Hi all I have a new addition to our family ,hes a male staffy cross 13weeks old. Im having a problem when I have to pop out he has a cage in the living room where he happily goes and sleeps when he wants his quite time with the door left open,the problem is when the doors shut he whines and screams so I would walk out the room for a while then come back in but not open the door incase he associates crying with the door being open,over a few days he seemed to be getting better and when I had to go out I waited outside front of house an he went quite after a few mins,but today when I popped to shops he was not quite when I left and when i came back no more than 20mins later he was barking very loudly and screaming this is the first time I have ever used a cage so am not sure if im doing things right I am at home most times but cannot be their 24/7 need to go to shops ect....am I doing things wrong ?Any advice would be appreciated and thanks in advance:)

I would say that you are doing everything right. Just keep doing what you're doing and things will get better in the end.

You could try feeding him in the cage as well, that might help him feel better about it.

Dawn R.

You could also give him something to keep him occupied whilst he is in the cage. A nice juicy beef knuckle or shin bone perhaps, or a rawhide chew. I had a similar problem and I got a knuckle bone from the butcher and only gave it to my dog when he was shut in his cage. When I let him out, the bone went into a plastic bag and in the fridge. In the end he looked forward to going in the cage as it meant he got his bone. If you can get a few bones and freeze some, or have a regular supply, so much the better.

I would try giving a kong filled with some rather nice good such as peanut butter, naturediet etc.  PLease dont give your pup rawhide chews unless you are there.

Is the cage partially covered? do you leave a radio on during the day?
If he can see all around he wants out, if he can hear people or noise outside hes calling for out.
Ours have been caged since day 1, as they are 16 & 18 months now we dont cage when we pop out we leave them in the kitchen with the cage doors open if they fancy a snooze, But we do still put on the radio to partially blank out, outside noise, partial to Radio 2 (more than i am) or talking on Radio 4!! give it a go. We have two towells over the crates so they can see out the door but not the sides so their private!!

Our eldest was crated from day one and has always been happy to go in his crate although we don't use it anymore when we go out but when I looked after a friends dog they said that he would whine at night and boy did he whine....until I covered part of his crate with a towel so i would try what Whistler has suggested :-)

>>>>PLease dont give your pup rawhide chews unless you are there<<<<

I agree -
some try to swallow too big a piece and can choke if unsupervised

Thank you all for the replys,nice to see im doing something right lol but i`ll def try the partially covering some of the cage I already leave him lots of his toys ,unfortunately I can`t leave him to free roam at the moment (in and out cage )when i`m not their as I have other dogs that he will not leave alone another issue if any one can advise on this as well,they have told him off and made him cry out but he just growls and clings off their skin I tell him no firmly and put him in time out away from them for agood 15mins then he`s straight back to it i`m just worried hes hurting them to much and their suffering it, they have a number of scratches and red marks on them am I right to keep jumping in???sorry to ramble on but can anyone suggest a good filling for a kong for a pup as the squirty kong puppy filling gives him the runs.Thanks again.

anything I used normal feed with a cheese bung, I also use kong filler biscuits there shaped like a mini bone by King and I stuffed those in.
I also have a king that you srew together so i can put in the old fashioned charcoal spillers type biscuits, anything really, that Kong stuff also sticks in the thing and can go off, the only way I found to get it off is through the dishwasher.

Even carrot, biscuit or cheese in moderation.

I fill Kongs with cheese spread and put it in the freezer which makes it last much longer! Eases teething too.
Angela