As most of you know, my pup came home three days ago. He is sleeping in a crate in our bedroom and is not happy, he is delighted to fall asleep on the sofa downstairs or anywhere of his choosing but when it comes to being in a crate, downstairs or upstairs in fact, he whines and whines and whines. I have tried comforting him and chatting to him which works in the short term (for a few seconds) and ignoring him (no real result), and putting a sheet over the crate (seemed to worry him more). He is always put in the crate with chews/kongs and a toy. My concern is that as he was imported he had to fly in a crate and I think this has made him have a bad feeling about the crates and/or it could be simply because he had to be in his crate for so long that day that he just taken against them now.

He is also very upset when I leave the room, for instance I went upstairs to have a bath the other day and left him in the crate with kongs and my other two dogs were also with him, and he cried more or less for 35 minutes.

When he is upset at being put in the crate he will not accept kongs/chews and just ignores them.

While I have taken a large chunk of time off work to be with him for the next while he will have to get used to being alone, if only for me to be able to go shopping, walk my adult dogs etc.

I think I may have to start from scratch and act as if he has never seen a crate again and train him 'up' to being inside it for a second with the door open and so on and so forth. I think he will probably be better at being left alone then though he has been left loose in the living room with my pair of dogs for a couple of minutes here and there while i was in the next room and he wasn't happy.

Other than these things, which are quite small problems really, he is absolutely wonderful and we are getting along brilliantly. :)

At home I rarely crate my new puppies, Peni (3 months and 3 days LOL) gets left with the others loose when we go out, the only time she is crated is at night, so her great grandmother who is in the kitchen with her, gets some peace.

She gets fed in the crate and I toss toys and hooves in there so she often goes in for short periods of her own accord.  I often have to turf an adult out of it when it's bed time.  So I'd keep teh crate up for him to choose to use it as his bed, offer all treats in there.  You will probably find the other dogs using it.

I would be concerned about leaving him loose when I am not around though. The crate door is open and the others have popped in at various times. Typical for his breed, he prefers the sofa. At night time there is no option but for him to sleep in the crate in our room, OH will have it no other way as if he is left out he will wander and there are wires etc with the tv. When downstairs there are no wires so maybe i should leave him loose on occassion, in one room, though all the books drilled into me that he should be crated so as not to have any risks of chewing inappropriate things.... Last time I had a puppy I don't think crates even existed ;)

Do you have space for a few puppy panels? You could place the crate with the door open inside it, but he would still be free to come out if he wished.

I don't really have space and though a pup he is already very large so i don't think it would quite work in this case.

When my pup came home he screamed at being put in his crate, he screamed if he was left loose in the living room with the other dogs and I was in the kitchen the other side of the baby gate, he screamed at night in his crate, he screamed pretty much anytime he was away from me and I didnt know how we would get over it! Tbh I don't actually know what we did, he just seemed to settle down after about  a week. At that stage though if he was tired and due a nap id put him in his crate downstairs next to the sofa, close the door and sit next to him until he went to sleep and then get on with what I needed to do. For the first 2 nights I slept on the floor next to his crate in my bedroom too.

We did discover that covering his crate meant he didn't see what the others were doing and so he settled quicker but I only do this at night now, not in the day. Pup gets fed in his crate for his lunch time and evening meal (fed with the others for the other two), he has kongs in his crate and any other chews and a couple of toys.

I think really he just got better with time as he relaxed and settled in here rather than anything we actually did. Now he is very independent and is happy to wander off into another room on his own or go into the garden without me next to him.

Good luck though!

To be honest I've never even once crated a puppy (or adult) that was not a toybreed -confined to one room, yes, but no more than so. I've never heard as much as a peep out of them even the first night as there are other dogs to cuddle up to.

> all the books drilled into me that he should be crated so as not to have any risks of chewing inappropriate things.... Last time I had a puppy I don't think crates even existed

I hate the way all puppies now MUST be kept in a cage :-( I've never used them apart from in the car, there is one under the stairs as a hidey hole but the door has never been closed. Pups are confined to the kitchen when I'm not watching them, for house training purposes, but other than that from the moment they come home they have the run of the house with the other dogs. Yep, the odd thing has been chewed, but I see that as all part of having pups. They'v never done any real damage because I keep lots of toys, bones and chews in every room.

While cages may be useful in some situations I do think they are abused by a lot of owners, people think you must get a cage when you get a pup and in some cases the poor pups are in that cage for 16 hours a day between work and sleep time for humans :-(

Ha, my breed do not cuddle. They may sit on each other to get the one below to get OFF the sofa but no cuddles... LOL. If only! Maybe tonight I will attempt to have him sleep loose in the bedroom with my adult dogs...I may even leave the crate door open. I reckon he will go exploring the whole room though and then my OH wont sleep....

> To be honest I've never even once crated a puppy (or adult) that was not a toybreed -confined to one room, yes, but no more than so. I've never heard as much as a peep out of them even the first night as there are other dogs to cuddle up to.

Ditto :-)

@Chaumsong, I'm using the crate at night time and then if I have to go out (obviously short trips ie an hour to do the grocery shopping). Other than that he has the run of downstairs (I don't like him using stairs for fear of his joints and bones) but like his elder siblings isn't getting much farther than the sofa ;) You're right about the crate though, every book more or less says keep them in the crate 24/7 :(

I agree with the others that you must make the crate somewhere he really wants to be, feed him and give high value treats in there with the door open.

When it is bedtime or you aren't going to be there put a piece of old clothing [no buttons or zips]you have been wearing in there so your scent is always present.

Talk quietly to him so he has to be quiet to hear you,poke your fingers through the crate so he can sniff you or you stroke any bit that comes close.

Tire his brain out pre bedtime with training sessions, not energetic ones, this will help him wind down ready to sleep.

The seperation thing takes more work with you popping in and out of the room where he is every few seconds and then extending/varying it so he won't know how long before you are likely to appear, you can be gone 5 mins and even well settled dogs act like you have been gone hours when you get back.

It is early days yet, he has had a big upheaval, he is probably worried that his new life is going to disappear too.

Hi Rhodach, thanks for the tips have been doing most of them, just not leaving him a tshirt or anything so will start doing that. I am conscious of asking too much of him myself and he's really being the perfect pup already, it's not even the noise of the whimpering that bothers me at night just worrying he's not happy. :(

I agree that crates can be misused and they are certainly not a fix it for behavioural problems or foolish owners BUT they can have a very useful function in many households.

Although we've previously owned dogs without crates it quickly became apparent that our rehomed terrier type mongrel (10 months old at the time) actually craved small dark sleeping places.  We once 'lost' him in the house and he was as quiet as a mouse and fast asleep in the large dirty-laundry basket in the utility room - he'd jumped onto it and managed to invert the lid back over the top.  When we found him he was solidly asleep and I expect it was the first proper rest he'd had since being in the dogs home - the poor boy was exhausted.  When we took him to visit my mum he preferred to sleep in her JR's doorless crate under the table (all squidged in to a too small space - but blissfully happy).  After that we decided to buy him his own and he's never looked back, that's his proper nightime or 'whilst we are out' bed.

Subsequent puppies (gundogs) have all been trained to use a crate and they are positioned in the utility room under the work surface.  They all have other beds around the house but, again, their crate beds are where they go whilst we are out and at night OR if anyone is feeling under the weather or in need of proper upside down comatose type sleeping, this is where they choose to go.   I keep at least two spare crates for pups - their adult sized one is in the utility room and I have a smaller one in the bedroom for the early days.  I also have a smallish one in the car as tiny pups seem to get less car sick if kept contained in a compact space. 

It's easy enough to train young puppies to use crates, and of course your need is greater when they are v young (to ensure their safety, and protect your belongings when you need to nip out of the room) so you persevere, but an older more reliable puppy doesn't have the same need to be protected.  However, I'd be inclined to establish some proper routines around using the crate - do your older dogs use them?  It will be easier if they do as the pup won't see them ambling around whilst he is contained.

If you intend that the pup should be crated downstairs when you are out then start to use it little and often every day.  After a walk - pop him in the crate: put him in after you've done a short training session; whilst you make your lunch/dinner etc.  The general rule of thumb is never to put a wide awake puppy in a crate - you are simply inviting him to shout, but if he goes in there when you can expect him to rest then you are more likely to be successful.  If he really makes a fuss whilst he's in there set an audible alarm for whatever time you think is ok (1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes etc) then let him out when the alarm goes off.  This is better than the advice about not letting a barking puppy out - some pups really could bark for hours! - this way he learns that he doesn't control the exit, you do, and he soon learns to listen for the alarm.  A word of caution though NEVER ignore the alarm even if he appears to be relaxed - he must know that this is the cue for an open door.  Also I'd suggest you stay in the room - I used to pop mine away every time I loaded the dishwasher, or washing machine.  He soon learnt that I wasn't going anywhere and could safely nod off.  I always opened the door when I finished but sometimes he was asleep by then...

Wonder if his air journey has put him off being in a crate. My Mum had a play pen for us but due to some lateral thinking used to sit in it herself to sew or iron whilst we played outside the pen, thinking could you use the panels from the cage to cover any areas of chew danger so your OH could sleep in peace.

Hi all, thanks for more great advice. We have done away with the crate a bit. He is now happy to stay confined to the living room if I am doing housework upstairs or pop to the shop etc. Cries a bit at first but then settles, am also arranging my day so that he is left only when tired in as much as is possible. Re night time he is still sleeping in the crate in our bedroom and spends the first 15 minutes or so whinging and crying and then settles down to sleep for the night. As he does settle and sleep for the night I am unsure whether or not to leave him in there and see if he'll cry less as time goes on or allowing him to sleep loose in the bedroom, which my OH does not want. What sort of OH doesn't want three large breed dogs snoring in their bedroom anyway.... tsk! I LOVE my puppy though, i am blessed that we are only having small issues <3

It is still early days yet, if he is settling fairly quickly in the crate then leave him, otherwise every little noise you will be awake checking he isn't up to no good, he will soon learn this is the bedtime regime and whinging isn't going to change things.

That was my feeling too, and I know my OH won't get any sleep then and will be a grumpy so and so.... he has improved from day 1 so will hopefully keep on improving, I can't believe in general how great he is and he hasn't been here a week yet.

If he will sleep in the crate with the door shut then keep doing that.
I made the mistake of having the door open but letting her sleep out if she chooses. I used the crate to pen her into a corner.
Now she can jump onto and over the crate as it has a towel over to make it darker, and she cries if I shut her in.