My sister's 15 y/o yorkie sleeps in the crate, and also goes there when told to get out of the way, or if he is being bad. I have the crate out with the door open, so if Chip and Harley want to go in they can. Lately they haven't gone in since Zippy has been here for extended periods of time, and pretty much claimed it as his crate. Chip used to go in every once in a while, and Harley just has no interest in it. The only time I use the crate with Harley is when I catch him in the act of peeing inside, when he finished his pee I immediately put him in the crate as a time out.
As for training him to go to the crate on command, start with a cue word like bed, crate, box, etc. and reward him when he goes there. Then you can build up telling him from a distance. |