Crate training advice needed.

[JennG]

Crank is 11 weeks old today and still an absolute nightmare whenever he gets put into his crate. He will bark and cry for over an hour, before he finally falls asleep. But then he sleeps for maybe an hour at max and starts up with his shenanigans again.

I don't remember it taking nearly this long for June to be able to get in her crate, especially at night, and settle down pretty quickly.

Is it normal for some pups to just naturally struggle more with this? I'm trying to just let him cry it out so he doesn't learn that he'll be released when he cries, but I feel so bad for him and his pathetic little wails.

Any tips, tricks or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cferg]

Stassi was 12 weeks when I brought her home. If he only screams and cries for an hour, that doesn’t sound bad to me. She would go on for most of the night. I’m talking about 5-6 hrs at a time

 

[JanS]

Have you tried feeding him in there? I start all of our pups eating their meals in the crate and they look forward to going in there any time. Elroy will fuss if I put them in there when I go somewhere but no one can hear him so it's not getting him anywhere. He's quiet as a mouse if one of us is home.

 

[Ddski5]

Crank is 11 weeks old today and still an absolute nightmare whenever he gets put into his crate. He will bark and cry for over an hour, before he finally falls asleep. But then he sleeps for maybe an hour at max and starts up with his shenanigans again.

I don't remember it taking nearly this long for June to be able to get in her crate, especially at night, and settle down pretty quickly.

Is it normal for some pups to just naturally struggle more with this? I'm trying to just let him cry it out so he doesn't learn that he'll be released when he cries, but I feel so bad for him and his pathetic little wails.

Any tips, tricks or advice would be greatly appreciated.

You can create a fun, positive environment in/around the crate. Feed him in the crate- give him a kong, toy or something to make being in crate pleasurable.

Try and have a consistent schedule- mine knew they were going in the crate for 1hr after eating.

Sometimes you just have to do tough love…the best way to think of this is, I don’t want to and I don’t like it but you have to learn that you must spend time in the crate like it or not. As he grows, there will be times that he needs a time out, you need a time out, or he just needs to settle down and nap. Put him in the crate and if he cries and is upset- leave him there…you cannot break on this. It is absolutely for his own good if he learns this.

Do not let him out if actively barking or crying. Even if he is quiet and you walk to the door and he starts up…don’t let him out until he is absolutely quiet for 3-4mins after the last sound.

 

[JennG]

Have you tried feeding him in there? I start all of our pups eating their meals in the crate and they look forward to going in there any time. Elroy will fuss if I put them in there when I go somewhere but no one can hear him so it's not getting him anywhere. He's quiet as a mouse if one of us is home.

You can create a fun, positive environment in/around the crate. Feed him in the crate- give him a kong, toy or something to make being in crate pleasurable.

Try and have a consistent schedule- mine knew they were going in the crate for 1hr after eating.

Sometimes you just have to do tough love…the best way to think of this is, I don’t want to and I don’t like it but you have to learn that you must spend time in the crate like it or not. As he grows, there will be times that he needs a time out, you need a time out, or he just needs to settle down and nap. Put him in the crate and if he cries and is upset- leave him there…you cannot break on this. It is absolutely for his own good if he learns this.

Do not let him out if actively barking or crying. Even if he is quiet and you walk to the door and he starts up…don’t let him out until he is absolutely quiet for 3-4mins after the last sound.

I fed all three meals in the crate yesterday and did multiple little "training" sessions getting him to walk in and out of the crate on his own by throwing treats into the very back of the crate. After just one day of that, I got the best sleep I've had since bringing him home.

I put on some soothing music last night, took him out to go potty, and then carried him inside and placed him in his crate. He cried and barked for 15 minutes and then passed out and slept clear through one of his planned potty breaks.

He had breakfast in the crate this morning and then a 30-minute resting period after, again with minimal crying. Not sure if it was a one-off experience last night, but I'm really hopeful that feeding in the crate was just the thing to help us make some actual progress.

Thank you!!!

 

[JanS]

I'm so glad things went well!

 

[Ravenbird]

After just one day of that, I got the best sleep I've had since bringing him home.

YAY! Thanks so much for reporting back - even if it's 3 steps forward & 2 steps back, it's progress and that's the way to success!

 

[Kaiser2016]

Now that we have good progress to an understandably awful problem, let me just say

his pathetic little wails

If he only screams and cries for an hour, that doesn’t sound bad to me

A Doberman really knows how to set the bar high

I’m talking about 5-6 hrs at a time

Wow! For as bad as whining is, screaming and crying is next level! We had times where Kaiser would howl so much I wondered why no one ever called the cops to report a torture chamber

 

[Cferg]

A Doberman really knows how to set the bar high

Wow! For as bad as whining is, screaming and crying is next level! We had times where Kaiser would howl so much I wondered why no one ever called the cops to report a torture chamber

The second night we had her I did walk outside the house to see if you could hear the screaming. Yep you could. It was bad!

My daughter was 7 or 8 at the time, was literally crying because she couldn’t sleep. And my daughter is the night owl of the family who will stay up on her own all night from the time she got out of a crib. lol

 

[Ddski5]

I fed all three meals in the crate yesterday and did multiple little "training" sessions getting him to walk in and out of the crate on his own by throwing treats into the very back of the crate. After just one day of that, I got the best sleep I've had since bringing him home.

I put on some soothing music last night, took him out to go potty, and then carried him inside and placed him in his crate. He cried and barked for 15 minutes and then passed out and slept clear through one of his planned potty breaks.

He had breakfast in the crate this morning and then a 30-minute resting period after, again with minimal crying. Not sure if it was a one-off experience last night, but I'm really hopeful that feeding in the crate was just the thing to help us make some actual progress.

Thank you!!!

That’s some great news right there!

Use this as experience and confidence to conquer upcoming obstacles. If we can train our ideal dream Doberman, so can you. It just takes a shit ton of time energy and commitment- but damn it’s worth it when it all comes together.