Hi! I’ve been stalking Reddit for a few months. As a first-time dog owner, my partner and I do a lot of research and reading to turn our girl into a productive member of society. We’re quite proud of her accomplishments, but despite several efforts she never felt comfortable in her crate. From 3 to 6 months we did our best to lure her in there with treats and kongs, but whether we were in the room with her or out of the house, she would cry and pant for about 20-30 minutes before falling asleep. Right at the 6 month mark, we thought we were making progress, with minimal cries before settling in.
To be honest, we never had the goal to crate her as an adult. She slept with us through the night (8+ hrs) since the first day we got her at 12 weeks. I was only doing it to keep her safe for the 3-5 hours we’re out of the house. We probably would have had more success had we crated her through the night, but hey we live with the choices we make.
Over the holidays she wasn’t crated for about 9 days, and when we tried to go back to it, she started having a much worse reaction. Eventually she refused to go in herself no matter what smelly thing we tempted her with. After watching her pant nonstop for about an hour in her crate, I decided to let her try being free-range. We blocked her into the puppy-proofed living room and watched the camera as we left. No panting, no destructive behavior, no concerning cries, just 5-10 minutes of little howls and then a nap. Occasionally she wakes up to play with a toy, eat her Kong, and then go back for another nap. We’ve not had any accidents either. We’ve been successful for about 2 weeks now and going strong.
So that’s it. Crating didn’t work for us, but she’s a happy camper and we feel better knowing she doesn’t seem to have separation anxiety. She’s 7 months old and a 35 lb mutt. She’s never chewed furniture or eaten anything dangerous and has always put herself down for naps when she got tired. So we are trusting her for now. We’ll see if things change with adolescence.