , and Reuben who is a black Lab puppy almost five months . Just so that you don't feel so bad , I am a very experienced dog owner , have had Labs before but even so, the arrival of Reuben came as a shock , I also threw away the rose coloured glasses , they don't work ! x

 

[Shaz82]

He is sooo gorgeous, they just look so lovely when they are curled up asleep, what a cutie

 

[Charlie]

What a cutie xx

 

[Plum's mum]

Gorgeous George .
Welcome from me in Sussex.

 

[jazzmynn]

Welcome from Ariel (2) and I from Canada. He’s a sweetie.

 

[Naya]

George is gorgeous

Welcome from me and 5 year old girl, Harley. She is my first ever dog and even though it’s not always plain sailing, it’s all worth it

 

[Georgesmum]

Gorgeous George .
Welcome from me in Sussex.

I moved from Worthing, Sussex up to Derbyshire

 

[Georgesmum]

Well, when he cried in the crate I just ignored him... I feel terrible about this now. And almost certainly left him on his own for too long, too early in those first few weeks. He had a crate with a pen around it so had a bit of space, and a place to toilet... but it made toilet training a longer affair.
What I didn't do was put enough effort into making the crate a great place to be and building up his time in there. Yes, it was cosy and quiet, but not interesting enough.

I spent a long weekend doing intensive click and treat for quiet in the crate, just a few seconds at first and building it up to minutes and walking away. I also started to feed him more in the crate, and let him have kongs and chew toys smeared with peanut butter in there... and quite soon he happily took himself there to sleep. I have a sneaky feeling we just got lucky though... we could possibly have ended up with a dog with separation anxiety.

Can I ask a probably stupid question?
Exactly how intensive? How long did you do it for and how often? I really need to get this sorted, I’ve managed to get another week off work, he’s not interested in kongs even with smelly cat food smeared on and in it .
Weird thing is, I can leave the room to go outside for a smoke or put kettle on without him even looking up but if I go out the other door and upstairs he goes mad,

 

[MellowYellow]

I moved from Worthing, Sussex up to Derbyshire

I come from Sussex too originally! Horsham in West Sussex.

 

[Boogie]

Can I ask a probably stupid question?
Exactly how intensive? How long did you do it for and how often? I really need to get this sorted, I’ve managed to get another week off work, he’s not interested in kongs even with smelly cat food smeared on and in it .
Weird thing is, I can leave the room to go outside for a smoke or put kettle on without him even looking up but if I go out the other door and upstairs he goes mad,

Sounds a bit silly but maybe leave the house through the outside door you go for a smoke through? He may just have built up an anxious association with the other door?

I’m glad you’ve managed to get another week off - the things we do for our dogs!

 

[Selina27]

Sounds a bit silly but maybe leave the house through the outside door you go for a smoke through? He may just have built up an anxious association with the other door?

I was thinking along those lines myself. Cassie never minded me going out of the front door, but hated it if I went upstairs were she was not allowed.

 

[Natalie]

Exactly how intensive? How long did you do it for and how often?

I remember it being Easter weekend, so at least 4, maybe 6 days - Basically throughout the course of the day, we went in and out the crate, doing different things:
- chucking treats in there and getting him to run in and back out
- Clicking for quiet, starting off with my next to him in the crate, building up from 1 second, to 10, to a minute - but then back down to 5 seconds so it was all a bit random
- Walking away and coming back to him when quiet, treating
- kongs in the crate
and sometimes not using the clicker, just throwing him treats in there when he was quiet.
Over that period we kept him out of the crate a lot during the day, so when he did go in only positive things happened in there. though I'm pretty sure he fell asleep in there too.

So roughly each day, we had maybe 15-20 different 'crate training things' , just a few minutes at a time. not many days, but I know it made a big difference