# Recent Crate Regression



## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Bumping up


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## pawsnpaca (Nov 11, 2014)

Is it possible that something "bad" happened while he was in the crate... maybe he got a toenail stuck or was stung by a bee and you weren't aware... and now he's afraid to be "trapped" in there? What is the longest you are asking him to stay in the crate without a let out?

At a year and a half I would expect most dogs to be OK left out loose in the house, but if your dog clearly is not then you may need to backtrack to convince him again that his crate is a safe place to be. Start by checking the crate out thoroughly to see if you can identify any safety issues. Then start trying to associate the crate with only good things again. You may want to consider a different kind of crate (e.g., a plastic or soft sided crate if his current crate is metal). If possible, I wouldn't crate him until you have changed the association back to being positive, but if that's not an option then I'd make sure you only put him in with a frozen Kong stuffed with awesome food that he ONLY gets in the crate and see if that helps.

Another good resource is Susan Garrett's Crate Games. Many people swear it has taught their dogs to LOVE their crates. I believe it's available as a book as a DVD or as a fairly inexpensive download. A Google search should bring it up...


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