Coping With An Unruly Foster - Crate?

[kamuzz]

Our new foster dog came into care because his humans couldn't cope with his boisterous ways. He was never allowed in the house.

You can see Beau here. To give you an idea of size, he is taller than my GSD boy and weighs over 40 kg.

He has no idea how to behave in the house, which isn't his fault. But I can't leave him unsupervised. Should I

- put him outside and leave my two inside or

- put him in a crate as soon as he plays up and then let him out after a few minutes

He is hassling my GSD girl. She started it by asking him to play but now she is scared of him because he is so rough. If you pat her, he come barging in and knocks her out of the way. Do I put Jatz in a crate to give her some space, or will that make her think her crate is a punishment?

We do have two crates so I could crate both of them.

My two sleep inside at night, and Beau will continue to sleep outside.

Any suggestions would be most welcome. I actually can't get him into a crate - he wins in any battle of muscle. But OH can when he comes home.

He is just a happy wiggle bum who doesn't realise his own strength.

EFS

Edited October 29, 2007 by kamuzz

[Rusky]

I would only use a crate as his safe place, for sleeping and maybe use a laundry or similar room for time out. Crate him when you go out but in an area away from the other dogs, give him toys in there to chew a comfy rug and water. He is a lovely looking dog, you have some pretty dogs in your rescue group. Have you tried throwing treats into the crate, throw them and don't shut him in, do a gradual introduction so he understands crate means safe/good place.

Make sure Beau is taught the rules of being in a house, when he is calm and quiet he can be praised and cuddled and allowed to stay, if he is racing round like a lunatic it is not acceptable and he goes to the laundry or similar for a bit of time out. I certainly would not leave him unsupervised in the home right now, but he will improve and learn.

[RuralPug]

I think you probably need a bit of professional guidance to help him settle into the appropiate pack order- but here's one thing you can try to start off.

Find whatever pushes his buttons - a food treat, a cuddle treat, a frisbee throw treat, whatever. Use it as a bribe to teach him the sit, or better, the down. Do it thirty times a day until he knows it - (not for thirty minutes at a stretch though - you know what I mean?) then whenever he gets too boisterous, give the order: Beau, sit or Beau, down (happy voice - the idea is to distract him from the joy of rough play or buttinskiing to the joy of "Oooh! I can do this! OOH! I'll get a treat!" .) Then you can tell him how clever he is and do the calming stuff... Even if he's only still for s mins at first every bit helps.

Basically, for the first few days until he's reliable with the sit or down you can't leave him unsupervised with them. When you absolutely can't be supervising I would be putting him outside with lots of toys and distractions. Which means locking the GSDs in, unfair, so you can see it's only a short term solution.

But I really mean spend every spare minute teaching that sit/down until it's reliable.