Hi everyone!
It's been a while since I posted because I've been so busy with my new little guy! This might be a pretty long post, so please read it anyway, and help me out if you can.
I got Kash on Saturday (Feb 9)... so I've had him a total of a week and two days. He is now a couple days over 10 weeks old. Anyway, he is very well-behaved in most cases, but I need opinions on a couple things... Let me set the stage first…
Okay, so both my boyfriend and I work during the day, so we have to keep Kash in a crate while we’re gone. He sleeps in the bed with us at night because I just don't think it's fair to keep him in a crate during the day
AND at night. That would be like 19 hrs in a crate… no way, Jose. Anyway, he sleeps ALL night long without a sound and no bathroom accidents.
This is the good part.
As soon as I wake up at 6:30 a.m., I take him outside, and he pees/poops. I give him a treat for doing so. Then I feed him his food, and then I let him hang out with us while we get ready for work. When we are about to leave, my boyfriend puts him in the crate. Kash starts crying immediately. It's a horrible sound. It sounds like he's dying or in physical pain, but I know it's just because he wants out. I come home at lunch to let him out to pee, and so far, he’s only had one pee accident inside the crate before I was able to get home.
Anyway, here's my problem. Kash has caught on to my trick of getting him to go in the crate.
I read some previous threads on YT, and started giving him a treat inside the crate while leaving the door
open... Some people on YT have said that their yorkies are eager to go in the crate because they know they're going to get a treat each time.
So, I tried it, and my yorkie is not falling for it anymore. I say, "Crate Time," let him smell the treat in my hand, and then lure him to the crate with the treat. At first, he would hop right in the crate and eat the treat, no questions asked. I didn't close the door when doing this, so he could come out at his leisure, and not feel trapped. However, I’ve also done this with him when I
do leave the house. And now whenever I try it, he refuses to eat the treat, and tries to run out of the crate because he knows I'm going to shut the door and leave.
I don't think he dislikes his crate when the door is open because sometimes he goes in there for no reason when we're in the house with him. I just think he freaks out with the when the door gets shut because he knows we're leaving the house.
Anyway, here’s my question: is there anything else I can do besides the “luring treat” trick? Also, how much longer do you think he'll whine when we leave him alone before he realizes that we will ALWAYS come back? 1 to 2 more weeks? 1 month?
Thanks everyone!
Mae