advice on crates

[gina]

Can anyone offer any advice on the best way to introduce an older dog to a crate.  

I say older but Barkley is only 15 months.  He is slowly but surely destroying our kitchen and we need somewhere to contain him when we are not there.  We are completley open plan downstairs and cannot contain him otherwise.

Apart from anything else he will be alot safer in the crate as has chewed through walls and chewed off large bits of wood.

We plan to get the largest crate we can and put it in the kitchen/conservatory and put his blanket and toys inside.  But i was just wondering should we leave him in for short periods to get him used to it at first???

Any comments welcome.

Gina                    

[Anita]

I don't know for sure but as he's a bit older you might need to take it slowly and do it as you would with a pup. Make sure he doesn't see it as a punishment.

Maybe start off by feeding him in the crate and always leave it open. Maybe put his bed in it so it becomes his santuary when he's tired and wants some piece and quite :roll: .

Definitely leave him in there for short periods of time at first and build up slowly. (Don't give up to the sad eyes though - he's only foolling you ).

Let us know how you get on.                    

[Jane S]

Barkley is not too young to introduce to a crate - far from it, the earlier you start crate training the better. You will have to take it very slowly - work on making the crate a nice place to be so that Barkley associates it with good things not as punishment. Don't immediately shut the door with him in - you need to work up to this phase & yes, start with very short periods & work upwards. It goes without saying that crates should not be used for long periods - 3-4 hours everyday is fine (once a dog is happy in a crate) but ideally no longer than this. This site has quite a good article on crate training which you might find useful :http://www.siriusweb.com/AAD/crate.html

Jane