Hyper!! Hyper!! Hyper!!

[GOAT]

We recently got a 10 month old dachshund/chi mix. She is good when holding and in a large room...but when it's cage...she moves from left to right without skipping a beat. So freakin HYPER!! She also cries and sometimes bark when we leave the room or take out the other dogs for there walk. Also she let's lose in her cage. Please somebody...HELP!!

[KittyGurl]

Maybe your puppy doesn't like to be alone and in small places. Puppies are hyper and they love to be with people.

When I use to sleepover my friends house, they would lock their dog up in a cage for thenight. The dog would cry, howl and bark. You could also hear him run around in circles in the cage. When she would let her dog out he would be a little angel :D

Maybe you should stop locking your puppy in the cage. If you are taking your other dogs on a walk, why not take your puppy along. He will sure enjoy it! Or you could take puppy to obedience classes to work on behiavor and hyperness.

Good luck!!! :)

[borzoimom]

Its important to not let her out of the crate until she is calm. Also- start with feeding her in the crate- cookies in the crate- shut the door .. then calmly ( you) let her out.
I start all crate training with meals- first leave the door open - after a few days shut the door- you remain calm and cool.. then oh - let out- take your time getting ready to go out- keep it calm..

[SunsetRose]

Exercise!! Exercise!! Exercise!!

Give that pup a bit of a workout BEFORE you put her in the crate and she won't have any energy left to have a fit! She'll just laydown and sleep like a good puppy. As I usually say, a tired dog is a good dog.

Also, keep her mind occupied! How would you like to be kept in a small enclosure with nothing to do? Give her some Nylabones, some stuffed kongs, everlasting treat balls, puzzle toys where she has to figure out how to get it to dispense a treat.

[whalelover]

Completely agree with the exercise tip. Also, practice having her in the crate while you're home, and don't make a big deal out of it when she goes in (like saying "bye be good!" etc.) This just gets them wired up. When she begins to protest, give her a firm & assertive correction (ex. TSST!). Keep practicing this while you're home (also opening and closing doors, correcting if needed), then when you have to go out, this won't be a problem.

[Canis-Lupess]

Hmm, I'd be a bit dubious about a correction for making a scene because then she would be succeeding in getting your attention and, like children, dogs don't care whether the attention is good or bad. If she gets your attention once, she'll create a scene again to get your attention...again.

Demanding attention is a way for dogs to climb the pecking order and become higher ranking and, as most people fall for it every time, the dogs usually succeed in this when they do it with people. They do it in a variety of ways as well.

I agree with the exercise to tire her out and having her spend some time in the crate whilst you are around and providing her with a toy she can chew on or whatever.

[whalelover]

I have to disagree about the attention. Dogs are not children, so we cannot use human psychology on them. In the wild, dogs give each other corrections, especially to puppies, for establishing pecking order. If you deliver the correction at the time of the behavior with enough assertiveness, the dog will stop the behavior. Though she may begin again, just continue to correct, and eventually she will begin to understand, as they learn by repetition. I've seen this method used sucessfully countless times.
Hope this helps.

[Canis-Lupess]

On the contrary, dogs do demand attention and don't care whether it is good or bad. The point is that they managed to demand it. They don't do it for the same reason as children but they do it.

Here is a quote by animal behaviourist John Fisher. It is regarding a dog that barks all the time his owner is on the phone and if he is locked out of the room, he barks louder and scratches at the door.

"Telling him off will not negate his usefulness as a guard dog, neither will it help to overcome your problem. No doubt, because you live alone with your dog, any guarding behaviour is rewarded. However, rewarding his behaviour when you are on the phone will encourage him - as will telling him off. In both scenarios you are giving the dog the attention that he is demanding and, like children, dogs don't care whether that attention is good or bad. The answer is to take away the reward that he gets from behaving in this unnacceptable manner."

Many of the behaviourists in the U.S use methods by John Fisher and I know that John Fisher has trained some of the most well known behaviourists in the U.S. He's one of the leading behaviourists in Europe.

I know somebody who has a patterdale terrier and she got into a habit of chewing the table so, naturally, they started telling her off for it. What did she do, she started to chew the table deliberately when they were watching and when they told her off, she'd just move around to the other side of the table and resume chewing but she's have her eyes on them the whole time...she was doing it purely to get their attention because she knew it worked everytime. When I advised them to find other ways to stop her chewing and to stop giving her the attention she was after, she stopped chewing the table and is fine now.

[Giselle]

I agree with Canis. Dogs do like attention, even if it's negative attention. My greyhound is the loewst subordinate in my pack and my pekingese is the more dominant one. Whenever the peke is getting more attention than the greyhound, she'll resort to chewing on the chair because she cannot push the little one out of the way (as a dominant would). She knows she is subordinate and she knows that her only chance of getting any attention is by chewing on the legs of the chair. Somebody will yell at her to stop. The attention is given and the behavior will continue because attention in any respect is a reinforcer.

Anyhow, I'll agree with the above posters - exercise your dog! Is there any reason why she cannot accompany with your other dogs' walks?

[SunsetRose]

In the wild, dogs give each other corrections, especially to puppies, for establishing pecking order.

Ahhh, but Canis Familiaris are not wild dogs, and nor are we :p

They have been selectively bred for thousands of years to be able to sucessfully work among people. If you compare a wild dog, such as a wolf, to a domesticated dog, looking at pet quality, there is no competition as to which one is more easily managable. Dogs know humans aren't dogs, correction based training doesn't go over as well as most would like to think.

I agree with Canis Lupess. Corrections are unnecessary in this situation and ignoring the pleas for attention and rewarding a good, quiet dog, will work very sufficiently.

[agilityk9trainer]

Ahhh, but Canis Familiaris are not wild dogs, and nor are we :p

They have been selectively bred for thousands of years to be able to sucessfully work among people. If you compare a wild dog, such as a wolf, to a domesticated dog, looking at pet quality, there is no competition as to which one is more easily managable. Dogs know humans aren't dogs, correction based training doesn't go over as well as most would like to think.

I agree with Canis Lupess. Corrections are unnecessary in this situation and ignoring the pleas for attention and rewarding a good, quiet dog, will work very sufficiently.

Absolutely. Do dogs try to get attention? Of course!! (BTW, as many already know, I'm a professional dog trainer with 30 years experience). Dogs have many different attention-getting behaviors. Jumping on you, pawing on you to be petted, some forms of barking, etc. If you give attention when your dog does one of these types of attiention getting behaviors, what are you teaching? You're teaching the dog to do more of them, of course!! :)

Correcting a dog who is experience crate anxiety can make things much more worse, even to the point of creating seperation anxiety. Please. No correction.

When your dog is acting up, do not let it out of the cage. Do not give it any attention at all. Ignore it. When your dog calms down - even for just a few seconds - then you can let it out of the cage. If you let your dog out of the cage when it's acting up, what are you teaching it? You've got it! You're teaching your dog that acting up in the cage get's it let out!! You're rewarding the bad behavior!

Always pay attention to when you are "rewarding" the dog. Ignore any attention getting behaviors, and over time, they will disappear.

[borzoimom]

Its important to not let her out of the crate until she is calm. Also- start with feeding her in the crate- cookies in the crate- shut the door .. then calmly ( you) let her out.
I start all crate training with meals- first leave the door open - after a few days shut the door- you remain calm and cool.. then oh - let out- take your time getting ready to go out- keep it calm..
As stated earlier- obviously agilityk9trainer- I totally agree about the calm- on both ends- dog and owner..

[Canis-Lupess]

In the wild, dogs give each other corrections, especially to puppies, for establishing pecking order.

Yes they do but in a purely different context to correcting a dog that is going ballistic in a crate.
If a wolf was doing something we might find unacceptable like diggin up a small tree, the other wolves couldn't care less. It wouldn't be told off for it.
However, if that wolf went and jumped on another one and started playing too rough, it might get itself snapped at or if it tried to eat when it wasn't its turn.

Still as humans, we have other ways in which we can prevent those last two behaviours that don't involve the actual snapping at. Wolves don't have the options that we do but making a racket in a crate isn't something that would cause one wolf to correct another anyway.

Different situations require different approaches.