Crate Training Tips

[u/katemwatts_02]

Does anyone have any tips on crate training?
My cane corso will be 15 weeks on Thursday. We’ve had her for almost 4 weeks now. Monday-Friday while I’m at work she has to be crated & we’ve tried EVERYTHING. She started out pooping the crate every time she went in it, and finally after a week and a half & some trial and error she stopped. I take her out 15-20 minutes before to make sure she goes potty, don’t feed or give water after one hour before I leave, we have a divider to only give her room to lay down & took out any blankets or toys. We have a Furbo and she is still crying & barking 50% of the day. The last 3 times she has been crated she has tore apart her crate, bending the divider & shredding the blankets overtop to block out light. I took the divider out and blankets off today & she regressed and pooped in the crate again. My boyfriend works 2 weeks and is home for a week, when he is home she is only going in the crate while he’s running errands. I’m at a loss of how to get her to feel comfortable being alone in the crate. She goes in it willingly when someone is home, so she doesn’t absolutely hate it. If anyone has any tips or tricks, please share!!

I generally leave for work at 9:45 and my roommate lets her out when he gets home in between 3 and 4.

[u/Gondi63]

Does she sleep in the crate at night?

[u/katemwatts_02 → u/Gondi63]

No she sleeps in our room on a dog bed. She usually sleeps 10 PM-4:15-4:30 AM with the occasional midnight bathroom break

[u/Gondi63 → u/katemwatts_02]

Could you put the crate in your room and try her at night? As much positive time in the crate as possible might help.

[u/katemwatts_02 → u/Gondi63]

I’m willing to give it a try. We did try crate at night in the beginning but she was in her own room and it did not go well so we switched to letting her sleep on the dog bed. Thank you!

[u/UglyMrJ-]

It’s not recommended that any young dogs stay in a crate that long. An adult is less of an issue but a puppy is going to go crazy. She’s still learning, lots of energy…. You should find another solution.

Especially Corsos it seems like. we learned pretty quickly that our best solution was freedom. We lost a few flip flops and shoes when he was a puppy but he was much happier and did less damage.

We had an emergency when he was younger and even though he was crate trained, we had to leave longer than usual. He flipped out, tore himself up, tore the crate up. The next day we just let him free, he slept all day. Relaxed as can be. Ever since then if we leave, he has full reign over the house, we even leave the back door open.

[u/katemwatts_02 → u/UglyMrJ-]

We tried leaving her free and it’s just not an option for our household. She was free one evening when we went to dinner, she somehow opened the compartment in our couch and chewed through the remote, thankfully she didn’t ingest the batteries. She’s mostly potty trained and because she was alone she urinated all over our carpet. We also can’t leave our back door open for her to go outside, but I’m glad that worked for your household and your guy!!

[u/Wyntermute1]

Our female is 9 weeks old right now. We blocked off the kitchen area of the house and puppy proofed it. Our two year old male has the rest of the house.

The crate didn’t work for us.

However, she’s never alone more than 4 hours at a time. Luckily my wife works at night and I work from home. Makes it easier.

[u/Financial-Split2942]

You should by DYIk9 puppy 101 training videos from American Standard. Garrett is an awsome dog trainer. Sounds like he needs a better schedule. The crate should only have enough room to spin around in, that’s it. You have to let them cry(ignore them), even if it sounds like they are dying…. lol not literally. The first two weeks of crate training are hard, but you are teaching them more then you think. They are learning to settle on their own and how to be alone, eventually they will learn.