Anonymous wrote:If dogs likes the crate as much as some say they do then you wouldn't have to close the door. They would stay in it out of choice, the fact they get locked in should tell you that they do not like crates for extended periods of time.

Let your dog sleep in the room with you. Take her out right before you go to bed and again first thing in the morning. It should not take 3 weeks to housetrain a one year old dog.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Experienced dog trainer here:
Your dog has been “good” for 2-3 weeks because new. Now expressing her real feelings. But keep on with crate training. It’s a necessity.

Crate training is by no means a 'necessity'. Crate training is a new-ish trend, its really taken off in the last 15 - 20 years, but people have kept pet dogs for much longer than that and they were really fine. I have no objection to the use of a crate as a temporary measure for housebreaking a puppy or as an 'indoor doghouse' with the door open for an older dog, but neither is really a need. A lot of well-meaning people have been mislead into thinking that a crate is where a dog lives and where it should spend most of its time. That is a real problem.

+1

It's a new thing and it is not done elsewhere in the world. It's unnecessary.

well, we used a crate, and here's the thing, she likes the crate and spends some time there voluntarily -- it is her den. In fact the cat is curled up in there now because she likes it in there, too. The pad is nice and soft like a bed. It is really nice to be able to crate her without stress during home repairs. It is also really nice to be able to crate her without stress when anything else comes up (like a strained muscle) where it is best to limit her mobility.

Isn't there a chance that both the cat and dog like the crate only because of the pad?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Experienced dog trainer here:
Your dog has been “good” for 2-3 weeks because new. Now expressing her real feelings. But keep on with crate training. It’s a necessity.

Crate training is by no means a 'necessity'. Crate training is a new-ish trend, its really taken off in the last 15 - 20 years, but people have kept pet dogs for much longer than that and they were really fine. I have no objection to the use of a crate as a temporary measure for housebreaking a puppy or as an 'indoor doghouse' with the door open for an older dog, but neither is really a need. A lot of well-meaning people have been mislead into thinking that a crate is where a dog lives and where it should spend most of its time. That is a real problem.

+1

It's a new thing and it is not done elsewhere in the world. It's unnecessary.

well, we used a crate, and here's the thing, she likes the crate and spends some time there voluntarily -- it is her den. In fact the cat is curled up in there now because she likes it in there, too. The pad is nice and soft like a bed. It is really nice to be able to crate her without stress during home repairs. It is also really nice to be able to crate her without stress when anything else comes up (like a strained muscle) where it is best to limit her mobility.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Experienced dog trainer here:
Your dog has been “good” for 2-3 weeks because new. Now expressing her real feelings. But keep on with crate training. It’s a necessity.

Crate training is by no means a 'necessity'. Crate training is a new-ish trend, its really taken off in the last 15 - 20 years, but people have kept pet dogs for much longer than that and they were really fine. I have no objection to the use of a crate as a temporary measure for housebreaking a puppy or as an 'indoor doghouse' with the door open for an older dog, but neither is really a need. A lot of well-meaning people have been mislead into thinking that a crate is where a dog lives and where it should spend most of its time. That is a real problem.

+1

It's a new thing and it is not done elsewhere in the world. It's unnecessary.

Anonymous wrote:Hi, all,
First-time dog owner here. We recently adopted a wonderful one-year old Basset mix, and things are going really well. The only problem is that this past week, she has started crying in her crate all. night. long. We've been using the crate at night since we got her three weeks ago, and it's only this past week that she's had a problem at night. She just cries and cries. My heart is breaking for her, but I don't know what to do -- all the resources I've read say not to reward her by letting her out.

Here are a couple options I've considered:

1) Letting her sleep on her bed in our room with us. This would be fine with me, and she's not destructive, so she'd probably sleep through the night peacefully, BUT she's not 100% potty trained, and I'm afraid she'd have an accident in our room overnight.

If you do this, set the alarm for the middle of the night and take her out. If she can't make it the whole night, she can't. That said, she is a year old and should manage so this is a training issue, most likely.

2) Bringing her crate into our room. Maybe she'd be okay if she knew she was close to us? On the other hand, if she cried, we'd REALLY not get any sleep and we'd be forced to reward her by letting her out.

We did this for a while until the dog was dry through the night. Then we put a bed in our room.

Of course, I guess we could try gutting it out and letting her cry another night, but a) it feels cruel; and b) I haven't gotten more than a few hours of sleep over the past few days, and I feel like a total zombie. I need to be able to function better than this at work and at home.

Any suggestions? I'm kind of at my wits end.

Thanks in advance!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Experienced dog trainer here:
Your dog has been “good” for 2-3 weeks because new. Now expressing her real feelings. But keep on with crate training. It’s a necessity.

Crate training is by no means a 'necessity'. Crate training is a new-ish trend, its really taken off in the last 15 - 20 years, but people have kept pet dogs for much longer than that and they were really fine. I have no objection to the use of a crate as a temporary measure for housebreaking a puppy or as an 'indoor doghouse' with the door open for an older dog, but neither is really a need. A lot of well-meaning people have been mislead into thinking that a crate is where a dog lives and where it should spend most of its time. That is a real problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Experienced dog trainer here:
Your dog has been “good” for 2-3 weeks because new. Now expressing her real feelings. But keep on with crate training. It’s a necessity.

Crate training is by no means a 'necessity'. Crate training is a new-ish trend, its really taken off in the last 15 - 20 years, but people have kept pet dogs for much longer than that and they were really fine. I have no objection to the use of a crate as a temporary measure for housebreaking a puppy or as an 'indoor doghouse' with the door open for an older dog, but neither is really a need. A lot of well-meaning people have been mislead into thinking that a crate is where a dog lives and where it should spend most of its time. That is a real problem.

Crate training is a necessity for an urban lifestyle (dcURBANm). Dog owners usually also have jobs, children, other pets, travel plans. If you live on a farm and your dog lives outside 24/7 then no need for crate training or any training. Why bother? But if you live in a city, have those other needs (above) then you need to train the dog. Solving the problem by letting dog sleep in your bed? Letting a rescue dog you’ve had for 3 weeks have full run of your home? Those are things that lead to rescue returns.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Experienced dog trainer here:
Your dog has been “good” for 2-3 weeks because new. Now expressing her real feelings. But keep on with crate training. It’s a necessity.

Crate training is by no means a 'necessity'. Crate training is a new-ish trend, its really taken off in the last 15 - 20 years, but people have kept pet dogs for much longer than that and they were really fine. I have no objection to the use of a crate as a temporary measure for housebreaking a puppy or as an 'indoor doghouse' with the door open for an older dog, but neither is really a need. A lot of well-meaning people have been mislead into thinking that a crate is where a dog lives and where it should spend most of its time. That is a real problem.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the JRT thread wasn’t good. No, OP hasn’t given us any indication that this is a similar situation. Don’t make assumptions.