The Crate January 11, 2009
Posted by ceilingunlimited in The Pups.trackback
Since Ebony has been with us, I’ve noticed that it has become more difficult to put Nate in his crate. Before, it was easy. I would gently guide him to the entrance of the crate by his collar and tell him to “go kennel”. He would walk in, I would shut the door and that would be it. Now, I have to throw a treat into the crate and shut the door behind him. If I try to guide him in the crate without the treat, he turns away at the last minute, lays on the floor and rolls over on his back looking for a belly rub. So now I use the treat.
Once inside, the crying begins. It sounds so pitiful. Like someone is beating him. This lasts for about 5 minutes. More if you hang out in the same room. I’ve tried to limit the amount of time he spends in the crate. He goes in at night for bed or if both Kim and I have to leave the house. If I need to keep him from the others ( like at feeding time), I’ll put him outside, which he doesn’t seem to mind.
Ebony should be leaving soon (we hope) to go back to her owner (a long story). I’m hoping that Nate will be more willing to go to his crate afte she’s gone.
Since Ebony has been gone, the crying and carrying on in the crate has been much less. We also put the crate in the bedroom at night so I think that helped too.