Greenday, congrats on the new addition to your family. Both of my Bassets (both gone now) were rescues and it is one of the most wonderful thing you can do for a needy animal. You're getting some great advice BTW. Back when I got my boy Winston I was a real noob about these things and I didn't handle the crate correctly. OTOH, it might not have mattered since Winston really didn't seem to like the closed in space and no matter how big a crate I got he had a tough time turning around (he was a basset after all). Still, the advice I got was shit*--abyzmul and waterboy are right about how to use the crate. *- at the time I was told by a dog trainer I could use the crate as a sleep training device? The problem was that IMO this isn't a great idea how I was told to do it. Winston was waking us up every day at around 5am and it was tough, but the crate idea didn't work. We were to keep him in the crate until we wanted to wake up and then let him out and try to extinguish the behavior. In the end it just made him hate the crate and I'd never do it again. As for Winston waking us up.... that went away once he settled down but it took awhile. He had bad separation anxiety too. Then again, his former family had dumped him on a farm and drove away, so I would have some major separation anxiety too. I think the people who dumped him on that farm were heartless, but I wouldn't have traded my 14 years with Winston for anything. In fact, I'd gladly give quite a bit to have him back today. That hurt never goes away.... But the love doesn't either.
A tip for getting dogs to stay in the rate with the door open is to tether the Kong to the crate. Cut the rope just long enough so that your pooch will have to remain in the crate to enjoy it. That way the dog is making the decision to remain in the crate rather than being locked in.
Congratulations and Thank You to you and your wife for the addition of Joy. This Thanksgiving marked the 7th anniversary of our family being gifted our dog Carter from Louisiana. He has been very good to us, as I'm sure Joy will be for you.
This is by far the most stressful time of my life. Not getting married. Not Afghanistan. Not college. Not any of my multiple car crashes. My friend's carbon monoxide detector went off so I decided to walk over and check on her and test the dog being on her own not crated. Was gone for 30-40 minutes. Came back and besides being super excited that I came home, everything was as I left it.
