Hello everyone! I need a little help and hopefully somebody will have some good advice. I am crate training my pups and while Diesel (my boy) seems to have no problem whatsoever being in his crate, Mya (my girl) absolutely HATES it. She will cry, howl, bark, bite at the cage, and is relentless about it!!! I was told to just ignore her, cuz that if I didn't she would think that it's what will work to get my attention. They are 14 weeks old now and I've had them since they were 6 weeks old! Any Advice?
It sound slike Mya has a bit of separation anxiety. What type of crate do you use? Open wire mesh or Vari kennel? Where is it located? Do you keep the radio or TV on to give them some "noise" so they don't feel alone? Is this during the day? At night? Both? Some more info will help us to give you suggestions.
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Susan
**Boxers... not just dogs, they're an adventure!
Sorry for the lack of info! This is only a problem with Mya during the day when i put her in the crate to leave for work. They have wire mesh crates and they are in a bedroom. I do not leave on music or anything...do you think it will help? At night i have no problem with them in the crates, the go right to sleep.
I think Mya associates being in the crate during the day with you being gone. Typical separation anxiety. You need to put her in her crate at different times during the day and night. Both when you are still home and when you are leaving, and for varying lengths of time. ALso, you need to not make a big deal out of coming home. Walk in the door, take off your shoes, or chang eyour clothes, ignoring the dogs. Then after a few minutes, walk over and open up the crates, again with no fanfare or excitement. Take them out and then play or let them potty or whatever. Dogs are really good at picking up patterns of behavior so yo need to constantly vary the patterns to keep separation anxiety at bay. Also, leaving on the TV or radio can help alot... makes "human" noises close to them so they aren't focusin gso much on strange sounds from outside and they don't feel alone.
__________________
Susan
**Boxers... not just dogs, they're an adventure!
My pup had the seperation anxiety pretty bad also. I used the technique as mentioned above, I would come in and stay a while b-4 I would let him out. I also think I remember in his puppy class one of the instructers saying to not make a big deal of leaving home or coming back. I use it for settle time also throughout the day.
As he got older, he has settled a WHOLE lot. It was very difficult at first, very. He would go on and on, for a very long time. I also started him in the vari kennel crate which was much more closed in then the wire. He really warmed up when we switched.
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