One of the most difficult things with Ace-Chan has been crate training!
Whew!
Because we live in a highly dog populated area, we have him using paper near our front door.
(We don't want to risk him picking up anything from un-vaccinated doggies before his 12 week shots)
Right now we have him on a schedule (we are TRYING to stick with it) during the night.
I set my alarm and take him to his paper at 4 am and then at 6 30am when his daddy gets up.
I am slowly moving the 4 am so that way he will hopefully soon only need to go at 6 30 am!
When we first brought him home he wanted NOTHING to do with the crate :( We put treats inside, toys, everything! He still wouldn't have it. The first 4 or 5 nights I spent on the floor next to his crate with my fingers dangling there like delicious sausages...(puppy bites HURT).
He would cry & whine what seemed like FOREVER! I of course am a sucker and would feel SO terrible! Luckily I didn't give in and let him out *whew*. (only for potty breaks)
In the last week or so we have him (not on his own, he still needs our help) going in his crate and going to sleep at night with minimal to no whining :D yay!
Now that we are mastering nighttime, we need to conquer the day!
Ace is VERY attached to us, he likes to always be with us every second of the day; long gone are the days were you have privacy going to the bathroom :) (we knew that before we got him though haha)
Now the issue...
He screams and barks and cries bloody murder when we put him in his crate during the day! I praise him when I put him in and give him treats, but it seems not to matter to him.
Here is Ace acting crazy in his crate! After I put him in, he rolls around, barks, whines, cries, tries to rip his bed, and then finally crawls underneath it and pretends it is a 1000 thread count duvet cover :)
We tried to make his crate comfy with a crate pad & puppy blanket but he decided to redecorate!
His bed is sideways and upside down and the blanket has lots of holes :o
I use the word *QUIET* to try and stop the barking & it works for about 10 seconds haha
He does eventually go to sleep, but after a long and drawn out tantrum. Reading about this, I came across separation anxiety*.
Do other mini aussie parents or just pup parents in general have/had issues with getting their pooches mellow in their crates?