Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with crate

How do we keep our dog from making a big fuss in the morning?

geeky — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:02:22 -0800

DogTrainingFilter: How do we keep our dog from making a big fuss in the morning? We adopted an 8 month old border collie / beagle mix last weekend. We were told she was crate trained and she does seem to be. For now, she sleeps in her crate in our bedroom. (She was sick when we got her and we wanted to keep a close eye on her. She's doing better now.)

While she isn't overly eager to go in her crate at night, she goes in with a little guidance and no shoving at all. We reward her with a treat. She's quiet or mostly quiet when we're going to sleep, and sleeps through the night without any fussing. However, twice this week my husband has had to get up early (4:45am) to go to work. He wakes up and leaves the room. A few minutes after he leaves the room, the dog starts whining, which eventually elevates to full on barking.

What is the appropriate response in this situation? My husband and I often wake at different times, so we'd like her to stay quiet even if one of us gets up and leaves. I'll admit I made the mistake of taking her out of the crate the first morning she cried, but only because I was afraid she had to pee. The second time I used a different tactic and tried silently waiting out the whining and barking. No comforting words, no yelling at her, no acknowledgment of her whatsoever. My husband did re-enter the room a few times, but also (mostly) ignored her. She barked and whined until 5:30am (45 mins) when my alarm went off, at which time I turned on a light, used the bathroom, and after making sure she wasn't making any noise, let her out of the crate.

Is this the right thing to do, or should we be doing something else? 45 mins is an awful lot of barking to endure at that hour of the morning. Should I try telling her "quiet", or should we move her crate out of the bedroom? Oddly enough, she's fine if we leave her in the crate during the day, and if only one of us is around, she doesn't mind being left alone in a room. She does, however, cry and scratch at doors if both of us are home and one of us goes into a room with a closed door (for example, the bathroom). In those cases, we can usually distract her with a toy or something.

Litterbox issue when traveling by car with cat

kathleenl — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:43:11 -0800

I am getting ready to move 1000 miles with my cat. I have a crate for him, and a litter box to travel with. But I'm concerned about when he might have to use it during the trip because I would like to keep him in the crate (as recommended by just about everyone I've talked to.) Is it ok to have him in the crate for 8 hours and give him occasional food and water and then let him use his litterbox when we arrive at our destination each night? Around the house he often goes that long without using his litterbox...but I'm just not sure if that will be ok. I don't really want to get a larger crate that I can put a litterbox in b/c I don't think he'd like laying next to a litterbox for 8 hours a day.

Some have suggested putting a harness on him and having him go outside, but he's an entirely indoor cat, and I honestly don't know that he'd know once outside (and probably freaked out) to do his business.

I'm also wary of taking him out of the crate in the car because it can be challenging to get him back in.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Help me and my dog with our anxiety issues.

NikitaNikita — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:43:16 -0800

DogFilter: Help me and the dog get over our individual separation anxiety-type issues. Yesterday I started fostering a sweet, generally quiet beagle who is about 2 or 3 years old. The rescue says she is crate-trained, and she did fine overnight in the crate (next to my bed) but she positively freaks when I leave her in the crate and go out of sight. (Barking, howling, etc.) I forced myself to leave home and let her 'bark it out' ... it seemed to be lessening as I left, so hopefully that was the right thing to do. Any additional advice would be welcome. I've done many of the things suggested in this thread ... we went on a huge walk this morning, and i'm pretty sure it helped get a lot of energy out since she naps happily while I'm there.

I guess the bigger problem is that this foster is my first dog, and I'm pretty anxious about it too. I've had plenty of sitting experience, both long and short term. However, since yesterday, I've been really emotional, literally crying over whether or not I'm treating her correctly, worrying about the dog's happiness, as well as worried about getting the neighbors pissed off (town house style apts) as well as my roommate. I've gone from confident dog-sitter and excited foster/caretaker to neurotic (overattentive?) mother in less than 24 hours. So, any words of advice for me, likewise, would help.

crate?

nihlton — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:15:32 -0800

my room mate just got a dog and wants to pick up a crate. She has a few questions .... I just adopted a dog and would like to get him crate trained. The crate would serve as an area he could view as his “personal space” when he feels stressed, threatened, or wants to be left alone, and he would also, on occasion, be placed in the crate when I leave the house for a short time. He is a 90-pound Husky and I am wondering if a wire crate would be better, or if a plastic one would serve better for this. If I got the wire one, I am worried he would break out of it but they are collapsible where as the plastic one is more sturdy, can take up more space when not in use.

Which would you recommend to use in my case? The dog’s comfort and safety is a huge key in this decision.

How do I housebreak a true feral dog?

shaarog — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:40:39 -0800

Feral Dog Filter: How do you housebreak a true feral dog who has proven to be untrainable after 3-4 weeks of crating? We have 4 dogs, one of which is a basenji-beagle mix who is a true feral dog. She is currently 5 years, but was not exposed to humans in any way before approximately one year. She has lived with us for the last four, since coming into captivity.

All the dogs use the doggie door, including her (for the most part). She uses the outdoors most of the time, but will go indoors from time to time, more than once or twice a month. For a long time we resigned ourselves to a home with no rugs, but having recently remodeled and refinished the original hardwoods, this situation is no longer tenable. She is not adoptable.

Crate training has been tried previously to absolutely no avail. Crate training is the only housebreaking method with which we are familiar. She will only come to us, no other humans, in certain very limited situations (eg. lying on the bed, sitting in a particular chair) otherwise she bolts away from any human contact. She is so distracted by being leashed that she will not defecate or urinate on the lead while housebreaking. She will hold it for days and let go eventually in the crate. She seemed to learn nothing from 3 weeks of crate training previously.

We've had no trouble training the other three, or several previous dogs, but this feral has us in knots. My husband is a veterinary assistant with several years experience, and even his vetshave had no input.

Any useful suggestions?

Stackable DVD Crates

adipocere — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:29:20 -0800

Where can I find plastic, stackable, interlocking DVD crates? So we have all enjoyed the use of milk crates since college. And then came along the legal (though much more flimsy) alternatives you can purchase at office supply stores. They're great because you can stack them, top up, or stack them with the top facing out.

Of course they're the wrong size to do DVDs nicely. I'm looking for something twice as wide (or so), but half as high and half as tall. Just enough to hold a single row of DVDs. Plastic. With handles. Bonus for black.

Yes, I have too many DVDs. Google has given me all kinds of crates that are great for storing DVDs that you wouldn't look at, but not of the right proportions. They typically hold several rows at a shot and I'm just looking for a single row solution.

Short of finding such a thing, it seems like this kind of customized, injection-molding item would be perfect for those fab labs (about which I know little). Any of those in St. Louis that would be appropriate, or is that a horribly expensive idea?

Pugzilla Destroyer

CwgrlUp — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:13:40 -0800

My pug is destroying the house. HELP! I have a pug, she's almost a year old now. We have tried everything in the world to keep her, but she's tearing the house down. We crated her in our bedroom and she whined all night. She slept with us for a while and her snoring and moving around kept us awake. We made her stay in the floor and she annoys my other dog and keeps us all awake. We put both dogs in the other bedroom at night and she ate the molding around the door and now she's torn a hole in the carpet right in front of the door. She has a million toys and she chews everything in sight and anything she can jump up and get. We have two poles in the living room (not those kind of poles, wooden poles holding up the ceiling) and she's starting gnawing those.

This is my gf's dog and she would be devastated if we got rid of her but I'm at a loss. We can't leave her out for a half hour to go to the store. HELP!?!?

My new dog can't be left alone.

team lowkey — Sun, 20 May 2007 01:47:44 -0800

I just adopted a dog which apparently has separation anxiety issues (and we have cats). We had planned to initially leave him crated during the day. What can I do to help him through this transition? My girlfriend and I went to the SPCA this afternoon and found a 1 and 1/2 year old Australian shepherd which we fell in love with (Cody). Apparently his previous owner got pregnant and couldn't devote the time to keep up with him anymore. He is a super sweet and smart dog, and seemed like a great match, since my girlfriend wants a dog to run with, and he is full of energy and eager to please.

So we played with him all day, decided to adopt him, and took him home. We introduced him to the house and then took him for a long walk to make sure he was good and tired.

He had settled in on the couch with us for a couple of hours, and around 11 PM, we decided it was time for bed. Every adoption place in the area had insisted on crate training for the first month and a half, so we bought a crate and were hoping he would take to it. We filled it with toys, and he had been in and out of it all evening without any problems.

DRAMA! As soon as I left the room, he started whining and then barking. Continuously. The SPCA had recommended that if we could put up with it to just leave him alone so we didn't reward the behavior. My girlfriend sided with this advice, so we left him for about 1/2 an hour. But we have a joint-wall tenant I was worried about keeping up all night. And I was concerned that he would develop bad associations with his crate, which is supposed to be his safe place.

I went to the room with the crate and let him out. I started training him by holding treats in the crate and saying "Go to bed". He has no fear of the crate at all. He eventually got tired, crawled inside and went to sleep. I closed the door and put a sheet over the crate. He slept soundly.

Then I made the mistake of going to the bathroom. I wasn't gone 2 minutes, and he started barking. I came back into the room, and he went right back to sleep. He's beside me in the crate now, calm as a Hindu cow.

So here's where the real issue comes into play. It appears the crate isn't a problem; he just can't be left alone. We have two cats, who sleep with us. We were told (and we agree) that the cats should have a room where they are safe that the dog can't go. We have have a one bedroom unit, and the bedroom is where the cats spend most of their time. So it would be very difficult (nay impossible) to allow the dog to sleep in the room with us, even in the crate. Plus, we had thought we could leave the dog at home during the day (we are going to walk him in the morning and evening, and hire a walker for the middle of the day), but if he can't take five minutes, I can't imagine he can handle five hours alone.

So... help? I think I'm going to camp out with him tonight, since I can't think of anything else to do, and it's gotta be stressful enough for him being in a new home. But what do we do Monday? Will he get better as he learns to trust us more? My googling says that dogs with separation anxiety problems shouldn't be crated. We can lock up the back two rooms of the house (where he is sleeping) and give him access to the backyard, but the folks at the SPCA said this could lead him to develop boundary issues trying to protect the back yard all day. That doesn't mean just barking, but high stress and possibly trying to escape. They said keeping him crated will make him feel safer and more protected. But really, it seems the problem is just that we can't leave him alone at all. We will start on training immediately, but that might not be soon enough. Anything we can do to make him feel comfortable quickly?

Talk to me about crate training...

sLevi — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:04:08 -0800

My year-old shepherd puppy took well to crate training...but I'd eventually like to not have to use it any more. What is your experience? Were you able to transition to not using the crate, and how? Our floorplan is very open, so it will be difficult to confine her to a single room. Toys to keep her occupied? Apparently anything that rolls under the futon or couch is bad, because she can't get it out and starts chewing. How old was your dog?

I am also curious how long people leave their dogs home alone/crated, and if they have outdoor access.

Cleaning a cat crate

oflinkey — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 19:34:27 -0800

Help me figure out a way to clean kitty's crate... After much deliberation and research, we decided to crate one of our four cats because she is eliminating outside of our 5 litter boxes. Our newest kitty seems to be antagonizing Babs to the point where she is under stress and is not using the box.

My issue is that we need a good way to clean her Great Dane-sized crate while she is in there. Along with a blanket and toys and a litter pan, we put in a cat condo which looks like this (middle) but with smaller, offset holes. I am trying to figure out a way to clean the crate without her getting out. Any ideas?

**Before anyone asks, yes, we took her to the vet-- clean bill of health.

We tried separating the cats, but we live in a smaller apartment (and before I am told I should not have so many cats in my space, please know that 2/4 are rescues who would not be taken in otherwise).

We thought about a bell for the agressor, but Pinky Pie sneaking up on Babs is not the issue.

We tried Feliway for 3 months.

We moved the food, phased in a new and vet-recommended litter, covered some litters and not others, we scoop every 6 hours when we are awake, we adjusted the wet-food feeding time, gave her treats when we saw her doing the right thing in the box, the list goes on. Sufficed to say, the vet told us before a behavioral vet was called and steroids administered, we should crate her for 2-3 weeks to get her back into the box habit.

Crate and Barrel Plates

Mayor Curley — Sun, 22 May 2005 14:51:30 -0800

We are considering buying Martinique Yellow dinnerware from Crate and Barrel. Some friends told us that they were less than impressed with the durability of Crate and Barrel plates. Obviously, the quality will differ from product to product, but if you have Crate and Barrel dinnerware, please tell me what you think about the quality.

Question number 10687

benjh — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 13:15:53 -0800

A new puppy in the house. Where should she stay when I am at work? I've been told a crate, but then some people said crating is only when you're home.