Puppybella

She gets quite chunky beef bones but they're very lean, so maybe it is the marrow. They don't look like they have too much but I'll give some others a go and see if it improves. She gets the dentastick things too so I might cut back on the bones a little. Thanks for your responses :)

Hrm. She's getting beef bones at the moment, maybe I'll try her again on lamb or pork bones and see how she goes. It would be lovely not to have to dread the next day's poop/rear end patrol. She absolutely loves bones, and I don't mind cleaning her up on the odd occasion, but I'm getting fed up when it happens every single time!

Does anyone else's dog get the runs from bones? I've noticed that my dog gets it after having a bone. If she really crunches down the bone she can get a bit constipated at first with powdery poop, but mostly it's super runny. Which sucks in a longhair!! Anyone else noticed this? Maybe mine just has a sensitive tummy. And no, the bones are fresh from the fridge or freezer and she's not allowed to hoard them so they go off :)

So over the weekend I did a bit of positive association with the crate, which was good at the time, but didn't seem to help much with bedtime reluctance. I also shifted the position of the crate, which also did nothing for the bedtime reluctance but maybe helped for the morning barking. I also really don't think size/comfort of the crate is the issue, she has plenty of room to curl up/turn/lie straight, and has comfy appropriate bedding depending on the weather (no new/change of bedding is associated with the reluctance). During the day she is hardly crated at all, like I said occasionally for a few hours, but checking with other family members it might be a half hour every now and again. Otherwise she gets the run of the yard/house and gets walked and played with so she gets plenty of exercise. I think that it's probably just a phase, just like her 'play barking at night for 3 months' phase. Whilst it would be lovely to have an 'in your crate' command, with her I think it's highly unlikely. I also have the advantage of being able to put her in there despite her reluctance, since she is comfy, fed, toileted, healthy, no pain, otherwise happy, she just needs to deal with the fact that it's bedtime now. Thanks for your input :)

Haha I do often think this! When I put her to bed at night she is now fine (touch wood), no crying or whining or anything. Now it's just the mornings. I don't think it's from being too hot, they don't seem to be correlated. A pen during the day would be great, but unfortunately somewhat impractical due to layout of the garden/grass/patio. She'd either be fully exposed or couped up on the concrete, where we don't want her to toilet. I'm really not too worried about the daytime lockups, it's not really that much (possibly shouldn't have said ~3, it's more like max 3 hours, often less, maybe 3 times a week. She is occupied and doesn't seem too bothered. It's the night time! Just doesn't want to sleep! Having said that, once she is in the crate with the door closed, she isn't frantic or anxious, and will sleep, or at least be quiet (until early next morning lol).

I think she can stretch out in the crate, it's quite large and any size up would be ridiculously big. For a super big stretch (in the sense of ones like leaving the pelvis hooked over the side of the basket and stretching for metres into the living room :p) her tail might need to bend, but it should be fine. If she gets crated when not at home she gets something to occupy her, it's not really this time that she seems stressed out about it (she usually gets a bone as well when someone gets home). I suppose she could be left outside, but I'd be reluctant not to leash her somewhere because I get really worried she'll eat something (she has a really sensitive stomach) or get into mischief, and same for inside, potential unsupervised damage would not go down well with the family. It's more night time. As soon as she knows what's happening she'll run to her bastket, fling herself in and snuggle down as if to say 'you can't get me, I'm in here now' (it's actually really cute). She gets walked as usual in the evenings for exercise so I'm not sure what's changed Laundry is a no go too, that's the cat's domain!

Even if she was comfortable in the crate beforehand, she isn't now, so I would definitely work on making more positive associations with the crate. I'd also move it (even to another side of the room if possible) just in case it was something to do with the area the crate is it. Is she interested in her food at meal times? You could use her food as treats and throw bits of food in the crate to encourage her to go in there. Use super high value treats like bits of ham or chicken or cheese or sausage, whatever she values more than normal food. I'd work on training a good 'in your crate' type command so you're not forcing her to go in there when she doesn't want to. I feed my dog in her crate and I put her food bowl on top of her bedding, my dogs scoff their food though so there is minimal mess. I often give them bones etc to chew on in the crate though so I just make sure I wash the bedding frequently and shake it out. She's interested in food at mealtimes only if she's really hungry (i.e. busy day, no bone/snacks during the day). She's not a morning eater so I gave up with breakfast, and she'll slowly lope over to dinner unless she's super hungry when there's a bit more interest. I will try moving the crate, I'll swap positions with her basket in the TV area (Do you think it will be possible to shift her back to the originaly position once she's settled? Putting the crate where the bastket is is a bit suboptimal). I'll also feed her in the crate, but not bones...she only gets bones outside and they gum up her outside bed enough so I'd prefer that not in her bedding! I'll also try getting a good 'into crate' command. What's the best way to start this? In the beginning I would put her in there with the command, give treats when she's inside, or from the outside at the other end to entice her in. What if she won't go in without physcially putting her in? Thanks for your advice everyone, with the weekend fast approaching I'll get right on it (we had some double-smoked roast chicken last night which definitely caught her attention, so hopefully that will help!) Cheers :)

She was crate trained to an extent that I was happy with, but didn't have a solid 'in your crate' command. Not for lack of trying though, unfortunately she is completely not food motivated. The thing is that regardless of whether she went in there in command, until the last few weeks she was fine with being put in there. She is put in there when no one's home, for a few hours (~3) every day or second day, but she's not really in there if everyone's home. I suppose we should do this as well. I have never fed her in the crate, it's always just next to. I don't mind trying it, do you take the bedding out first? Otherwise I just see a huge mess in the making. It seems I should refresh some positive associations with the crate.

Yes the same as Cheekymonster said, maybe she has had a bad experience/fright whilst in the crate. Not sure about a spider bite, didn't notice anything like that, but maybe I wouldn't anyway. Unfortunately putting the crate in a bedroom isn't an option, but I might try it in a different spot (although I sometimes think this might further disrupt her?)

Hey peeps, Just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to why my 13 month old girl has developed a severe aversion to her crate in the last few weeks? She was crate-trained from the start and had no problems. In winter she would happily go and snuggle in there before we 'put her to bed' but hasn't done that for a while. Until a couple of weeks ago she was fine with being put to bed. She's 'up' (but able to sleep in her day bed) with us until we go to bed around 11 or 12, but for the last couple of weeks she has done everything within her power not to be put to bed. She knows the routine of the last toilet trip and the usual bedtime preparation, and she'll escape to the furthest corner of the house, and when I'm actually putting her in the crate (because she sure isn't going in there of her own accord at the moment) she puts up at almighty fuss and tries to scramble out. Also, she's started waking up really early (4-5ish) in the morning and barking (not necessarily for the toilet) which is rather irritating, I know that she can get to 8 am (on a late day) easily. This is the exact opposite of a 3-month phase she went through from 9 to 12 months, where she barked (for no other reason than play) after putting her to bed (worst at full moon, I posted about this at the time, but not sure how to link the thread). Thankfully (touch wood) that stopped at about 12 months, she was completely quiet for a few weeks, and now she's barking in the morning! So I'd be grateful for any ideas about her reluctance? Is this a stage she's grow out of? I can't think of anything in her routine that has changed: same diet, same exercise, nothing seems to be correlated with the weather/temperatre, and she doesn't get crated for any prolonged time during the day (max of a few hours a few times a week). Cheers!

Hi Dolers, Asking on behalf of a colleague at Uni who is completing her PhD in software programming (or something ??, I'm a biologist!). Either way, she's developing software for an accelerometer that measures movement in 3-dimensions and she needs to train/calibrate the software to read different movements. She's used humans but also wants to try it on dogs of different shapes and sizes. Bella (dachshund) was trialed yesterday and a few other dogs that my colleague knows, but I suggested to contact an obedience/agility school to get super reliable consistently repeated movements. She has not got much knowledge of the dog world so I offered to ask on DOL. The trials are non-invasive, and take half an hour at most. You will always be in control of your dog (ie leading around) and it involves the dog's movements being filmed and wearing the accelerometer. The accelerometer is small and can be attached to the collar/harness. Dogs preferably need to do two minutes each of lying, sitting, standing, walking and running, and then a period of random movements. If you think your dog fits and you would be willing to help out, maybe best to PM me and I can pass on details. The trials can be done pretty much anywhere, you'd have to work that out with her. Alternatively, maybe you have suggestions for an obedience/agility school for her to contact that would be happy for her to attend a class/session and trial several dogs in the same sitting. I think she only needs about 5 dogs. Anyway. If you could lend a hand/have any suggestions that would be great, thanks!

I vote for Fly! Quirky but lovely, and a nice reference to Babe!

I know this might be anthropomorphising a little, but still...we think dogs understand our emotions like when we're sad and that sort of thing, but... I've often wondered if they understand when we're sorry about something, like if we accidentally hurt them such as standing on a paw or a tail, or can't let them do/have something they really want. With all this wet weather it was time for a bath on the weekend, and while manoeuvering Bella into the shower I somehow managed to 'kick' her in the head. I immediately got down and gave her a cuddle and soothed in a positive tone of voice, to which she responded by licking me all over. I felt so awful but she seemed to understand it was an accident. But, thinking in training terms, I still wonder if positive voice reinforcement to something like that is taken as a reward for how they react to being hurt...if that makes sense. So what do you think, do they understand if we're sorry or something is an accident?

I often joke about this for my little Dachshund who detroys new toys in about 10 seconds...but what about an old tyre? Smear on some peanut butter and bingo!