Hi I'm sorry I didn't know the correct place to post it, so I've put in the General forum. I hope that's OK.

I have a one-year old male (just neutered) Catahoula Leopard Dog. He hates his crate but will go in if I lead him in by his collar. He is generally quiet in the crate overnight or when I'm at work.

I have two other dogs, both females. One is spayed and one intact who just had a litter of pups last week. The intact female does not get along with this male, even before she had the pups. So I keep them separated. The spayed female gets along with both the male and the other female.

Due to the fact that I am separating them, I take the male and spayed female out, then I put the male back in his crate and take the intact female and spayed female out.

When I am taking the two females out, the male goes NUTS in his crate, crying howling, barking, and digging. He also does this for a short time when I leave for work but he does settle down. But when I am outside with the girls he will carry on as long as we are outside. When we come back in, he quiets down. I do not look at him or especially I do not let him out. He is very playful and I think he thinks he is missing out on the fun, and when we come back everything is OK.

How can I stop him from doing this? You can hear him barking and howling even when we are outside, all the neighbors can hear it too. Also i am worried he might injure himself when he tries to dig out (it's a wire crate).

Thanks for any ideas.

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=142845

http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/29409/page/3/fpart/2

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/135218/page/2/fpart/1

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/134631/page/3/fpart/1


That's not acceptable.

Besides calm crating, do you leave him with a kong or other fun crate activity at those times?

Also, I'd toss in a high value treat rather than lead him in by the collar. The crate should be a good thing.

Hi Connie,

Thanks for the links, I will read them now.

He has all kinds of toys in his crate. However he is susceptible to diarrhea so he can only have limited "food toys". I put peanut butter in his bone at night and yes it helps. The problem is if I give him peanut butter every time I go out, I would have to give it to the other 2 dogs too and then they wouln't want to go out either.

I have tried tossing different kind of treats but he is not very food motivated and this used to get him in, now he just looks at me like "oh no, I know that game" and he will just lay down and bark at the treat or roll over ("do I have to?"). (He is submissive but hates being in his crate.)

Anyway I will read those threads now, thanks!

 Quote: Angela Burrell

The problem is if I give him peanut butter every time I go out, I would have to give it to the other 2 dogs too and then they wouln't want to go out either.

Why would you have to give it to the other two dogs as well?

Just curious as my Dutch goes nuts when I take another dog out to work or just for exercise, so he gets something to chew on while I am busy doing things with other dogs.....my other dogs sometimes see me give him stuff and they don't seem to mind a bit.

I don't tolerate that kind of behavior from any of our dogs. We have 6 dogs that rotate through the house, so there are usually one or two crated.

http://www.leerburg.com/815.htm

I have found that with the Malinois, it can become an almost neurotic behavior to bark in the crate and may become a real issue if left unchecked. If you aren't having luck with the treat or chew toy route, I recommend the Tritronics bark collar. It takes about 1/2 hour for the dog to figure it out, and once they know what the collar means, they learn to control themselves.

Cindy,

I totally agree with you, however, this dog came to us with serious issues. After serious tough love in an aluminum crate, he now stays in other types of crates. However the bark collar does not seem to work with this dog ( I use a Dogtra).

So therefore I tolerate with just this dog and he is getting better about it. The other dogs if needed, all wear a bark collar.

Carol,I was responding to the OP.

oooops....my bad

Hi Cindy

Thanks for the suggestion. I do have 2 issues with it though. First being that the dog is a foster dog and is owned by the breed rescue I foster for. They have a very strict policy on using electric collars of any kind on their dogs (including electric fence collars) which I respect. (Though I personally don't disagree with those kinds of collars, except e-fences, and sometimes WISH I could put a remote collar on him as his recall is a disaster.)

The second issue, a more minor one, is that I simply cannot get my head around how a dog can tell the difference (or how you train the difference) between a bark collar and an electric training collar. The way I see it, the dog needs to know and respect the bark collar when it is on (I don't want the dog to learn to never bark, only to not bark when the collar is on); but they need to do the opposite with the electric training collar (i.e. learn to respond whether the collar is on or not).

I hope that makes sense, maybe Cindy since you use both on your dogs you could elaborate on how this is done? I ask because I hesitate to use either on my own personal dog until I understand exactly how the dog is supposed to respond to them. Yes I would buy Ed's video if and when I get an e-collar.

On the original topic, the intact female has now decided that she LOVES to play with the male and I have let them both out together (with supervision). However, if I do happen to leave him in, he still carries on AFTER he finishes his peanut butter. He will stay quiet for (what seems like) 30 seconds and then howl. When I go inside I will find his Kong is indeed empty.

However!!! We have made a breakthrough. It used to be a fight to get him in his crate and now since the treats, feeding ALL his meals in the crate plus the peanut butter trick, he goes in willingly without even being told! (Just sees me with the treat).

EDIT: Forgot to add he no longer howls when I go to work. Only when I take the other dogs out and not him.
So thanks for the suggestions and we are making progress.



Edited by Angela Burrell (09/27/2007 03:12 PM)
Edit reason: to add even more words