When we first got Speck, I wanted him to be crate trained. He was resistant to going into the crate and I wanted to get to the point where it was not a hassle to get him into the crate. When we start to leave the house, I have hassle enough just trying to find my shoes, my keys, my purse, my phone . . I didn’t want dealing with the dog to be another issue. We were already giving him treats for going outside to go to the bathroom and knowing weight control with a dachshund would always be an issue, I didn’t want to use food as a treat for going into the crate. Speck would get so excited when I put warm clothes from the dryer onto the sofa to fold and I had to start folding clothes on the bed just to keep him off the clean clothes but that gave me an idea – put a little blanket in the dryer and get it warm, toss it into the crate, say “CRATE” and he would learn to go into the crate. He learned right off the bat and for many years, we continued to warm his blanket at bed time because it was often cold in our house (Kentucky) by the time we were all going to bed.
Speck got to the point that when he saw me pick up my purse, he would go into his crate because he knew we were leaving the house. If he didn’t feel good or had done something wrong, he went straight to his crate. It ended up being his “safe spot”.
Rita
Rita came along and not knowing her past and thinking there might have been a bit of abuse, we were careful with her reactions to the things we tried to do with her. She would go into a full panic when we put her in the crate so we gave up and she is not crate trained. With Speck around, we didn’t travel with the dogs but now that it’s just Rita, we’re ready to start traveling with her and it’s imperative that we have her crate trained. If we’re at someone else’s house, I want her in a crate so there are no accidents in the house. If we’re in a hotel, I want her in a crate for her own safety. I want her to be comfortable in a crate and with her being blind, she’s much safer in a crate than wandering around a strange to her location.
We’ve been trying the same trick that worked so well with Speck with the warm blanket and we’re making a bit of progress. We aren’t there yet but progress is good. It was so much easier with Speck but he was about 8 weeks old (Rita’s 5 years old) when we started it with him. He had no history of abuse and he wasn’t blind.
Rita is apprehensive of everything . . from a new treat to a new bag in the floor . . everything frightens Rita. It could be her personality or it could be something more and we’re trying hard to be sensitive to her fears while teaching her new things in a gentle way.
Mary Jo says
Our dog loves her crate because it has been her “safe spot” since she was a puppy. She is 13 years old now and when she is not under my feet I can usually find her in her crate!
Erin says
Hmm she is so adorable though .. our daughter did same thing when her pug became blind at 7 yrs old so vet had her put up a gate first then proceeded to a 4 wall see thru pen with a cozy bed like you have in the picture! Because they go away she wanted to be sure of same situations he walks into walls etc.. so scary! The pen was large huge I should say expensive like a child’s massive gated thing you take apart and they broke it down to four walls but what a process … now he is adaptable to a crate of necessary and even stays in it if company is there so he is safe. He can hear everyone interact and not be afraid. Hope this makes sense