Stop! Wait and check, please, pups will cry but if it's serious consider this:
Where did you get him from? When a dog eliminates in a crate especially it can be a serious indicator of a pup mill dog...not to mention the fear of the crate instead of the security of a den...it may very well be a cage to him not a den...that's a serious problem!
This may not be the case for you but if it is a possibility continuing crate training can be detrimental. It is not natural for a dog to eliminate on their bed area...they learn from mom to go in a potty spot of some sort at a young age-given accidents happen but after having a pup mill dog I'm very much so aware of how serious an issue this can be...
You may really want to try a play pen area immediaely with four areas in it a... BED AREA
PLAY AREA
POTTY AREA
and if you leave him in it during the day a
PLAY AREA
I prefer a 6x6 area but 4x4 works for smaller dogs too.
Throwing a blanket over the area can stop the whining, but more importantly ensuring your dog doesn't learn to view a crate as a cage is critical! Not to mention the pottying in the "den" can lead to more psychological and training issues...
Using tools like supervision free toys (safe toys like natural fiber ropes and kongs etc) a non spill-able feeder and water (like a heavy bowl and a water bottle) a scent inducing potty pad (the washable ones are great as they are reusable and save you tons in the long run-just be sure not to use a scented detergent) and an easily washable bed will really aid you in this process...
always immediately wash anything with potty on it-if they smell potty on it that's the potty area. It's a lot of work at first but the end result makes it all worth it-more work now or continual issues for the duration of your pet's life. Scheduled feedings and plenty of training for pottying is critical even more so for dogs or pups with unnatural potty habits like going in one's "den"
My Scoobers is a pup mill dog and I went through so much with him to stop his behavioral issues, fear, fear aggression, food aggression and hording (over eating) and worse of all he would potty on his bed and sleep right there with it-he was also afraid of grass and thus was too scared to potty outdoors for the longest time-we had to put in so much effort to litter train, grid, potty pad etc are all the same idea...wish they had the potty patch when I had these issues with him...a year of working with him eliminated pottying in the house and he is now officially house broken...he even uses a crate now without fear and extreme anxiety at the site of one...hope this isn't the case with your pup-but it so hope this helps you, wish I knew it all before having trial and error figure it out as I went with him...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taryn0405  Hi everyone-
I just adopted a 3 month (4 months old on the 21) boy Yorkie. He's adorable as all get out. And loves to cuddle. But, I'm getting very discouraged with crate training. He howls randomly in the middle of the night, eliminates in his crate (both ways) and is just simply panic stricken it seems. I'm not getting any sleep and I feel terrible that I don't go out there to comfort him, but I know that'll just basically undo everything I've done.
I feel like a failure, I have never had this much trouble crate training a dog. Any tips and or tricks would be useful. I went out a bought him an actual cage as opposed to one of those little travel crates. Maybe that'll help. But please, any suggestions. I feel like my fiancée and I are losing our minds.
HELP!!
Gizmo's Mommy |