Greta won't get in her crate anymore

Greta, our 14 month old airedale mix, has lately decided that she doesn't want to get in her crate anymore. We never had any trouble training her to go in, and sometimes she'll even go in there when she just wants to lay down, with the door open.

But in the past two days, she has refused to crate. Last night she had to be carried and put in...today, when I had to leave after lunch, she got on the den couch and refused to move. I had to kinda trick her to get off the couch, and once she was near the crate, I said "crate" and she shuffled herself in, looking as morose as a dog can look.

Any suggestions for helping her get over this? I'm afraid Cassius, the other dog, will start imitating her (since he's imitated every other thing she's ever done), and then we'll have two dogs to deal with every time we need them in the crate.

Is there anything at all that may have scared or startled her while in or near the crate?
Maybe she has grown some & the crate is now uncomfortable?

I know you wanted her in the crate but actually picking her up & placing her in the crate was a no-no. I'm surprised that after that she willingly went in the crate today.

Anyways, i would start all over again, just like you would a puppy making the crate a happy place only. Feed her in it, leave her in the for short periods of time but often. Give her extra special treats & toys in there.
good luck

Could it be possible that she went to the bathroom or the other dog at the crate? Check for signs. Dogs DO NOT sleep where they have gone to the bathroom. Wash the bedding if there is any. There could be a smell that is disturbing her. Good luck!

Well I checked the crate thoroughly last night, removed all the bedding, and she has not had any type of accident in it, so that's not the cause. Plus the fact that now this behavior is happening only at night--she will crate just fine at any other time of the day.

We just can't figure out what she's trying to tell us.

that is strange if it is only at night. Maybe she heard a sound or something at night that scared her. Maybe move her crate to another area & place a night light near it?

Could Greta be telling you that she doesn't need to be crated anymore?

When my dog Tesoro was a puppy, I crated him at night and if I had to go out for errands during the day because he was a destructive chewer as a pup. I do work from my home; so most of the time, I'm home and my dogs are supervised and uncrated. But when Tesoro was a pup, even though he had plenty of chew toys, he'd go chew on the couch [he destroyed a nice sofa and ripped it to shreds] and he'd chew on everything in sight if he wasn't crated and was unsupervised.

However, when Tesoro was about 1yr and 6 months old, he was giving me trouble about going in the crate. He didn't want to go in the crate and was kind of telling me he didn't want to go in there. I checked his crate and it hadn't been soiled. Since it was an oversized crate, he hadn't physically outgrown the crate dimensions.

But, psychologically, Tesoro had outgrown the need for a crate. So I tried leaving the house to go to the post office and left him uncrated. I came home and nothing was chewed up, nothing was destroyed, and there were no messes whatsoever. So each day I left the house with him uncrated and increasing the number of rooms to which he had access for longer periods to test him. Each time, there was no destruction and no messes. I'd find that Tesoro would sleep on the new couch when I was gone (I allow him on furniture) and nothing was damaged. So I quit using a crate for him because he could be trusted to not break into things or destroy things. He seemed to outgrow his puppy destructive behavior so I quit using the crate for him and all is fine.

I do realize that some dogs must be crated because I have another dog Elsa who requires it. She gets horrible separation anxiety and I crate her anytime I leave on an errand or appointments because she will destroy my house and has done thousands of dollars of damage if uncrated. Elsa is an adult and she will always need the crate.

So perhaps Greta is being like Tesoro was? Maybe she is politely trying to give you the message that she can be trusted and that she doesn't wish to be crated?

Please let us know if you figure out this situation with Greta.

Best regards,
Anna Lisa

Attached is a photo of 2 of my dogs: Elsa and Tesoro on St. Pat's Day 2003

Thank you so much for your responses and suggestions.

I'm not quite sure if I trust Greta yet. She has done destructive chewing in the past (some day I'll post a pic of the chewed up baseboards around the living room) and seems to be fixated on pillows lately. What I suppose I could do is leave her out for an hour on the weekend, when we are out of the house, and see what happens.

Does Elsa get upset going into the crate when Tesoro doesn't? Our other dog, Cassius, is a fairly recent addition to the family, and I'm not ready to even test him about being left uncrated for a while. I'm not sure how he would react to seeing Greta being allowed to roam freely.

Hi,

No, Elsa doesn't get upset being in the crate even though my other two dogs Tesoro and Happy are never crated. It is because she looks at her crate as her own happy den place. I have a huge Orvis dog nest in there for her and her food and water dish are in there. She willingly goes in there when I say: "Elsa, go in your house" and she dashes right in because she knows she is going to get a peanut butter filled kong or a delectable treat and lots of praise for being in the crate. The crate is never used for punishment.

And she doesn't get angry at the other two dogs for being loose in the house. One time I videotaped her home alone in the crate with the other two dogs loose in the house and she was happy and fine with it. Set up the videocamera on a tripod and left it on to record with the camera focused on the crate when I left for about an hour. She wasn't crying or fussing at all. I leave my clothing from the night before in the crate with her because she finds my scent on the clothing to be re-assuring.

Elsa will get mad if one of the other dog wanders into her crate. She considers it her space, her den, her territory and it is her ORVIS dog nest. During the day if I'm home, I leave the crate door open and oftentimes she goes in there for a nap cause she likes it in there. And I have a big latch hooked rug on top of the crate to make it more enclosed, den like so that it has the appearance of a solid roof above her instead of crate wire.

All hell breaks loose if I leave the house and Elsa is uncrated. She can't be left unattended and uncrated for more than 5 minutes! Cause one time I let her loose in the house while I went to scrape off my windshield one winter morning. I was only out there 5 minutes and she trashed things! Just imagine what she could have done if I had left her for 30 min? Since she does have severe separation anxiety, the crate sure is a must for her.

Maybe you can test out your dog at 5 minute intervals. Leave the house and go outside for 5 min, see what happens. Try it the next day for 10, then 15, then 30 minutes and increase the time and see if there are any destruction issues. If your dog isn't destroying things, maybe the dog is just saying she doesn't want the crate.

Best regards,
Anna Lisa

Thanks Anna Lisa.

I'm going to try your suggestion with a 5 minute interval tonight, and see what she does. If everything is ok, we'll try 10 tomorrow.

Here's an update on the crate situation with Greta:

We gave the "leaving her out of the crate" option a try for a few days. We made it up to 20 minutes, when obviously she got bored and tore a pillow into shreds. So I don't believe she's quite ready yet to be left out of the crate.

We've been treating her to get into the crate now, and she's cooperating. Some nights she's going in without the treat, but mostly we have to bribe her. Once in the crate she's happy, and settles down right away. Cassisus is getting into his crate as usual, and is REALLY happy about the extra treat :-)

At this point, the only thing I can think of is that she was testing her boundaries to see if we'd give in. Obviously, that is not going to happen anytime soon, so we'll continue to work with her.

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.