by Lisa » Sun Nov 22, 2009 11:52 pm
Ditto what everyone else said - and a few suggestions -
If you can, put his crate in whatever room y'all spend the most time in. When I have fosters that are very attached to their crate, I will stick an extra crate in the corner of the living room and take the door off. That way, the dog can hang out in the crate and still be with me.
When the dog does come out of the crate, don't make a big deal about it. In the crate, out of the crate, it's all good. If you want to reward coming out of the crate, just glance at the dog, and toss a treat in front of him, but don't make a big deal out of it. It's more like - "hey, look, you came out to visit...here's a treat. I'm going back to what I was doing now."
You can do a reverse sort of crate training at dinner time. Generally, when I'm teaching a dog to tolerate a crate, I feed in the crate, slowly moving the food bowl in, then shutting the door, etc. You can do that in reverse. First, let the dog eat with the bowl in the crate. Do that for a few days, then move the bowl to just outside the crate, so that the dog only has to stick his head out to eat. Keep it at that level for a few days, then move the bowl a litle farther out so the dog has to put front feet out to eat. Every couple of days, increase the bowl's distance from the crate.
When the dog is worried and obviously wants back in his crate, let him. Don't shut the door, leave it open, but let the dog retreat. Just make it a non-event, like going to lay down on a dog bed. Treat being in the crate as no big deal, nothing to reward. When he comes out, that's a non-event too. If he actually comes to you for attention, that's when he gets cookies, or pets. Typically, with dogs that are worried or stressed, having a party for them when they come out of the crate can be scary and send them right back to the crate.
If you absolutely have to get the dog out of the crate, and he really doesn't want to, use a leash. Change the picture for him by putting a leash on him and quickly moving him out of the crate and to where ever you need him to be, then reward. Don't make a big deal out of it, don't try and bribe him to come out, or beg him or whatever. The more attention (either positive or negative) the dog receives around his crate, the harder it will be to lessen that attachment.

RIP Madi
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