Min Pin Pup And Crate Time

[Tambaqui]

Hey all,

We now own a Min Pin pup and going through the socialization and routine to help him settle at home, and he is starting to learn all the different things and getting along with the other dogs and the cat.

Now with crating him because he sleeps in his crate of a night and sometimes during the day to give the older dogs a break from his hyperactive jumping and barking and pretty much teasing them (Fortunately the older dogs just look at him and get upset about it or run away from him because he scares them lol!).

But the problem is when we crate him, he starts barking and whining for a while (ranging from 10 minutes to 30 minutes) and he sometimes doesn't stop his barking, so how can we curb his barking? (We've tried ignoring, telling him no, and giving him distractions like toys to no avail sometimes).

We're looking to try and get him to accept being crated at times without barking in preparation to take him to the dog shows with our other pup (One of the older dogs)!

Thanks for any help provided!

[pebbles]

Well, for starters, some Min Pins can be barkers! My Mickey isn't known as "Motor Mouth" for nothing.

Mine have all been crated for shows and love their crates but I found as youngsters at home it was best to put the crate, with the door open, in a puppy pen (the Bunning's ones are ideal) so they use it when they are sleepy etc. I found shutting the door of the crate was asking for lots of barks if they weren't tired. The only time I shut the door was at night time when it's time for bed, they will gradually get used to this although there may be protests for a while. Once they are going to shows they're shut in the crate for travelling and then into either a trolley or puppy pen. There's a lot of energy in those little bods and lots of protests can be natural.

Have I missed the pics?

Edited June 16, 2009 by pebbles

[pebbles]

Just to add - if you go for the puppy pen and you get one without a top (lid) then it pays to peg a rug/cover over the top as it doesn't take them long to get on top of their crate then it's only a small step to getting over the top of the pen.

[Tambaqui]

Thanks for the tip Pebbles! We'll have a think about it and maybe possibly get one for the show for our GSP and Min Pin to be together, and recently we've moved the crate to the front area of the lounge and realized that when he see us, he stops barking and whinging, so obviously being a companion dogs it seems he prefers to be where he can see us or another dog (He is a great pup at night because he sleeps in his crate next to our GSP in the other crate, so they keep each other company).

But definitely a great tip, and we're still working and slowly training him, and we're hoping he starts his puppy classes in 2 weeks time!