Yes, I did read the crate training article. We are feeding her all of her meals in the crate and putting  her in there for short lengths of time during the day while we move around the house so that she can see we always come back. I was just hoping there was an easier way. It breaks my heart to her her cry.

Right now Chrissy is using a small transport-type crate (see photo #1).  I am thinking of switching her to a metal crate (see photo #2) that she will be able to see out of better.  Do you think the transition will be a good one?  Wonder how she will take the change and if this metal crate is too big for her right now?  I already own this metal crate.....so it isn't a matter of to purchase or not to purchase, just wondering if it will be better for her since she will eventually outgrow the small one.

Hello Again,

Ok, so it has been a month and I am still having the same problem with Jazzy but it seems to be getting worse.  She is 7 months old and she stays in her crate during the day for 5-6 hrs. and sleeps in there at night. By the way the crate is in our bedroom.  She will go into her crate just fine, and we give her a treat and praise her and have a few toys in there. At night she goes in her crate fine and does not whine at all.  However, when we go to leave in the morning or anytime we out her in the crate about 5 mins. before we leave and shut the bedroom door so she does not hear us leave.  Lately, though she has been whining but then starts barking very loudly for like an half hour to an hour.  We leave the T.V. on but somehow she still knows we are gone.  We live in an apartment and I am afraid we are going to get a complaint soon.  What can I do? 

we have 2 rat terrier pups from the same litter, sisters.  Do you recommend putting in the crate together?  We have 2, one big and one small, the big one we have been putting them in together at night, and they seem to do fine, have not messed in it but we do take them out when they wake up (usually 2x per night.) they are about 8 wks old.   When we leave the house, though, I want to put them in seperate crates so they do not play too rough while we cannot monitor it.  Also, should they be walking on leashes by now?  I have tried it 2x and they seem to hate the leash.  One other question!  I want to praise w/ food when they go potty outside, but do not want to give them people food. Should I stll give cheese, or is there another doggy treat good for their age?

Thanks so much for your help!

Here is my dilemma. Want to know what you all think about it. We got Yaz Sept. 2006. We immediately tried crating her following all the typical crating steps. She did horrible. Not only was she very vocal about her dislike of the kennel but the worst part was the messing. That's right, messing. You know that theory about dogs won't "mess" where they sleep? Baloney. She would pee and poop then get it all over herself, all over the crate wires, all over my kithcen floor. What a mess! This could take place in 5 min. or two hours. It did not matter how long we would leave her in there. We tried different amounts of space in the kennel too. Ya know, big enough to roam all the way down to only big enough to turn. We tried putting in blankets thinking that she wouldn't "go" on those. Yeah right . She didn't mess in the house, only her kennel. After about 5months of this. I tossed her kennel out the front door and told my husband to take it to the dump because I was done. What is up with that? Why wouldn't she crate train? I am totally jealous of owners with crate trained dogs. She is fine in the house when we leave her. She does bark when we leave but only for  few minutes then she curls up and goes to sleep. The only time she messes in the house is in the afternoons when I go get my kids at school she poops on the living room floor in protest of bing left behind. Absolutely maddening! She knows exactly what is going on. I take her out before I leave but she won't poo. Stubborn nasty little dog! I would love any input on this.

                                   Thanks....

Chrissy is now using the big wire crate (mentioned above). We were putting her in the bathroom with potty pads available. Now that she can hold it long enough....this crate is good and we no longer put her in the bathroom (which made hubby happy because now we have two bathrooms again. LOL)

I am not sure why Yaz is being so stubborn. I know my pom would get mad at us, her thing was to find a piece of paper and tear it to shreds right by the front door. I just got used to picking up paper when we came home.

Jperge..... I carry a small zip lock baggie in my coat pocket with a hand full of Chrissy's regular dog food. That is what I give her when we are outside and she does what she is supposed to do. She takes it gladly....not sure she even realizes it's her regular food. She just knows she is being hand fed a treat.

My vet actually laughed at me when I complained that Yaz was being stubborn. When I asked why he was laughing he said, "Amy...She's a terrier." To which my response was, "Oh." (duh) We are pretty accustomed to it but it's still just sooooo annoying.

I am trying to crate train my recent adopted Rat Terrier/Beagle Mix.  This one is very vocal when I leave the room, he starts barking and whining and he tears up anything that is next to the crate.  It is a wire crate so it is big, but his food and his water are in the crate and he has no qualms about eating in there, but when I leave, he goes NUTS.

I might try to keep him in the cage while I sit next to it and encourage him to be ok, but it is tough since I go to work everyday and he barks his head off at 6:30 AM, which is bad since I live in an apartment.

Edit:  I just had him in his cage, he shook for the first 5 minutes then settled down and sat down.  I did not leave the side of his cage though.  I might start doing that hourly and increasing the time that he is in it until I can get up and hopefully no barking.

I have to say, I grew up with dogs in my life.  Most of them have been adopted dogs, and I have to say, I think they're the most special dogs I've ever known.  Princess is my second adopted dog, and my first that is completely mine and not the family dog.  She, like one of my previous adopted dogs, was abused.  I found her walking on the street on my way home and adopted her the moment I took her to the shelter.  I wanted to make sure there wasn't a cute little kid going "where's my doggie, mommy?" you know? Yeah so anyway, I adopted her.  She's a rat terrier, cutie to be sure, and diva when she wants to be.  Anyway, my affectionate, now named "Princess", rat terrier is the smartest dog I've ever known.  She took to crate training immediately! I've never seen anything like it! She goes in there to lay down when it's open, like it's her sanctuary.  I have to say, I recommend it to EVEYRONE I know with a dog.  Even my parents have crated their cocker spaniel.  The spaniel kept scratching up the doors in the house, so now they're thanking me, though the spaniel's not nearly as excited about the crate as Princess, but she has been crated which stops the sc ratching.  It's amazing how much crating can save your sanity.  Dogs miss us when we're gone.  The spaniel, Dusty, would eat everything she could and destroy tons of things because she just missed my parents.  She was very distructive.  Now, crating the dog not only avoids that destruction, but saves Dusty the anger that comes from it from my parents.  So yeah, the point of this whole long rant is that 1) adopted dogs are the BEST! Save a sad puppy! and 2) crate training is a lifesaver, not only for you, but for the dog, too.  oh, and 3) rat terriers rock! (even if I never thought I'd adopt one, it's the best decision ever in my life.  She's so smart!)

Stephanie, Princess' mommy.

LOL! I would add it to my profile like yours if I knew how Maybe I'm just too tired to figure it out LOL.  Well, here, I'll add it to this post   It's from christmas, mostly, but it's cute anyway LOL and one of the few she's got her ears up for.  She's so camera shy normally!  She's 12 lbs, loves to burrow in sheets, and to take shoes and hide them (not eat them, just hide them).  Hey, interesting colors on her face aren't they? it's like a reddish brown and tan.  Strange.  She's often mistaken for a min pin, but I know better!

What a great article.  I've got a question about beginning Lola's crate-training.  (Some history:  Lola is a 10-month-old RT I'm taking on from a home who couldn't keep her.  They didn't mention crate training and when I asked whether she was housetrained, they didn't answer, so I'm assuming they've had problems.) I'm bringing her home Saturday and can start with baby steps then, but I don't anticipate that she'll be comfortable with the crate by Monday morning when I leave for work.  What should I do with her?  I don't want to rush her and spoil the crate experience for her, but I also don't want her to chew on my house (or my cat) or potty everywhere. I don't have a lunch break or any other kind of a break in my day to come home and check on her (I'm a special education teacher. What's a lunch break?) so she will be alone for eight hours.  Although i'm REALLY excited about her, I sort of wish I were picking her up a week later, after school is out and I'm only teaching four-hour days at a preschool.  She only has to get through a week of eight-hour days.  Should I crate her or leave her out?

Thanks!

Hi Everyone
I need some advice for my newest rattie. We have one that is a year old, she is crate trained, everything went very well with her. Now we have one that is 3months old. She was flown to us in Pa from TN in a crate. She was so traumatized by the flight, that when we picked her up at the airport she couldn't stand. Now we are trying to crate train her for short periods during the day. But she becomes so radical that she claws at the crate until her little paws are sore. Our vet suggested that we get a special toy that she only gets when she is in the crate. Entice her in and gradually increase the time that she is left. This worked for the first two times but now she knows that we are going to leave her, and it no longer works. I feel so guility leaving her when she is in such distress but someday soon I am going to need to go back to work. If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.
Thanks
furfacelove

Ok, Bella breezed through the crate training process when we had her and we never needed to have the crate in our room.  She was okay with the crate being in the living room from the begining.  Then once she was potty trained she was allowed to sleep in our room.

Sydney on the other hand will bark ALL night if she is left in her crate in another room, even if we wear her out all day and don't let her nap.  So we tried crating her in our room last night as the advice above suggests and she did fine.

Ideally I want her crate to be out in the sitting room with Bella's and not left in our bedroom.  I want her to be able to sleep in her crate while it's in the sitting room as well.

My question is, how do I get to that stage.  How quickly should I move her crate?  The only problem is, it is going to be difficult to do it gradually because there is not room right outside of our bedroom to leave her crate.  Her crate is large and we are at the end of a hallway and there would be no way to get past her crate.

Has anyone here had this problem and did you have to gradually move the dogs crate to a new location?

Someone else above asked the same question, but I didn't see an answer...

What do you do when your rattie won't stop pooping in the crate?

Daisy is only about 3 1/2 months old, and she's been in the crate more than a month now. She stays in during the day, I let her out (right now) every 1 1/2 to 2 hours, and she's out when we're home (sleeps with us at night).

She's getting better about peeing in the house...she's getting "spots" designated now where she'll go, so we can tell when she's about to and take her outside. And she never does in her crate unless I'm late taking her outside. But the poo...that's another story.

Miss Daisy Mae will poop in the house anywhere, and in the crate always. I wake up and take her outside around 6 a.m., and feed her at around 6:15 every morning. She plays while I work out and get ready for work without any accidents at all. Then at 7 or 7:30 she goes outside, where she pees but never poops. No matter how long we stay, no poo. It gets too late and I've got to get to work, so she goes into the crate.

Does she love the crate, no. But I'll grab the treat of choice and say "Daisy, go to your house!" and she'll dance around in circles and run and get in it. She cries when I shut the door and leave, but only for a few minutes.

Anyway, by the time I get home two hours later, there's poop. If I try to surprise her and take her out early, she'll pee...but again, no poop! Then at 11 when I go home, she's done it. Then again and again.

Are some dogs just NOT crate train-able?

DaisysMom – What can we block the crate off with that won't hurt her? Blankets and/or cardboard won't work, because she eats 'em...putting up chicken wire to block off the boxes/blankets was a suggestion here at work, but I'm afraid that will hurt her. Even then, I blocked off only enough space to let her lie down and turn around this morning, and she pooed all the same....

We'll put her on a long tie-out when she's in the house so she'll stay in sight. Maybe that'll make her leave the Chihuahua alone, too...

But with her, when we catch her in the act, and give her the "No!" and take her outside, she loses the need to go. We'll take her out immediately, and she'll sit and look at us. No matter how long we wait she doesn't go. That's not so bad during the day when we're home, because we can just wait 'til she needs to go again and run her out. But at night...gosh...

We had her on puppy food and it was bad...diarrhea ALL the time. Constantly. A co-worker was a vet aide for 11 years, and suggested we move her to indoor complete food (Pedigree). It's what we feed the other small dog, and says on the bag it's ok for puppies. Her poop is firm now, but we do worry that she's not getting good enough nutrition for her age. She eats only twice...in the morning then around 4 pm. Is that too much food at a time? I don't get a long enough lunch break to feed her and take her out before she goes back into the crate, so that's why I don't split it into three times...We're also not sure how much to feed her. The guidelines say to feed X amount for an adult weight of X pounds. But we don't know how big she's going to get since she was so much smaller than her brothers when we got her...

She plays in the yard in the morning, for a minute on her mid-morning break, when I'm at lunch, on her two afternoon breaks and then at night. And constantly in the house in between. She's not on a leash when we take her out, though...I assume that would help confine her only to her one spot....