Where is the crate located in the house?

IF-it is in a main traffic area, try moving it to a not so used area....place it so he can still see but where you do not have to walk close to it.

IF-he is in a semi secluded area of the house, try moving him to a more active area so he can see what is going on.

My Mal would not settle in a crate and I could not figure it out, then the light bulb went on and I figured out that she would become uneasy when the furnace or A/C kicked on and the noise of the air coming through the vent what was she did not like.

Moving the crate was the trick for me.

Also the suggestions on covering the crate and giving him a kong filled with frozen cream cheese or peanut butter are great.
I put dog treats in my cream cheese or PB and then fill and freeze the kong....my dogs are quiet for LONG periods of time working to get the treats out.......

Intellipet makes a product called the Bark Solver. These units can be mounted in or outside. An ultrasonic correction tone sounds when the dog barks. Sensitivity adjustment controls how loud the bark must be to trigger the tone.The tone can be set so both human and dog hear the tone or just dog. Controls barking approx. 25 feet. Costs around $40-$50 dollars. However in your line of training it might supress the bark too much?

I personally like the water bottle in the body or face.When the dogs bark, I squirt them while saying "No". However some dogs like water & if it were a SAR or Police K9 I would imagine you would want them to like water in case they need to swim. I use the water bottle method in my grooming room all the time. Sometimes just the mere sight of the bottle quiets them down. I set the bottle down in front of them and not a peep. I also sometimes wear earplugs if I have alot of yapping boarders.

Lisa brings up the point I was going to bring up about waterbottles: You run the risk of creating an aversion to water. I don't want water to be a punishment.

The bark solver sounds interesting, but frankly (and I could be misguided here) I try to avoid aversive corrections when my dog is in the crate. I teach him manners when he's outside of the crate, and I'll punish him by ignoring him if he's rude while in his crate, but I don't want to bring trauma to the crate.

Make sure you never make a big deal out of it when you let him out of the crate, too. Just calmly open the door and walk away, or open the door and leash him then walk him outside. Don't say anything, don't make any motions repetitively that he can que off of, etc.

Just to clarify, my dog has always disliked water, even walking on wet surfaces, so this was not too much of an issue. And I NEVER squirt him in the face, it is always from a distance and I aim at the body. I'm sure some over spray may get him in the face, but not a direct hit.

 Quote: sandy moore

Kameron, I personally, just for the heck of it, don't like squirting a dog in the face with a water bottle. To confirm my total distaste for it (I kind of feel it's disrespectful and somewhat unfair since the dog doesn't know why the heck you're doing it), I tried it just once with my dog in the crate when he wouldn't settle (at about 5 months old). He turned into a savage beast, barking and spit flying, ripping at the crate to try and get out to kill the bottle. That did it for me, never again. Now, when I'm trying to clean windows or walls with the squirt bottle, he gets enraged. Very hard to clean around my house.

Just for your info, you decide what you want to do.

, the "spit flying" part really adds to the imagery! lol.

Sounds like a great excuse to let the housework go....

 Quote: david eagle

Lisa brings up the point I was going to bring up about waterbottles: You run the risk of creating an aversion to water. I don't want water to be a punishment.

Is this effect actually a proven possibility? I liken the effects of a squirt from a water bottle to, well, a squirt from a water bottle - if I myself were hit with a little blast of water while I was sitting at my desk in the middle of the day, I'd find it mighty irritating, but I would never stop swimming or become afraid of puddles just because I don't like the particular sensation of being squirted by surprise. If the above is true (and I'm not saying it isn't ), especially in working dogs (I have a mere "pet"), I'd just never even considered it!

Maybe dogs aren't that sophisticated and can't distinguish water in one unique situation (spontaneous small hit from a squirt bottle) from water in a much different situation (beautifully cool lake on a hot summer day, full of frogs to chase)... but I will say, a squirt bottle worked very well on my dog when he was a pup (didn't need to be in the face at all) and he still LOVES swimming in ponds and splashing around in streams and rivers.

Obviously, if a dog reacts as violently as Sandy's dog after a squirt test, than that method is clearly not the right solution for THAT dog, and it could cause more problems than it attmepts to solve (unless that is you're actively looking for reason's to be prevented from house cleaning :grin . That's fine, don't use it. But I've found it to be a pretty simple and effective deterrant in all the dogs I've ever seen it used on, and hopefully, as a training aid, it won't need to be used forever.

Just my 2 cents. Sorry to get off topic.

~Natalya

Good point Natalya. My dog is learning to, if not like, at least participate in water fun and on a recent camping trip swam with us frequently. Yet a quick squirt will get his instant attention. He is a hound after all and sometimes thick headed, so to speak. Anyway, back to the topic, he quickly quit barking in his crate with this method, right or wrong.

I thought about the squirt bottle thing, but probably wouldn't go there with Bart. Not that it can't be a valid training tool (i.e negative reinforcement) but I'm afraid he'll start associating water with bad things. That might be harmful down the line if a decoy tries to use water as a distraction, etc. in the mondioring trials I'm hoping to train him for. I guess it's just ignore and wait and see. It's really hot here, so I don't really want to send him to the garage - plus there are too many animals (lizards) in there anyway that might entice him to bark even more!

For those who think the squirt bottle sprayed in the face will create an aversion to water, that may depend on the dog. Like I said, I just feel it's disrespectful. That's my main problem with it. It had no aversion-to-water effect on Lear, who absolutely loves the water and always has. He plays in the high pressure water sprinklers at the park, putting his face, nose and mouth where the water comes out, loves the hose, loves his wading pool.

There was something else about that squirt in his face that set him off, and it wasn't the water. He takes a fair correction extremely well - I don't think that was a fair correction and I feel he resented it

Just be careful what dog you squirt in the face with a bottle.

I'm not convinced it would create an aversion to water, but I don't want to take that chance. Even if it didn't create an all-out aversion, he might see a splash of water in the face as a correction (and rightly so, as that would be what it would be in the spray-bottle use) so if a decoy decided to throw water at him in a trial, he might see it as a correction there as well. Does that make sense?

In any case, the barking is horrible. I'll try to ignore it, but I might go crazy in the process! I hope it's just a phase and he'll outgrow it.