Both Deuce and Rioja have crates available in my office. As a matter of fact, Deuce sleeps in his crate while Rioja sleeps in our bedroom on the biggest, fluffiest dog bed around.
Deuce LOVES his crate. He goes in there every day just to chill after we come back from sheepherding or anytime he wants some "alone" time.
Crate training is, in my book, a really good thing to teach dogs. Not only can the crate serve as a containment area once the dog is comfortable in it, but it also allows the dog a place where they can go lay down, and feel safe and comfortable.
As part of my crate-training plan, I frequently give dogs Kongs and marrow bones so that they learn to enjoy being in the crate.
It also comes in handy for me to be able to have both dogs in their crates when I have either a private training or a group class. Same procedure here, dogs are exercised and then they go in their crates to chew on a big marrow bone. Now this is the way it should be, but the reality is that Rioja is still struggling with staying in her crate without barking when she hears another dog in the proximity… and what I need most at this time is to have "invisible" dogs…
So, I have thought about different ways to help both dogs, but especially Rioja, relax in their crates when they hear my client’s dog bark. Beside ample time in the crate with something fun for them to do, I play at different volumes and place in different locations a CD with a myriad of dogs barking, howling, and whining. I stick around for this mini-training sessions and I lavished them with chicken when they remained quiet inside their crates as the CD dogs take turns barking.
You might wonder if the dogs are “fooled” by the barking of the CD dogs and the answer is that, yes, it is possible to use recordings to teach the dogs to just kick-back and relax when they hear dogs barking. Of course, ideally they would be submitted to many, many, many… sessions of real dogs barking so that at some point, dogs barking at home are not a novelty anymore. We are clearly not there yet, but hey we are making progress!
This afternoon, as I worked in my office, with Deuce tucked in all the way to the back of the crate as he likes to lay, Rioja pawed her crate door in an attempt to open it. I gently open the door and pretended not to watch her closely as I smiled when I saw her laying comfortably on her own accord in her crate. She remained inside the crate for about 2 hrs. just sleeping contently as I worked at the computer and stepped out of the office for this and that.
The lesson here for me is multi-fold: We must recognize when there is something that we can teach our dogs that will make their lives and ours better, or that will improve our relationship in some way.
We also need to have patience and trust that our dogs - especially the young ones - need time to reach the goal that we had set for them. In one short sentence: It’s (almost) all about maturation!
As I was thinking about this entry, I came to the conclusion that when a behavioral problem arises we must not ignore it. Now, addressing it can mean different things: To actively teach the dog a new behavior that is more appropriate than the current one OR we can just continue to observe for signs of the issue resolving itself. In the case of Rioja, she still acts as an adolescent… (I come most of the time, I jump and try to take the ball from your hand, I refuse to surrender the Frisbee and instead I run away from you with it clenched in my mouth …) you get the picture.
However, besides her beginning to enjoy the crate, she surprised me again the other day when instead of dashing out the front door full-speed and howling like only a Hound dog can at the sight of the contractor who was speaking with John, she ran towards both men and was able to calmly say “hello”. I was watching by the front door and it felt so good to see that Rioja is beginning to feel more confident around new people. You see, sometimes we just need to wait… and trust that things will resolve themselves on their own and sometimes we need to do the hard work.
Deuce LOVES his crate. He goes in there every day just to chill after we come back from sheepherding or anytime he wants some "alone" time.
Crate training is, in my book, a really good thing to teach dogs. Not only can the crate serve as a containment area once the dog is comfortable in it, but it also allows the dog a place where they can go lay down, and feel safe and comfortable.
As part of my crate-training plan, I frequently give dogs Kongs and marrow bones so that they learn to enjoy being in the crate.
It also comes in handy for me to be able to have both dogs in their crates when I have either a private training or a group class. Same procedure here, dogs are exercised and then they go in their crates to chew on a big marrow bone. Now this is the way it should be, but the reality is that Rioja is still struggling with staying in her crate without barking when she hears another dog in the proximity… and what I need most at this time is to have "invisible" dogs…
So, I have thought about different ways to help both dogs, but especially Rioja, relax in their crates when they hear my client’s dog bark. Beside ample time in the crate with something fun for them to do, I play at different volumes and place in different locations a CD with a myriad of dogs barking, howling, and whining. I stick around for this mini-training sessions and I lavished them with chicken when they remained quiet inside their crates as the CD dogs take turns barking.
You might wonder if the dogs are “fooled” by the barking of the CD dogs and the answer is that, yes, it is possible to use recordings to teach the dogs to just kick-back and relax when they hear dogs barking. Of course, ideally they would be submitted to many, many, many… sessions of real dogs barking so that at some point, dogs barking at home are not a novelty anymore. We are clearly not there yet, but hey we are making progress!
This afternoon, as I worked in my office, with Deuce tucked in all the way to the back of the crate as he likes to lay, Rioja pawed her crate door in an attempt to open it. I gently open the door and pretended not to watch her closely as I smiled when I saw her laying comfortably on her own accord in her crate. She remained inside the crate for about 2 hrs. just sleeping contently as I worked at the computer and stepped out of the office for this and that.
The lesson here for me is multi-fold: We must recognize when there is something that we can teach our dogs that will make their lives and ours better, or that will improve our relationship in some way.
We also need to have patience and trust that our dogs - especially the young ones - need time to reach the goal that we had set for them. In one short sentence: It’s (almost) all about maturation!
As I was thinking about this entry, I came to the conclusion that when a behavioral problem arises we must not ignore it. Now, addressing it can mean different things: To actively teach the dog a new behavior that is more appropriate than the current one OR we can just continue to observe for signs of the issue resolving itself. In the case of Rioja, she still acts as an adolescent… (I come most of the time, I jump and try to take the ball from your hand, I refuse to surrender the Frisbee and instead I run away from you with it clenched in my mouth …) you get the picture.
However, besides her beginning to enjoy the crate, she surprised me again the other day when instead of dashing out the front door full-speed and howling like only a Hound dog can at the sight of the contractor who was speaking with John, she ran towards both men and was able to calmly say “hello”. I was watching by the front door and it felt so good to see that Rioja is beginning to feel more confident around new people. You see, sometimes we just need to wait… and trust that things will resolve themselves on their own and sometimes we need to do the hard work.
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