Outsmarting the Puppytron
At first, Rhys would sit everywhere but the crate: his former bed, an empty mesh bag, the kitten’s scratching pad. All of these seemed more attractive than his warm and cozy crate. I would turn around and see him sitting on a sock in the middle of the empty room, and I would think, “Really? This is more comfortable than your big, plush bed?” So, thank you Rhys for giving us yet another reason to keep our dirty socks off the floor.
However, once we got our floors cleaned, he still wasn’t hanging out in his crate. Instead he would stand at Jared’s or my feet, eyes lighting up every time we looked at him. This is one needy dog. That’s when the idea-bolt struck: put the crate where he spends his time. It seems really obvious now, but it took some time.
So now his crate is under the desk and he could not be happier. He spends a lot of time in there when we’re not directly interacting with him. Initially, I thought he wouldn’t like it, but now I think he enjoys the hum of the computer and the roof over his head. Also now I have a footrest!
I didn’t want to rush Rhys, so it was a few days until the next step: locking him in his crate while feeding him. Up until now, the door to the crate had always been open. When I tried to crate train him in August, I rushed the process and came home to a pile of sawdust from his wooden crate. The poor guy gets very anxious when locked up, but he can overcome it.
As you can see, food is the ultimate distraction for this guy. It’s been about a week, and he’s progressed to where I stay with him and keep the crate locked for a couple minutes after he’s done eating. There is no whining or pawing at the door. Progress!
