I have a puppy the same age as yours who is not a fan of his crate - fortunately I have 2 weeks off of school/work to make him a fan of it.

I read through the posts and may have missed it - but are you feeding him in the crate? That might be a step in the right direction.

Like someone else suggested, I throw a treat in to get him to go in, and then I play "peek a boo" for a few minutes - disappearing and coming back with praise if he's quiet. I know that sounds sort of lame, but he's been quieting down a lot.

Anyway, hope things improve a little - sounds like a very stressful situation.

Thank you all for the encourage ment. Now for the question burning at the back of my mind.... How long do I have before my pup gets to the stage where he is old enough that it is too late to teach him new tricks? Sorry, I am trying to rush him because I am afraid of that happening and then having a wild dog.....

He'll learn til the day he dies. You've got tons of time. Probably the less you rush the faster he'll learn.

 Quote: jonathan hensley

Thank you all for the encourage ment. Now for the question burning at the back of my mind.... How long do I have before my pup gets to the stage where he is old enough that it is too late to teach him new tricks? Sorry, I am trying to rush him because I am afraid of that happening and then having a wild dog.....

I think what you really want to know is how long does it take to create a habit, or to break a bad habit.

You said he's losing weight cause he's not eating in his crate. You also said in previous posts he doesn't want to eat in his crate. I disagree with others about putting his food in there, then. Feed him outside the crate! As I posted before : If feeding him his food isn't working to make him feel comfortable in his crate, I don't see the point of doing it as the purpose of feeding in the crate is loving the food more than hating the crate and thereby getting over being crated."

Not everything that works for one dog will work for the other. Feeding him in his crate right now is TAKING AWAY from his time outside the crate and being with you and it sounds like he has way more time in the crate than is good for him mentally and physically. Wolf pups may love their den because they feel safe, but they ALWAYS venture outside and play around and get exercise. They don't live in there.

Living in an apartment is a hard thing for a dog. I'm willing to bet that your outside time with this pup is minimal at best. You have a pup that hates the crate. So YOU have to ask yourself WHY, why does he hate it? If you're not coming up with a good reason, here's what I think: he's in there WAY too much and not outside enough. ALL dogs need to go outside for good periods of time.

You have a 1/2 GSD, a large breed energetic dog that needs lots of exercise and loves being with his owner. And 1/2 Cocker, a sweet tempered dog that needs companionship and regular exercise as well. Put those 2 together and you have a dog that needs to be with you as much as possible (!) and needs exercise. The GSD is a herding dog, the Cocker a sports dog. So you can see that not giving him exercise just won't work with him. You have to consider his needs. An apartment dog would better have been a dog from the toy group. You do not have a lap dog.

But now that you have him, you have to make concessions that meet his needs. You have to rearrange YOUR schedule to do that.

So ask yourself honestly about the amount of exercise you are giving him outside of the apartment. Sorry, but an apartment just doesn't provide that, you'll have to take him outside and play til he's tired. Chase balls, little walks, playing on the lawn, exposure to different environments. Take him out in the car and go to fun places, parks, kids' jungle gyms, baseball diamonds (close the gates) and let him run on a long 20-30 ft lead.

He's telling you something with his behavior, unintentionally, but still telling you something. Your job is to read that behavior and find out the cause. Dogs are not puppets. We can't get dogs, just put them in a crate for long hours, take them outside to potty and play for 10 minutes a day and be done with it. That doesn't work.

Bottom line - much more time outside the crate with you playing outside and taking him on walks and other places. He needs mental stimulation. He needs physical stimulation. He's a living thing and he needs what all dogs need, the above.

You give him the above, and he'll come soon to look at his crate as the good place, to take his nap not to live in it.

Jonathan, if it helps any: You are not alone in this. What you are going through is not uncommon. Since I've been on this webboard I have read tons of posts from people in situations very similar to yours. Hang in there.

I'm going to emphasize a common thread in the replies you've been getting: EXERCISE YOUR DOG It's a VERY important aspect of getting this under control. And that doesn't mean making him run 'till he drops. It means mental stimulation as well. Tug games, hide and go seek, throwing a ball around the apartment, bouncing it off walls, hiding treats in a towel and letting him finding it. All of those things will tire him out.

It is SO true that a tired dog is a good dog. Tiring him out might not completely fix the problem, but there is no way it will do anything other than help. Seriously. If you think he's getting enough exercise but can still scream for five hours in the crate, then he's not tired enough.

Secondly, I know you're frustrated, and it's even more frustrating because you're worried about your neighbors. So try to think carefully to every unpleasant experience that your pup might have had in the crate as a result of your frustration. Have you yelled at him in the crate? Forced him into the crate? Scruffed him in the crate? Banged on the crate?

Many people get frustrated and do these things, especially if there's outside tension (such as worrying about a spouse's sleep being disrupted, or neighbors calling the landlord on you). But for everytime you've done this, you're going to have to add on more days of patience in undoing it.

Remember one thing: He's a baby. He's going to need patience from you. If you keep getting frustrated you will never get this under control. Your dog is frustrated too! No one, dog or human, learns well under pressure.

The worst part about this, to me, is that if this is becoming such a big issue then your relationship with your dog is going to be affected. Don't worry about rushing the crate thing...there is no magical age when your dog is suddenly a closed book and incapable of learning anything. He'll still be able to learn things, and most importantly UNLEARN things, which is what it sounds like you're dealing with here.

One thing I always tell my clients, if YOU don't learn anything, your dog NEVER will.

Hang in there!!

Great post Sandy.
I think it is really important to remember that pups and dogs only go by our schedule when we make our schedule so that it fits for the dog.
I work 35 to 40 hours a week. Most of my dogs rotate and go to work with me.
I get up two hours earlier than needed to take care of morning runs, feeding and crate cleaning, breaks and lunch hours are spent walking and playing with them (plus a gulped down sandwich and water).
This is what I NEED to do in order to work and have my other job with dogs.
When I get home, it is care for hubby and the house and then outside to do dog stuff for a while. (THANK Goodness for TIVO)

Now, I could have all these dogs and just leave them in kennels until I had time instead of making time and I would end up with OCD dogs that hated going in their kennels and also dogs that would NEVER recall because they would realize that they are just going back in a place that they hate.
My dogs are great in crates and kennels because I keep them mentally and physically in shape, so going in and relaxing is something they enjoy rather than hate.

Not saying you have to do what I do, but just an example of what I have to do in order to do what I love to do.

I can relate quite well to this problem as well. All I can say is that this forum has been a source of 90% of solutions to the setbacks I've been getting in the 3 weeks I've had my now almost 12-week old GSD pup. Jonathan, listen to these great dog people here. They're of great help to me.

I'm quite lucky that my pup has taken crate training well in less than a week. But for the problems I've encountered in that week, I just followed what have just been posted in this thread.

I also added some stuff that I figured out for myself: hope this helps. I noticed that putting a fan in front of the crate calms the pup down: either he's soothed by the airflow or his screaming was partly caused by the hot weather we have here in the Philippines and was aggravated by the plastic crate I used. Second, a radio reaaally helps. I bought a small transistor radio just for my dog and put in on a pop music station, as that was what he seemed to prefer: he was less restless with that station on! (would you believe he actually prefers pop music over classical?!). Thirdly, for the first week, I tried to be out of sight (and scent!) once I put him in the crate. Until now, he sporadically whines when he sees or smells me somewhere in the vicinity of the crate.

I know how it feels to be frustrated with a pup. I get that too. But really, sometimes, your frustrations magically go away when you see your pup finally responding and meeting your expectations. I reckon that the puppy hell stage would make owning an eventual sweet adult all the more sweeter when the time comes.