Crate & Whining!

[jen84]

Hi,

We are new to dog ownership and greyhounds so any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!!

So we bought Stan home in early December and he settled in perfectly, went in his crate at night and stayed there quietly until we went to get him up for a walk in the morning. Very rarely would we hear anything from him, he would easily go from a wee at 7pm until the morning. This room is where he stayed while we were at work with some toys and a dog walker popping in, happily.

We are getting work done on the house and the room Stan is in is clear, just his crate and food/water, it will be the kitchen in a few months. So when we were doing some work to the room in prep for the kitchen we moved him up into the lounge and at the same time started letting him stay in the lounge while we were out during the day as we felt he was housetrained after 6 weeks with us. This didn’t go well, he was in the lounge for 3 nights, in his cage and the whining would start at 4am and was almost howling it was so loud. We ignored him but he never would settle. So after the work had been done we moved him back to his room and after another few nights things seemed to settle back down for a few weeks, he would make a few noises but nothing too loud. When he was having one of those mornings I would knock on the door to his room and say quiet and generally this would work for half an hour to an hour. However the last week it has started again, and we haven’t changed anything recently.

He doesn’t wake up at a certain time, some days 4:50 some days 6 and he has always been for a wee before bed. He just whines and I generally go down to check if he needs a wee sometimes he goes and sometimes he doesn’t. I think he just wants to start the day.

And this week another problem has started.. trying to get him in his cage for bed. He will stand by the back door refusing to go in, he always gets treats to go in so he knows it’s a good idea. I let him out in case he does need another wee and he just stands by the back gate as if he wants to go for a walk. I can get him in his cage but it takes a lot of time which it has never before.

This morning when he woke I took him for a wee and then left the cage door open and put more blankets down in the floor around his cage in case he wanted to lie out of the cage.. nope this didn’t work, in fact I would say he was worse. Oddly though in the day if we are pottering about he will put himself in his cage.

Does anyone have any experience of anything similar??

Unfortunately we can’t have him sleep in our room and other than this and is dislike of black Labradors (!?) he is perfect!

Thank you!
Jenny

[kamkay]

Welcome to Gap-no advice to offer I'm afraid, but there are many very experienced owners on here who will almost certainly be able to help

[ritab]

Sounds like he doesn't want to be shut in downstairs while you are in bed. Have you thought about putting a bed on the landing if you can't have him in your room? This works for some people.

[gvgeam]

Hi,

Maybe I've misread, but is Stan in his crate, with the door closed and then in a room with the door closed? Does it need both? Is the crate door closed when you're out?  If so, then it seems as though Stan is spending a lot of time confined, which is really not ideal. When you let him stay in the lounge, was this in the crate or loose? Is sounds as though Stan has had quite a lot of upheaval in matter of weeks. He's come to live with you and then has had his secure place moved about. He may not be as flexible/adaptable as you think!

If you can't have him upstairs, is it possible to use the room he has now, use the crate with the door open, but with a dog gate or baby gate across the doorway? Sometimes covering the crate with a blanket will also make the dog feel more secure.

[jen84]

Hi,

Thanks everyone.

He is only in his crate at night the rest of the day he now has the house (apart from bedrooms) to himself. I do shut the door in the room his crate is in so will try leaving the open.

He has been a lot better the last few mornings and think us going to bed slightly later seems to have delayed his wake up.

It's not as easy as it used to be getting him to bed in his crate but he doesn't whine or anything once he is in until he wakes up in the morning.

We are planning in creating a little area/den for him with a baby gate that we will introduce him to slowly.

Thanks,

Jenny x

[lurcherlot]

You could try leaving the crate door open at night? He's clearly OK during the day, so perhaps he could be trusted to have the run of the house at night? I think I would definately abandon the uneven struggle to get him into the crate at night - he obviously doesn't like it!

[Ted]

None of mine have had a crate, but allowed the full bungalow to wander around. Merlin either uses the small back room or the dog bed in my room. Menta sleeps on the rugs in the front room. Mickey has a full size human single bed because of his loose hips and arthritis in his both right legs. Kelly will sleep on the dog bed in my room provided Merlin is not occupying it, otherwise she sleeps on the carpet in the back hall, for some time then goes to join Menta in the front room. Lately Mickey is in the front room on one of the sofas if I am in there, this has been since I had our vet to remove two teeth that were causing Mickey problems, both had been broken even before I had him in December 2011 but were not causing him any problems until one day he missed his step getting out of the dog wagon and hit his jaw on the floor. I have had Greyhounds etc since February 2001 and have always allowed them to sleep in my room if they want to. Just after I had Menta in April 2009 I tried to get her to use a crate but she refused point blank to go anywhere near it. , she glues all four feet to the floor.

[gazer]

Stan sounds lonely and unhappy with his crate when you try to put him in there.  Obviously when the door is open and he can wander in of his own accord he's going to be fine but he sees it very differently at night when you try to shut him in.

I'm not sure why you are using a crate, can't you use baby/dog gates if you need to keep him out of a certain area. Greyhounds generally don't like to be behind a covered door, but are usually ok with something like a baby gate.