Crating Later in Life?
 

Has anyone had Yorkies that were given run of the house and then gone to crating them? My dogs were all very well housetrained and then a serious of events seems to have made them ALL lose their minds. My DH passed and I know the dogs all grieve as we do -- that seemed to be when they started having accidents. My old gal (17 year old dachshund) just cannot help herself and goes where ever she may be. That has sent a signal to the rest that it is now okay to forget their training. Top that off with the fact I kept a male from last litter and now that has made my adult male start marking all over.

I do not want to ruin the grout in my ceramic floors. I am sick of my house smelling that is why I am ripping out perfectly good carpet (other than the pee stains), While they are tiling, I am keeping them all in the laundry room/bathroom and they are going crazy. They have lots of room in there but they want to be with me every second of the day. I would like to let them out only when I am with them and can watch for bad behavior and then crate them or keep them in the laundry room when I am gone. Has that ever worked for anyone after their dogs had free roam rights? Do they ever get used toit and stop the pitiful crying & barking? I don't know if I can take that. Poor things! That is why they never crate trained in the first place. I had no will when it came to hearing them cry. I may get aggravated at them, but I love every one of them.

I have never crate trained mine, but I think Chelsea will eventually need LP surgery & will need to be crated. So, I can't help at all with your question but I want to see what kind of answers & advice you get. Good luck!

That was supposed to be "series of events" instead of "serious of events." I think I get a disconnect between brain and fingers at times. ;)

I welcome all suggestions to make life smoother here! Thanks in advance!

They can adjust to it. It will be a bit trying but they will either get used to it or get with the program again and realized your not playing with the messes.

My parents recently started recrating our 7 yr old dachshund, Lucy. For some reason when they were gone, she was having accidents in the house, she is in perfect health, but i think she was being spiteful. :rolleyes: she did fine with being crated again. Good Luck! ;)

They can adjust. I had a toy poodle for a long time. As he got older he started to mark all over the house. Drove me insane! What we did was get a very large dog crate and set him up in that. This gave him room to pee if he needed to but also room to get away from it. He was probably 7 years old or so when we started that. Up until then he had free run of the house with a doggy door to the backyard. He adjusted to the crate just fine though. I hope you have as much luck as we did.

Scooter , is 1 1/2 yrs old and had free roam of the house with access to outdoors (doggy doors) for about 6 months, once he was fully housebroken. When I got the two new ones, Bandit & Peanut back in Sept. Scooter would poop in the livingroom every night while everyone was asleep. I don't know why he did it because as I stated, he had access to outdoors:confused:. I started putting him in a small playpen with just his bed, at night next to my bed when we went to sleep. He never pooed in there. It took about 2-3 weeks and he stopped pooing in the house at night. The only thing is now, when we go to bed, he comes in and puts his paws up on the playpen so I'll put him in. I guess he likes sleeping in there now.:p

Thanks everyone! You all are very encouraging. I think I will go tomorrow and get the crates. Might as well start now as they are already upset at having to be in the laundry room. Then maybe by the time the tiling is all done, they will be used to their crates. I wish I had been more strong-willed when they were all puppies and started them in on the crate. Then they would never have had this problem, I would not have to replace my floors, and they would not be traumatized now. Live and learn.

Like you, I never did crate training, and sometimes wonder if I should have. Instead I started pups out in a playpen, then on to the small ex-pen that I LOVE. Even though they mostly have free run, I occasionally put them in the ex-pen for various safety reasons, and they actually enjoy it and go in willingly a lot. The one I got is in this thread:
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...ve-ex-pen.html

Also, congratulations on your new tile; good choice for a house with dogs. I love mine, though I understand people in colder climates might not. About grout, when it is thoroughly dry & cured, have it sealed and it will be very cleanable. It won't get ruined by pet spots.

I can't wait to get rid of the upstairs carpet in my house, though I'm not totally settled on hardwood yet.

I've had friends bring me their older dogs to kennel train.....because of issues like you have explained. I start off slow (now this is going to be upsetting to you more than the dog) I start out at square one again; putting them in an x-pen during the day and at night kenneling them. However, the x-pen (I get in there during the day and play with them) is where they can see me and the kennel is in my bedroom. Yes, there is howling and/or crying (just attempting to push my buttons). Oh! I always put a chewie in their and a night, night baby with them. Retraining, on an average takes a couple of nights, 3 at the most.

All my pups have begun their lives in a puppy playpen (very much like a crate). I've always felt that it was a the best way to begin their lives. My thinking is that what happens if they ever get sick enough to have be left overnight at the vets, or kenneled because you have to go on a trip.