Her name is Joy, she's two years old. Poor thing was given up on Thanksgiving day and the rescue I volunteer with got her from North Carolina. Nervous wreck. She's still a little nervous with new surroundings but getting better. Loud noises still scare her. Didn't know how to use the stairs at first but she figured them out pretty quickly. She LOVES her bed. The crate...not so much. My wife and I went to Target and Chipotle and I felt so guilty leaving her alone but she was fine. She definitely is already attached to me as she follows me everywhere and ignores the wife. Man's best friend indeed.
WOW. Looks just like a dog a picked up for my mom 10 years ago on Christmas eve. "Rudy"...... He was a great dog & SUPER smart. Hopefully yours will be too R.I.P. Rudy
Nope, no kid for us. Last night was pretty cold and 7am wasn't pleasant this morning. But otherwise we're in for a warm week.
Luckily she was given up, ----- as ultimately, she ended up with Mr. & Mrs. Greenday. Looks like she needs a pseudo brother/sister dog in the house.
Good for you, man. And good for that dog, too. Most rescues come from bad situations and deserve to be treated like kings and queens for the rest of their lives because of it. Domesticated animals are basically rendered helpless when they are imprinted by humans, and only have a one in one hundred chance at survival without humans, because of humans. Their only hope is that someone with a huge heart gives them a new home and loves them. You're a fucking hero in my book. But please, use that crate as a training method and not a tool of convenience.
She definitely has separation anxiety. Very tough time being alone. She got out of the crate yesterday afternoon while my wife was out for a couple hours. Peed a little, tore down the blinds. Last night while we were at the movies, she shit all over the crate but didn't get out. I just don't know how she'll do uncrated during the day. My wife left the dog in the living while she was in the bedroom for 15 minutes and the dog did nothing. But she just plain hates the crate. We've got her to go in with toys but once she's in there, she just constantly tries to get out and I don't know how to get her comfortable in there. Edit: So I'm on a sick day. Made it through three hours of work before I had to head home. Relaxed with the dog for a few hours. Decided it was a good time to put in some serious time into crate training since I can't rely on the wife to get it done. Took her bed the she loves and put it in the crate. Took her Kong toy, filled it with some peanut butter, and once she realized what I had for her, put it in the crate and she hesitantly went in. Got the door closed without her noticing. Finished her toy, realized what happened and whined for five minutes. She's laying down on there exhausted, fighting sleep but it's a matter of time (few minutes later, sleeping). If I can get her to associate it with her safe space/sleep space, check mate. Only thing that's really good to screw with the training is my vacation next week. I have zero faith in my mom to keep up with it, she's a wuss when it comes to being tough. Plus if my niece terrorizes her, I need her to have a safe place to go where she won't be bothered. Really could have used my wife's two weeks off.
What you want to do is get her to where she looks at the crate as a safe place. What you did with the bed and kong is fine but you should have just let her be without closing it up. A little bit of time like that and she will start looking at the crate as her spot, someplace she does not mind going. After that closing the crate shouldn't cause too many issues. My girl used to love her crate, had it in the corner of my office with her bed inside, covered with a big blanket, any time fireworks were going off or something else she didn't like she would head right there. She had the run of the house and slept in bed with us so we did not use the crate much at all. Of course all dogs are different, this worked for me but she may have been seriously confined for long stretches with a previous owner so being locked up causes extreme anxiety. Good luck. Edit: Read your post more fully and see you are trying to make it her safe place, just try getting her in and leaving the door open but entice her to stay in. Hope it gets better for her.
