# Crate training question



## stealthq (Aug 4, 2011)

Best thing you can do about barking/whining/etc in the crate is ignore it completely. Don't talk to the puppy, don't look at the puppy. If you do, she will likely interpret it as 'I make noise, and I get attention!'. She won't care that it's negative attention. Get her out and praise her once she has given up and is quiet.

Be patient. Leave the house if you need to get away for the noise for a while. She probably won't improve for several days, but I would be very surprised if you don't notice a significant improvement by the end of a week. If you are consistent, your puppy will learn to be silent in the crate because she will have learned that making noise gets her nothing.

**So you know, I just went through this with my puppy a couple of months ago. Kohl was awful, so loud you could hear him outside the house and across the street - and he kept that noise up for _hours_. I posted about it here if you want to search for it. The first night, he kept it up until morning. But, ignoring him worked. By the end of a week he was only making noise for 30min or so, and by the end of a month he was completely silent and has had no problems since.**

She does not need to nap all the time in the crate. I would not put her in the crate for long periods of time unless you need to (overnight or when you are leaving the house). During the day, you might put her in for periods of 30min - 1hr when you need a break from the puppy, while you can't watch her, if she gets too amped up and needs a time out, etc. She'll get enough crate time when you leave the house to run errands, etc. that she shouldn't have a problem adjusting.


----------



## KidWhisperer (Apr 3, 2012)

Thanks for the response! We spent the entire day yesterday working on crate training. I randomly gave Sammi tiny pieces of boiled chicken and verbal praise for being calm and quiet in the crate. I am also teaching "quiet". She actually slept for about 5 1/2 hours overnight. I hope we have turned the corner!

I wasn't sure about the napping thing, so thanks again for that advice. I will let her have some of her naps with me now.

_______________
Karen


----------



## sarpoodle (Dec 26, 2011)

Try varying the amount of time spent in the crate too. Make it very random. Put her in for 5 minutes one time, 30 minutes the next time, 30 seconds the next, 1 hour the next time; just change it all up. Treat when putting her in the crate. By making these times random, she won't ever know if it will be short, long or what. This keeps her guessing, and helps reduce some of the anxiety.

Greg


----------



## KidWhisperer (Apr 3, 2012)

That was a great idea, Greg. I have been varying crate stay times with success.


----------

