Persistent whining or crying -- A fundamental reason why a dog or puppy would cry persistently while confined to a crate could be that either it has been crated too soon or suffers from separation anxiety and is nervous about being left alone. Other dogs may not have received enough attention from their owners. If your dog whines or cries while in the crate at night, it may be difficult to decide whether he's whining simply because he wants to be out of the crate and closer to you, or whether he needs to be let outside to go to the bathroom. If you have followed the training procedures outlined above, your dog will not have been rewarded for whining in the past by being released from his crate. Try to ignore the whining. If your dog is just testing you, he'll most likely stop whining soon. Yelling at him or pounding on the crate will only make things worse. If the whining continues after you've ignored him for several minutes, use the phrase he associates with going outside to eliminate. If he responds and becomes excited, take him outside. This should be a trip with a purpose, not play time. If you're convinced that your dog doesn't need to go to the bathroom, the best response is to ignore him until he stops whining. Don't give in, otherwise you'll teach your dog to whine loud and long to get what he wants. If you have gradually progressed through the training steps and have not done too much too soon, you will be less likely to encounter this problem. If the problem becomes uncontrollable, you may need to start the crate training process over again.

Distress suffered due to separation anxiety -- Attempting to use the crate as a remedy for separation anxiety won't solve the problem. A crate may prevent your dog from being destructive, but he may injure himself in an attempt to escape from the crate. Separation anxiety problems can only be resolved with counter-conditioning and desensitization procedures. You may want to consult a professional animal behaviorist for help. You can also visit our page on Dealing with Separation Anxiety.

Read more about crate training your dog.
Back to previous page on crate training your dog.