Following on from my dog won't sleep in kennel

Andso

Just on dog not sleeping in kennel, I have a similar problem during the day. I have a springer spaniel who has a gorgeous house for use outside by day, he is inside at night. He rarely goes into kennel, my husband is involved in external house insulation so he insulated Doha kennel same as a house so it's very toasty inside. It could be pouring rain and dog will sit outside kennel. I have done a lot of what was suggested here, new bedding , different bedding. Hid his kong in there, he found it and brought it out. I hate the thought if I'm gone for a few hours he won't go in, any ideas as to why. It's directly outside my kitchen window so not dad from us when he's outside

volchitsa

I haven't seen the earlier thread this seems to be following on from, but I have a similar question really. Unfortunately me piggybacking on your thread may not be any help to you, but it really is the same issue and I don't want to start a new thread when yours is here too. So if you don't mind I thought I'd add my post to the mix (if the mods think it's better to start a separate thread I can, but I have a feeling we're not meant to, right?)

Anyway, here goes. We have a 3 month old pup who's been brilliant, seems very even tempered amd easygoing mostly. We've closed off a section of the garden (about 300m2) and she plays out there very happily, either with us or on her own (I can see her from the window).

So the only problem is that she has a kennel there which is made for her adult size - she sleeps in a crate in the house which is much the same size, and was happy enough there from the start. But I can't get her to go into the kennel at all.

It's much more closed in than the crate of course and is sort of echoey when you put your head in so I suppose that may be what she dislikes.

It's concrete with a wooden floor, and I've put in a big rubberbased door mat on the bottom for insulation (she loves sitting on those in the house) and then an old sleeping bag for softness.

I've tried leaving treats and even her toys inside, but she won't go in for them, just ignores them and plays with leaves and stones instead!

So far she hasn't needed to stay out in the garden without us, so when it rained she came back in, but next week she'll need to stay on her own for a while and I'd much rather leave her out playing in the garden than in her crate, but if she won't go in her kennel I don't know if I'd be happy leaving her out.

I'm wondering in if it's a lost cause and she just hates that particular kennel or if there's any point in forcing the issue in some way. I haven't insisted on it in the way I did with the crate where I as deliberately dropping treats all the time in it. Plus it's in the living room which makes it easier for us and her!

Any ideas or suggestions?

aonb

VOLCHITSA/suggestion: shes only a puppy, leave her in the house in her crate while you go out/away - she will be a lot happier/safer indoors!

Kennels are a real issue. Ive always had dogs. There are currently THREE kennels on our property. Or is it four?!? Our dogs are house dogs. We got kennels in case they were outside (in the fenced-off 2 acre garden) - in the summer - while we were out for a while - in case it rained.... I can safely say that NONE of our dogs has ever set foot in ANY of those kennels :cool:

volchitsa

Thanks aonb, I've been wondering about that alright, I'm not sure about leaving her outside, but she loves it so much, she plays like a mad thing with her toys in the garden, rolling around with her rope toy or chasing various things. Or the birds (we have homing pigeons so they hang around the garden and she loves trying to chase them when they land but doesn't have a hope)

She's fine in here with us, but she's not reliably house trained, definitely not if you're not there to watch her carefully, and I hate the idea of leaving her crated for 3 or 4 hours at a stretch. I lock it at night but during the day she can normally come and go to the crate, and we've noticed that she loves sitting on the mat in the hall even more - I presume so she can supervise arrivals and departures!

So I don't know where is best to leave her. I need to have it sorted for next Monday. My o/h can get back at lunchtime but will have to leave again in the afternoon, and same again in Tuesday, and I won't be there at all.

aonb

Volchitsa, my main concern with leaving a 12 week old puppy outdoors for any length of time, would be safety - dogs are being stolen from peoples gardens on a daily basis (I work with a rescue/shelter and we hear this again and again and again). Also, a puppy on her own outdoors could choke on a toy, get hurt chewing a stick, get stuck in a fence etc etc etc etc. I would prefer to have to clean up pee on a tiled floor if she had an accident indoors. If she were mine, and I had to leave her for any length of time, I would put her and her open crate in the utility, spread a newspaper around on the floor, take her for a walk before you leave the house, take her outside to pee immediately before leaving the house, turn on the radio for company, leave her a kong stuffed with peanut butter and close the door to the utility

tk123

aonb wrote: »

Volchitsa, my main concern with leaving a 12 week old puppy outdoors for any length of time, would be safety - dogs are being stolen from peoples gardens on a daily basis (I work with a rescue/shelter and we hear this again and again and again). Also, a puppy on her own outdoors could choke on a toy, get hurt chewing a stick, get stuck in a fence etc etc etc etc. I would prefer to have to clean up pee on a tiled floor if she had an accident indoors. If she were mine, and I had to leave her for any length of time, I would put her and her open crate in the utility, spread a newspaper around on the floor, take her for a walk before you leave the house, take her outside to pee immediately before leaving the house, turn on the radio for company, leave her a kong stuffed with peanut butter and close the door to the utility

+1 my two would have killed themselves if left to their own devices outside as puppies digging and chewing lol! You have a young puppy so a blank canvas - don't let the chance to train her to settle indoors on her own slip away! I can't leave one of mine alone for more than 5 mins before the barking starts so we never leave him home which can be difficult to organise at times! My girl I think would be fine staying outside but she prefers being cool so I doubt she'd use a kennel ...unless it was lashing rain because doesn't like going out to the loo when it's raining lol!
Have you thought of maybe using a puppy pen with the crate to give her a bit more space?

volchitsa

tk123 wrote: »

+1 my two would have killed themselves if left to their own devices outside as puppies digging and chewing lol! You have a young puppy so a blank canvas - don't let the chance to train her to settle indoors on her own slip away! I can't leave one of mine alone for more than 5 mins before the barking starts so we never leave him home which can be difficult to organise at times! My girl I think would be fine staying outside but she prefers being cool so I doubt she'd use a kennel ...unless it was lashing rain because doesn't like going out to the loo when it's raining lol!
Have you thought of maybe using a puppy pen with the crate to give her a bit more space?

We had a little pen for her at the start which was brilliant but she's already quite a big leggy dog and can now (just in the last couple of days) get over it, I'm actually afraid she might keep going at it really hard if she was on her own and hurt herself because she fell a couple of times quite hard before she managed to get out.

So I've given up on that pen and I'm not too keen on buying another higher one, if I can avoid it. Especially as she's apparently going to be a bit of show jumper (I saw her mother leaping out of a pen too, when she'd had enough of the pups - just flew over it without a bother, so she obviously gets it from her mum!)

volchitsa

tk123 wrote: »

+1 my two would have killed themselves if left to their own devices outside as puppies digging and chewing lol! You have a young puppy so a blank canvas - don't let the chance to train her to settle indoors on her own slip away! I can't leave one of mine alone for more than 5 mins before the barking starts so we never leave him home which can be difficult to organise at times! My girl I think would be fine staying outside but she prefers being cool so I doubt she'd use a kennel ...unless it was lashing rain because doesn't like going out to the loo when it's raining lol!

I hadn't thought of that, I assumed if she was settled outside she'd automatically be settled inside and it was just that I'm not sure about letting her roam around in the the house yet, especially while she's not house trained.

(every room has at least one major disadvantage which may not be a problem while we're hanging around but I don't know how a few hours alone would go (eg utility room has plugs and cables and an attached cellar area that we keep things in on shelves not in closed cupboards), living room has tiles so that's ok but then there's the sofa and some plugs at puppy height etc, and is open to the kitchen area, which is not too much of an issue but I'm afraid I'm not seeing all the stuff she could get up to!)

But I had thought that leaving her in the house would be easier once she was house trained, if she was already able to stay outside in the meantime! Have I got that wrong?

volchitsa

Anyway I'll have a think about that, I don't want to "hijack" Andso's question which was a more general one about getting dogs to go into outdoor kennels, so assuming we sort this short term question of safety

(she can stay inside, I'm sure we'll work something out - does everyone agree that crating her for a half day at a time would be abusive btw? It seems so to me, and my husband doesn't like even having her locked into it just at night! But as I said elsewhere this is our first puppy and habits have clearly changed since my o/h was a boy with dogs around the farm that were basically either working or resting, no issues with crating them!)

So more generally are there any tips for getting a dog to want to hang out in its outdoor kennel? Will it be the same approach as the crate? And is there a reason for her just not liking it, or is it because it's outside and so seems less homely to her? (She lived in an outside shed with a run with her mother and siblings, but not on her own of course.)

Cherry Blossom

You could leave her in the bathroom volchitsa if it's not very small. Just put the lid down and remove the toilet rolls. I got my dogs used to their dog run early on. There was nothing harmful in there and my mum is always home so it was more to give her a bit of a break from dogs during the day when I'm not here. If we are both away they are left in the house. We have a hall were they could be left where there is nothing to destroy. My brother's dog sleeps there now as I bring him in at night and he's usually not very clean.

hardCopy

Can your dog see the back door from the kennel?

We originally had our kennel in the side passage and Mo went out every morning and took all his kongs and treats out to the patio and would play and sleep by the back door.

We eventually managed to put the kennel on the patio, facing the door and now he sleeps in there when we're gone. He knows when we're due home and will wait for us at the gate or door every evening but if we sneak home at odd hours he'll be asleep in the kennel or under the hedge.