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Originally Posted by iloveemmy  I am not sure where I should ask this  , but I want an answer soon...and I know this is where you all look 1st--too much good stuff in this thread!!!!
As some of you know, I have two yorkies--Emmy and Oscar. Emmy is a little over a year and Oscar almost 13 weeks. Neither are what I would call "crate" babies. Both came home in a crate and never darkened the door of the crate again. Yes, they both have free roam in 3 rooms of the house. They don't want to ride in the crates in the car either.
Finally the QUESTION: Since I am home for the summer, I thought maybe I could "train" them to like the crates more or least get used to them somewhat. I just put both of them in their crates while I was vacuuming. You would have thought they were DYING!!! The barking, the moaning, the whining, the gnashing of the teeth...I am sure some of you know the sounds. I really want to get them more used to the crates--just in case we need to ever really use them and definitely for travel. Is is okay to just let them stay in the crates for a little bit (how many minutes???) every few hours during the day while I am home with them??? Thoughts??? I refuse to leave them in the crates while I am away during the day.
BTW, I left them in the crates while I came to ask and they are really quiet now....woohoo!!!  |
OK, the question I have for you is: Do you want to crate train them, or just get them to not hate the crates for transportation, etc.
The reason I ask is that you say you refuse to leave them in the crates while you're away during the day.
"Crate training" is a whole method of providing a "den" for your dogs. Since they are denning animals, they actually come to like their crates, and seek them out for comfort. It also helps with potty training because by nature, dogs do not like to potty where they sleep.
Chloe is crate trained. She sleeps in the crate at night, and she stays in the crate when I'm gone. Now I don't work, and when I leave her, the most is a few hours--she can and has stayed much longer in there, but those are rare occasions. It is actually a safe place for them to stay when you're not there, but as far as on a regular basis--like 10 hours a day when you go to work--I don't think is good for them. Not just the crating so much as they shouldn't be left alone like that for so long on a regular basis.
I don't know if it is possible to get them used to it without it being a regular place for them.