I think I have a claustrophobic puppy (16 weeks old).

Aurielle Tanner

I think I have a claustrophobic puppy (16 weeks old). I have been working with my puppy to get him crate trained for weeks now. He hates it, he will cry and bark for hours when he is in it. I read every blog and tried literally everything. I made the crate a positive place, gave him treats in it, fed him in it, worked up the time gradually, never took him out when he was crying, put in a shirt with my smell, gave him a Kong filled with peanut butter, gave him bully sticks, got him a snuggle puppy (has a heartbeat, warms up) got him a DPA diffuser, took him out for big park play sessions in the morning and at lunch, put him in the crate when I was at home, next to the bed....etc. you get the idea, I tried it all. We then moved him to the bathroom where he would have more room. He still barked in the bathroom, he would not play with his toys or lick his Kong, we know this because we have a Skype account set up to watch him while we are at work. I heard a suggestion that he could have separation anxiety or that he could be claustrophobic. I didn’t really think that this could be true, I tend to think that people and dogs are over diagnosed but today my fiancé and I decided to experiment. Atlas sleeps on the floor of our bedroom at night since barking through the night for weeks got old and he has only had one accident in the house since we got him. We decided to leave him in there while we were at work. Then suddenly in the bedroom he is fine- plays with his toys takes naps no barking all day long! This is the first time that he has ever gone all day long without barking. Could our dog really be claustrophobic? Is it just the room that he is in (more comfortable in the bedroom?) Every person on every blog out there says it is horrible to leave a 16 week old puppy out of the crate but if he does not have accidents and does not chew/destroy things is it really a problem?

jaime masters

My dog did the same thing ND TO BE HONEST ITS KINDA LIKE US, WOULD YOU WANT TO BE LOCKED IN A CAGE ALL DAY...HECK NO! BABY GATES WORK BETTER, KEEP IN A ROOM W/PEE PEE PADS AND A BABY GATE, IF YOU THINK HELL JUMP IT, STACK TWO...THE DOG FEELS MUCH MORE SAFE NOT CONFINED AND IT WORKS, YES DOGS CAN BE CLAUSTROPHOBIC. HOPE THIS HELPS, BUT I DONT RECOMMEND CRATES, THEY ARE MEAN AND DOGS AREN;T MENT TO BE IN THEM

Anya Letson

My dog can't be crated, either. She just doesn't calm down, destroys the crate and hurts herself in the process. She would need one of those crazy rebar/reinforced ones. She doesn't cause trouble or go potty in the house, so I just stopped using it. The big issue here is safety (and so many bodily fluids). For a pup that young, the biggest concern is that he will eat something that will hurt him. If you can remove that danger, you may not need to shut him in the crate. Maybe using a baby gate to block off the room and puppy-proofing it by removing anything that could harm him. He isn't very old, though, so I would keep feeding him in the crate, leave the door open, keep blankets and toys in there, etc. Eventually, he'll probably start going in on his own.

Unknown

Gidget. Total baloney! Crates are not mean & most dogs really like them. Dogs are NOT people. Dogs den & a crate replicates that. And please don't use screaming caps. OP. It sounds like you truly did try your best. I'm glad you found a solution. The only thing you might try is an x-pen. If it were me I would use the bedroom & put the crate in there. Not force him to go in. Just have it there with treats. Maybe he'll get used to it. For what it's worth, I don't crate my guys either. You could post this in the main Behavior & Training forum for more tips in a dialogue form. Good luck

chlo lyle

i rescued my chiweenie from my neighbor and i say rescued because they would keep him in a crate and never take him out when they let me have him he was covered in poop and pee and scared of getting hit cause he was out of his crate anyway when he would do something really wrong we would try sticking him in the bathroom he would go crazy like claw marks in the door crazy finally we didnt want to leave him alone with the run of the house so are solution was to block him off in a big enough space like the kitchen and he was fine till he learned how to be in the house by himself but as long as there is nothing dangerous to get to i dont see the problem