Adult Crate Training

[Jbsterrett]

Hello, I'll give a little background first. My name is Josh, and I have a female Border Collie named Micca. I first got her when she was about 9 months old, from a man with whom she had been dumped off on. and she is now a little over a year and and half old. We recently moved to Indiana from Alabama, and this will be her first winter up here. It can get pretty cold up here so we got her her first crate so she won't get cold when it starts to freeze. What I didn't mention was that the man who I got her from kept her in a crate about 2x too small for her, because for 1, he didn't really care, and 2, I don't think he had anything larger b/c he didn't own any dogs, he just happened to have this crate. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but now that we got her this crate, we have found out that it had created an extremely bad case of Crate Anxiety.

For instance, I crawled into the crate earlier with some treats to try and get her to come in when she didn't initially walk in by herself, and when she did not come to me, I pulled her in to me. At first she was just excited to get the treats, but when I hopped out with her, she hid under the porch and I had to lay down in front of it to get her to come back out. So in hindsight, pulling her in against her will was obviously a bad idea, but the real problem lies in the fact that she is completely petrified of getting inside of the crate.

I am hoping that maybe some of you have had a problem like this in the past, or maybe a trainer who knows how to handle this issue can give me some advice on what course of action to take. At the moment she has a nice dog bed she sleeps on and that keeps her very warm, so the issue isn't pressing, but she will definitely need the crate's warmth when the cold comes. Also, she is a short-haired Border Collie so it is a little harder for her to retain heat. Thanks in advance, I had no idea she had this issue or I would have gotten help a long time ago.

[McMegan]

Hi Josh,
No worries - you're already on the right track with associating good things (like treats) with the crate, and with going slowly and not forcing Micca past the point where she is comfortable. You just need a little help with techniques and you'll be on your way.

There is tons of literature out there on the basics of crate training using positive techniques. Here's one I pulled from Ahimsa Dog Training's blog (just because I like Grisha's writing): Crate Training « Ahimsa Dog Blog. Google will provide you with tons more, and there are tips and videos from all my favorites (Paul Owens, Patricia McConnell, etc. etc).

The main things to keep in mind is your dog's stress threshold and taking everything in baby steps to avoid triggering her stress and negative associations with the crate. Since this isn't an urgent matter relating to household destruction or house training or anything, you're free to take everything very slowly and not push her before she's ready. This is an ideal situation for her to learn to love her crate.

Here's an easy way to get started: bring the crate into your house and place it in a spot where Micca has free access to it (kitchen, living room or bedroom are good). Leave the door open or take the door off entirely for now (some dogs spook at the metal clanking sound the door makes if they accidentally run into it). Place some nice, soft blankets into the crate along with a sweatshirt or towel or something that smells like you. Now, every time you pass the crate, when Micca isn't looking, toss in a few of her favorite treats. Just keep doing this. Pretty soon she'll figure out that the crate magically manifests free treats. Amazing! She might even sneak in to grab one when no one is around to slam the door on her. Meanwhile, lower her stress about being near the crate by feeding her all meals nearby. If you can set her bowl right in front of the crate entrance and she will eat, great. Start there. If she refuses to eat there, move the bowl further from the crate until she takes food willingly. See if you can hand-feed her near the crate or right in front of it, so she learns not to fear the crate only when humans are nearby (Her experience so far has pretty much been crate + human = locked in, bad thing. Crate + no human = free access, no problem). Once she is eating willingly both from you and from the bowl right in front of her crate, move the bowl just inside the crate so she has to poke her nose in to get food. As she becomes comfortable, step by step, move the bowl back until it is at the back of the crate and she is going all the way inside to eat. This is really very little effort on your part, but it's doing a lot to change her feelings about the presence of the crate, and being inside it.

Hope this helps you get started!
Megan

[Jbsterrett]

Alright, McMegan, thank you very much.

I like the idea of casually placing treats inside very much, the only issue is, I also have a 3 month old puppy, so it is hard to keep them separated, and the puppy has no problem with hopping into the crate. I have propped the door open, so she has free access to go in and out, along with a heated blanket inside of it. My hope is that if it gets cold enough to the point where she actually is uncomfortable, she will be able to sense the heat and climb inside. How reliable would you say this assumption is? Border Collies are very intelligent dogs so I doubt she would choose freezing over getting inside of the crate, but since I cannot be sure I am addressing the issue now. Micca has always been an outside dog, and she actually has no interest in coming inside (she may associate the house with a big crate, I fear) but I live in an area heavily populated with coyotes so I bring the puppy in at night.

I think the plan I will go with until something changes is placing treats in the pen after I bring the puppy in for the night and just leave it open so she feels free to get them at her leisure without threat of them being stolen by the energetic little monster.

[McMegan]

Hi Josh,
Ah, thanks for the additional details. The puppy and outdoors factors do make a difference! Lets see. Border Collies are very intelligent. However, I suspect that her distrust and fear of the crate will be strong enough to override her desire for warmth, or at least will drive her to seek warmth elsewhere than the crate. Since she is to be an outdoor dog, have you considered building her a doghouse or something that is a little less crate-like? She's clearly not afraid of all enclosed spaces if she's crawling under the porch for safety. Is there space under the porch to enclose and insulate a portion of it, since that's already a spot she gravitates to?

I'm a little concerned about the coyote factor, too. Do you have coyote fencing or an enclosed area (such as a large chain-link kennel/run) where she is protected? Though she is about the size of a coyote, a hungry one could still definitely go after her. Leaving treats in an outside crate at night might increase this danger if other animals smell the food. I'll leave this one up to your discretion but wouldn't encourage you to try any techniques that could put her in danger.

[Jbsterrett]

Again, I appreciative you being so helpful.

To start off, it is actually more of a dog house than a crate. It's a large plastic house with a door flap, but I have removed that for now as it just obstructs what I am trying to do. The "Crate" is near the house and in a spot where she is not in danger of coyotes, I have made sure of that. I mentioned the coyotes just because I know Micca won't leave the porch during the night, but I have yet to be able to predict what the puppy will do, so I didn't want her wandering off into danger. Basically the coyotes don't pose a threat to Micca so that isn't an issue. The porch can't really be closed off, and I also don't really want her under there because it's loose dirt and she rides in the car with me frequently. To be quite honest, she has seemed to warm up to the box a bit today, I threw in some treats tonight and I'll check to see if she got them when I let my chickens out tomorrow morning (I'm kind of a farm boy ). Best case scenario I find her laying in the box tomorrow morning and this is not longer an issue, worst case scenario I'll rinse and repeat this week and see how things go, if results aren't acheived I'll find another method of keeping her farm that she feels more comfortable with. She's very protective so I can't keep her in the garage, because I guess she feels the need to be able to monitor her surroundings, which makes sense so I might just build her a pillow castle of some sort . Thanks again for the advice, and if you would like I can keep updating this thread with the results and maybe ask more questions if they arise Have an awesome week!

Edit 1: I forgot to mention the no danger of coyotes also applies to the treats. There should be no danger of attracting wildlife to the treats.

[McMegan]

Thanks for the updates - it's really nice to hear back about the progress the dogs on the forum make. It would be great if you want to keep posting. We like puppies, too!

Sorry, I'm definitely coming at this from a "city girl" perspective so I apologize if my advice was not terribly helpful or relevant to your particular situation. Basically, it sounds like you have everything under control. It also sounds like her fear stems more from being trapped or locked in than merely enclosed, so you definitely may be right in thinking that with free access and unexpected treats, she'll warm up to the crate (horrible pun not intended).

[Jbsterrett]

Your advice was and is extremely helpful, and it was exactly what I was looking for. I cannot thank you enough. Please don't go away though, I may need you soon haha.