outgrowing crate?

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Archived Message

outgrowing crate?
by melanie and ziggy
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
outgrowing crate? I have noticed 2 behavioral changes in Ziggy and was wondering what to make of it. First, he was crate trained and also used pee pee pads in his play pen. In the last month, he refuses to go on the pee pee pads and will only go outside or will hold it until he can go outside. He lets me know he has to go to the bathroom by sitting by the door. This doesn't bother me since he hasn't had an accident in the last 3 months. Another thing though is that now when it is time for bed, he makes me chase him around the living room before going inside his crate, and most of the time, I have to hold his rump and guide him into his crate or simply carry him to its door so he can walk in. Before he would follow me to his crate although he was slow about it. Should I try a doggie bed, perhaps? He does sleep in a doggie bed during the day sometimes or he will sprawl on the carpet. I'm not sure whether not wanting to go to the crate is a bad thing or not and what, if anything, I should do about this. I thought dogs were supposed to enjoy their crates, and as a younger puppy, Zig did like sleeping in his crate. This crate reluctance has slowly gotten worse. I don't think he has a problem with confinement because when I leave for work and tell him to go into his play pen he does it willingly. It's only at night/bed time that we have this problem. If he had his choice for sleeping, I think it would be on the hallway carpet as he is not allowed in the bedrooms. Any insight/comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If this isn't that big a deal, please let me know, too so I can take it out of the back of my mind.

DISCUSSION:

Malanie: When Shayna got old enough to figure out that KoKo wasn't sleeping in a crate but was sleeping in our bed, she hated the crate at night. We finally had to give in a let her sleep with us too. It sounds like Ziggy wants to be near you at night. Is there a reason you won't let him in the bedroom? Allergies or something? Both my girls have the run of the bedroom at night, they can sleep where ever they like. Doggie bed, pillow on floor, chair holding comforter, bed, or carpet. Mostly they pick chair and doggie bed unless its raining, than its bed. If he isn't getting into trouble, try letting the door open on the crate. I used to bring it in every night because sometimes she would sleep in it with the door open. Good luck and relax they are part of the family and I think Ziggy feels left out at night.
Shelley

It doesn't sound to me like he "needs" the crate for confinement if he has been using papers and outdoors--so maybe that's what he thinks too. As for them liking their crates..Luce will crawl into hers occasionally (and when there is another kid here using it will try to go in and get him out!) but it is kind of a whim for a moment if she happens to notice it is there. Maybe Ziggy just wants to be closer to you. Are you leaving the door off so he can come and go? Also, it could just be teen age rebellion...not wanting to do what you want him to. Neither Luce nor Carty are confined to crates any more because they don't get into any kind of trouble either when I am here or when I'm not, so if you don't have a reason for the crating--primarily safety or convenience--perhaps you might just let the little one decide when he wants to use it and when he doesn't. You will probably find that he will go to it when he wants to feel safer or just needs some alone time. Don't worry about it though. Just decide what you want to do and do it. If you feel the need to keep him confined, remember that you are the mom and he's the baby and you win!!
cathy brown

Well - sounds to me like the little darlin' has housebroken himself! As for the nighttime crate ritual I don't know what to make of that either! Perhaps he could sleep in his usual bed in his pen? We have had Phoebe in a larger crate at night, her bed fits in it just fine and so we do a switcharoo every night and morning, once in a while she lets me know that she would rather not go in there, but does and goes right on off to sleep. My problem now is that we are about to switch her to her smaller traveling crate at night and I just hope this works out! The reason I prefer crating or confinement at night is just in case of fire or other disaster there is no question where our babies are at and they are not going to get stepped on in the night or lost.
Leslie R

Jack has free run of the house all day and all night, except for bedtime. My wife and I, from the time when he was a baby, would lure him into his crate using a cookie. He has now learned that when it is time to go into his crate he will get a cookie and then will go to sleep. We move his crate into the bedroom with us at night so he feels like he is close to us, and during the day we put it in the kitchen with the door open. This way, if he wants he can have a place to escape if he needs to take a nap. We also never punish him by putting him in the crate. He does not feel like it is a bad place. He feels like it is his home away from home He just learned that it is a place for him to sleep and the cookie is a bonus. Good Luck.
Chris

Don't worry about the crate - let him sleep where he wants to sleep. Why are you using a crate???
CMS

I did let Zig sleep where he wanted the past few days, but i don't know what happened yesterday--- Zig had an accident in the house, right after he had just gone outside to do his stuff. So I put him in his crate last night. Tonight, we'll try the doggie bed in his pen. He's not allowed in the rooms because that's my mom's rule. We let him sneak in when she's not around though. He knows to stay outside the rooms when she is home but when she's gone, he'll walk in.
melanie