9 month Lab chews, and doesn't like crate - Help please

Any help greatly appreciated....

3 weeks ago, got a 9 month old Lab called Alfie. We have a 6 year old daughter, so didn't want a really young pup as it would be a nightmare to try and train with our daughter constantly wanting to play, so saw advert in petshop -
"9 month Lab, house trained, great with kids & cats... etc etc...reason for sale - long hours at work" We went to have a look and all was well, so agreed to rehome him. We both work, but very close to home, so for 1st 2 weeks, popped home every couple of hours to give attention, let out in garden etc. Lots of different toys left out on different days, Kongs with sweets, all of that, but still periodic chewing of things - nothing major like furniture, but silly things like our daughter's reading book...!!!???!!?? Anyway, was improving, and gradullay we increased time out to 3 or 4 hours, but last Friday, came home from work, and popped out again for 1 hour - absolute chaos on return, so we got a crate.. Again, tried all the methods - food, water, chews, sweets - everything to make the crate a nice place.. first couple of days, a little bit of barking, tipped the water bowl over, but nothing more - come home today, and he has ripped his bed to bits, pee'd and poo'd in there, and now won't go back in without force... Using crate was last resort, would rather leave to have free run of house whilst we are out. He never chews anything when we are in, or during the night..... How do we remedy this....? Any help greatly appreciated...

I have to say that when I read the title of this I thought that it should come as a safety warning with all labrador puppies. Actually, all puppies! 9 month old puppies chew. Simple as that!

You're on the right track offering him other things to chew because even a labrador can't chew two things at once Does he like the kongs? If he's not that bothered, then experiment with different fillings, and even the different shapes of kong chews (bones, dental kongs etc...)

The other thing to do to avoid losing all your posessions is containment, which you're obviously thinking about with the crate. Crates are fab, but not something any pup can get used to over the course of a few days, and especially not a 9 month old pup. I reackon our pup took a month of gradual acclimation to her crate, and she was only 7 weeks old when we started! She loves it now, but if we'd rushed it, it could have been very different. How about trying a half-way house with a big puppy-pen. This will give him enough room to roll around a bit, throw his teddy bear about and have much more fun in, but you still have the peace of mind that comes from knowing your electrical cables are still intact.

I guess with containment, you've got to consider limiting the opportunities you offer him. If your daughter's reading book was in reach, it was fair game really. Puppies can't be expected to differentiate between what's acceptable to chew and what's going to land somebody in terrible trouble with their teacher.

Finally, apart from chewing, what else are you giving him to think about during the day. If he's ok when you're in, it sounds like he could just be making his own entertainment while you're out. Bongo get's a whole host of activities to work on both while we're at home, and while we're out. She has her "Buster cube" to get her dinner out of, we play hunt the sardine in the garden, hunt the puppy treat in the house, and lots of little training sessions throughout the day. It seems that when we go out, she's so mentally exhausted that she just zonks out for hours (and that, I think, is the aim of the game!)

Hiya,

Oh it sounds your having a right time of it!!!!

We had a rescue pup who was only 6 months old when we got her. I had posted a big thread on here and received some very good advice and the best being persistance.

Missy hated her crate, however it was there the first night she came to us and she has been in it everynight whether she liked it or not. Missy would get in the crate no problem because she likes food and will do most things for this. However what she didnt like was to stay in there. She even demolished the Argos crate and basically ate her way out of it lol. I have since bought a stronger one from E-bay and she hasnt managed to escape.

It has been about 5 months since bringing Missy home and she has finally settled down when going in her crate. I dont hear a peep from her all night.

I dont know what the trick was, I think she finally gave in and thought well I am in here for good, crying about it wont help. What your problem is though is the pooing and weeing in the crate!!!!!!!! According to the guidelines crates actually help house training as they (dogs) arent supposed to poo in here own space. Yours clearly doesnt care!!

Bring the crate into the living room when the family are sat in the living room and hide smelly treats in the crate, you know inside his teddies, or bed or something. Leave the crate door open and let him play and find the treats. Even get inside the crate with him, make it fun I think thats the trick.

We did this during the day and then did the normal on an evening and put her crate in the kitchen and put her "to bed". The "bed" thing is normal now. I take her out for a wee late on a night and when we get in she goes straight to her bed because she knows its bed time.

You have to decide what you want and stick to it. If you want your dog in the crate, dont let them out if they are crying or playing up. Make sure you take their collar off whilst they are inside the crate and left alone as there has been some serious accidents with collars getting tangled etc. However dont let them out until they are quiet and calm.

I am sure people might say this is cruel to ignore your dog when they are clearly distressed and trust me, when I had to turn the TV up to drown out the noise of my little girl crying all I wanted to do is go and let her out and give her loves, but I didnt and I stuck to it. It has paid off but one thing I did was to make the crate as nice as possible.

Hope this helps and I am sure more advice will come

I ain't any kind of an expert, but here's what helped me.

Leave the carte open during the time you are at home and make it the most comfy place for your pup to lie on and sleep so he will get used to going in and out of it at will rather than somewhere he goes to get locked up.

Keep his most favourite toys hidden away when you are about and then put them in the crate for him shortly before you go out.

Try ignoring him for say the 5 mins before you leave and untill he is calm and sensible on your return. Basically to make out to the pup that you coming and going is no big deal.

My girl (now 7mths) used to pee or poo in the crate through seperation anxiety. Then she would try to cover it up. At night she would bark and cry to get to see me. (This went on even when she was restricted to the kitchen, before the crate) At least when she was in the crate I knew she had nothing to harm herself on and I could safely ignore the barking etc. She now settles no problem at all.

I also used the DAP spray shortly before I had to go out. It seemed to help her settle as well.

In the end, once you know you are doing the right thing for you and your dog, you just got to stick to it and have patience to stick it out and see the results.

And yes - Those Argos crates are useless, Willow destroyed hers on the first night, leaving bars broke and bent.... she was an underweight whippet x with a broke leg!!!

I don't agree with this statement. I have 3 dogs that have never chewed anything. I have always made a point of keeping them entertained one way or another and they have been happy dogs. One of them chewed a wire once because they managed to wrap it around their dog chew, so inevitably the wire was chewed with it !

I agree with everything else though, and it's good advice. Persistence is vital. If you keep chopping and changing to suit your dogs behaviour he will have YOU trained in no time at all.

How much walking do you do with him ? It's possible he needs to burn more energy to feel relaxed enough in his crate. Make the crate the most inviting place he could want to be. Don't necessarily fill it with toys, but make it 'his place' that he feels he can retreat to when he wants time out himself. Also when you are at home, put him in his crate for no obvious reason, then leave him for 10 minutes, then let him out. Keep repeating this for different lengths of time, so he doesn't see the crate as a punishment or a warning that you are going out and leaving him. You don't want him to associate the crate with anything he feels uncomfortable with, i.e you going out. Also when he is in the crate (whilst you are there) sometimes stand by the crate and talk to him, and other times stay in another room, where he can hear you but not see you, and sometimes be in the same room, but ignore him. This way he will have spent time in his crate in every circumstance available and will not associate it with you leaving or not being there. Each time he's put in the crate, he will not know what's going to happen (this time) or for how long, and therefore not know what reaction to give :smt001

HTH :smt001

Hi pyrotekky congratulations on your puppy.

Firstly, you have only had the puppy three weeks, a very short time. It takes while to establish a routine, your new puppy will still be settling in and getting used to you, it can't be expected to adjust to your longer absences without a few problems. I would have made the changes more gradual.


You say ''sweets, food a kong'' are you leaving food down all the time, this should never be done for a number of reasons, the puppy should only be fed at meal times apart from the kong which should contain 'safe eats' that the puppy can't choke on. What are sweets?

You also say ''now he won't go back in the crate without force'' force should never be used to get a dog in a crate, the crate should be a place of refuge not a prison, using force will make the dog afraid of and reluctant to enter the crate.

a word about chewing ...
I do agree with Duboing all puppies chew, they mouthe and chew as a means to explore their world just as an infant uses their hands, they chew as a form of displacement activity when bored or lonely and most of all they chew when teething to help the teeth come through. Chewing is normal behaviour for a puppy
All puppies should carry a warning that they can be expected to chew, your 9 month old puppy will be teething at the moment .

So, I would ..
get your puppy into a routine gradually,
Make sure it has a walk appropriate to its age before being left (5 mins per month of age and divide that between a couple of walks a day )and a play,
Leave the crate open,fresh water, no food or sweets ,a safe kong and something hard to chew like a large nylabone,
Come home regularly to take the puppy out and extent the time it is left very graually if you can .

Good luck with your puppy we will do our best to help if we can..

all the replies are sound advise.

2 more things to add, can you place a cover over the crate so it creates a 'den' so puppy feels safe and make sure the crate is in a quiet place away from the usual walk ways and door entrances.

hope this helps

ooo good one, I forgot that lol

We bought Missy a cover to go over the crate. We first put a knitted blanket over the crate however soon learnt in the early days that Missy would pull the blanket through the crate and eat it So when we bought the stronger crate from E-Bay, we bought the accompanying cover for it aswell. Very good idea, and it does help them settle abit better I think.

If you want to know which seller we bought our crate from on Ebay please PM me and I will be happy to recommend them

Also, one more thing. We leave the radio on for Missy. On an evening our local radio station has a "late night love affair" between 11pm and 1am. It plays love songs etc, nothing really banging, you know calming songs. Think about that maybe. Do you listen to the radio in the house? If not, start! We never used to but then put a radio in the kitchen and now whenever we cook dinner or do anything in the kitchen the radio goes on so when Missy is in there with us, the radio reminds her of being with us. Just another idea.