Crating My Beagle

[Ben62w]

Hi all.

I know there are alot of posts on here about crate training your pups. I am just after a bit of advice

We picked up our little beagle girl "Bailey" on friday night.

Played around with her for a while tryed a bit of toilet training. That went well.

Then we introduced her to her crate. But i do admit we did it at 11pm and just wanted to go to bed.. (yes that was a mistake) so prob didnt take as much time as we should have. She walked in by herself. We had a nice new blanket in there that we put her in from the minute we picked her up (she slept peacefully the hole 40min car ride home without a squeak) and a peice of the blanked she grew up sleeping on with the rest of her litter (she is 8wks old). And a toy. She would play a bit. and while she was buisy playing i just pushed the door closed, that worked for a about 5 mins and then she started to yelp and cry and i mean really cry! Another mistake on our behalf was we got her out of the crate and put her in bed with us untill she went to sleep. Which was about a minute or 2. I then carryed her over to the crate, put her in, closed and locked the door. She woke up, looked around, sniffed a bit, made herself comfortable and went to sleep in the crate with the door closed and a blanket over the crate. It was about 12am by then.

She slept uninterrupted for 4 hrs. We woke up and just as i went to get her out to take her to the toilet she went pee. And was very upset that she went in her crate!!! But she still went outside 2! Then comes the problems... She wants to play after that! And if i put her in the crate to go back to sleep she just crys and yelps. Untill shes all played out and tired again.

So i didnt get much sleep. I finally got her to sleep and another 4 hours of sleep it was time to get up anyway.

Tonight.. She has been running around like mad (as puppys do),

As sujested on this forum ii poached some chicken this morning for training. We introduced her (again) to the crate this arvo by throwing little bits of chicken into the crate. And when she went in we would give her a "good girl" and a rub. We would close the door as she was eating then open it again.

Now she has just started to slow down a bit. So i opend the crate door. Threw a peice of chicken in. She got in by herself and i could see she was starting to get comfortable. So i closed the door and went to sit on the couch (We moved the crate downstairs) She sniffed abit and then started yelping and crying. but this time we just left her. She can see us perfectly well. She cryed for about 5 mins. Put her head down and is now asleep.

Are we going about it the right way? Is it the thing to do, just ignore her when she crys and yelps looking at us with those sad eyes? I am about to get her out and feed her so shes not to active before we go to sleep.

Im sorry about the long post. Just thought id tell everyone from the start where i went wrong so it may help people give us some good advice.

Just took this photo.

[Arnah]

I cant give any crating advice, because we tried and failed (sook of a husband snuck into the loungeroom and slept next to the crate with his hand inside!!!!! FAIL!!!!!) but I wanted to tell you how adorable she looks! So soft and squishy!

[Ben62w]

ohh no!! haha yea she is a cutie! Very soft and squishy. i could make another lil pup out of her excess skin haha.

Last night we went to bed and put her in. She was good. Got in herself and we sat there untill she went to sleep. She did. Woke up at 11.30 and put her out for a wee. She did her buisness straight away and came back in.

But this is where im having problems. She wants to play. And i put her back into her Crate and she starts crying and like a screaming sound!! its terrible! But last night we just left her (i am sure we woke alot of neibours up! Its a very horrible sound as she cant really bark yet! She went full on for 15 minutes. By that stage we were going grey! But then she just stoped! About a minute later we heard here snoring. 3.30 i woke up again to take her out. She did her thing. Same problem again... She was all rested so.... She wanted to play. But i put her in the crate again. With a little peice of chicken. Closed the door. Turned out the light and went to sleep. She started again. For those of you who know what im talking about it is a very very horrible scream. It sometimes sounds like a sick baby crying.. then a bird squarking. lol. BUT. This time she only went for 5 minutes!!!. And again we heard her snoring shortly after.

This morning we woke at 7. And she was just lieing in her crate peacefully chewing on her big koala teddy.

Are we going about it the right way? Any other sujestions to calm her down?

Cheers

Ben

[Teebs]

Exactly what i would do - crying means you do NOT get let out, if the dog is still and not barking, then they can get out.

My Staffy was crate trained when i got her, but i had to start from scratch with my Bully. I put him in, he barked and carried on, i ignored him. BUT. If he woke up in the middle of the night crying, i would take him out for a pee, bring him in, into crate and ignore again.

I now have 2 dogs who will only bark/cry if they are crated and need to go out to the loo or get a drink in summer. They can be crated all night with no problems

good luck, it is hard work, but really worth it!

[Ben62w]

Great thanks for that! She is asleep in her downstairs bed at the moment. Might have a few late nights then :S

We were thinking if she keeps on doing it to just pick the crate up with her in it and take her downstairs to the kitchen/lawndry.

Good idea?

[mrs tornsocks]

Congrats on your pup she is absolutely adorable. You sound like you are on track with crating and if she's going to sleep after 5 minutes of her squealing that is not a bad outcome after only two nights.

She is suuuuuch a sweetie, if you haven't already, take her to the neighbours today to introduce her and let them know you have a pup and apologise in advance that she might cry a bit at night etc. Who could be mad at that little face ???

Spend some time today putting her in there for short periods of time, it would be good if she has her daytime naps in there too. So ... if she's had a big play and is exhausted etc., that's a good time (and less intrusive for the neighbours if she does cry).

Not sure where the crate is placed at night .... Is it an option to have the crate by your bed or nearer to you ? As she gets more used to it, you can move it further away until she's eventually sleeping in the crate int he room you want her to be. Even if you moved the crate away by half a metre every night, she'll have the comfort of being near you for those first few nights.

With the middle of the night playtime, when you take her out to toilet be very 'aloof'. If possible, see if she'll follow you out to toilet, rather than pick her up. If you have to pick her up, put her straight down in her toilet spot and pay as little attention as possible to her other than telling her to 'go' or whatever your toilet command is. No eye contact, only absolutely necessary touch. Also I couldn't tell whether she wakes you up for toilet, or vice versa. SOmetimes it's not a bad idea to set an alarm so when you get up to take her out she's very drowsy (from being asleep). Less inclined to want to play.

She will eventually learn that middle of the night is not playtime, but there may be a few noisy nights along the way.

Couple of other suggestions ....

I wouldn't sit and watch her go to sleep. Whatever behaviour you introduce now, you should expect to stick with that. You don't want to have to watch her to sleeep every single night.

You might want to get an old blanket or cover for the crate to make it more like night time.

Edited June 27, 2009 by mrs tornsocks

[Ben62w]

She Sleeps at the end of the bed! She normally wakes us up about 10mins before my alarm goes off so i will set it to 3 not 3.30 now.

Thanks for your advice.

At the moment she is out in her play pen. And she is not happy about that. She has a KONG with the food in it. A puppy teething tennis ball. A little pull rope. And another teether. She is biting at the sides screaching and carrying on like she was last night. Only this time she has been at it for over 30minutes. I kind of wish i hadnt put her in there now, But i need to vacume and get some house work done as its a pigsty. Ill just leave her in it untill she settles down now right?

OHHH SHES JUST STOPED!!!!! YUSSSS!!!!!!

Thanks

Ben

Edited June 28, 2009 by Ben62w

[jillybean]

You're on the right track, just have to stay strong and ignore the whining and squealing, she'll eventually settle and go to sleep. You might also want to throw a sheet/blanket over the top of the crate so that it's a little darker and more enclosed - seems to make them more comfortable.

[Ben62w]

Yea we have a blanket that covers the whole crate. We tend to leave it from covering the door though!!

Last night was a bit different as i must have not closed the crate door proply in my dozy zomby state when i took her to the toilet. And i woke up again to take her to the toilet and she was sitting out the front of her crate whining... She went wee on the carpet... Atleast it wasnt a full wee as i took her outside still and she went again. She was a bit upset about the fact she weed inside i think as she yelped for a good 20minutes after that before she went to sleep.... May aswell have been as she thought she could break out of the crate. My bad lol.

Ohhhwell all in all i think shes doing pretty well. And i thank everyone on this forum so much! Its a huge help to talk to other beagle owners.

Took her to the supermarket the other day in kellyville and a lady was tieing her 8 year old lemon beagle up outside!! She was gorgeous and the lady melted over little Bailey Haha!

[snuffysmum]

I am probably late on this post but thought I would share anyway! Sounds exactly like how Snuffy behaved on her first nights with us. She cried every night that we turned the light off and shut the door to her crate to go to sleep. We kept her in the lounge room with the crate open for her all day, and she would go in there to sleep with the door open all day and then we would shut the door to the crate and go to bed. OMG the crying!!! We refused to budge though (just checked if she was OK) and I went and bought ear plugs to live through it!! I had to get up at 12am and 5 am to let her outside for a wee too. She soon settled down and cried for about 5 mins each time we shut the door at night. I must admit, we have since put her outside in her kennel (please don't think I am harsh everyone!!) with her doggie coat on and she goes and cuddles up to our Labradoodle sometimes. She is perfectly happy outside at night, no crying or pawing at the back door, so I guess she is fine! Glad to see us in the morning though!

[Pointees]

Hi Ben62w!

Thats exactly what I did with my dog.

She cried at first, hated it with every bone in her body.

She is now a year old and as soon as I say in a point at her crate she walks straight into it.

She's come a long way.

Just hang in there. Ignore the crying and the sad puppy dog eyes, and it shall all work at well.

Good luck!

By the way, Your beagle puppy is a little cutie.

[Ben62w]

Thanks Pointees and snuffys!

We had a HUGE breakthrough last night!!

We decided to turn the crate so she could see my partner. She was standing at the gate looking at my partener. When she pretended to be asleep Little Bailey just turned over and made herself comfy. And was asleep within a minute. I Didnt have to take her to the toilet untill 4AM!!!! And we didnt hear a peep out of her all night. Even when i put her back in the crate at 4 she made 1 single tiny squeak and just went to sleep! I woke up at 5.30 and she was still fast asleep.

OHHHHH sleep feels good :D