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Kennel training

liat's picture
Posted June 13th, 2007 by liat

So I'm trying to train Luna to sit in her new kennel. Trying will be a good word for what's happening, cause usually it's not not really working!!!!
When i bought the kennel, i opened it and put only the bottom part next to my bed with Luna's bed in it, and for the first 2 weeks she was sleeping in that bed. Which worked pretty well.

Then yesterday I tried taking it a step forward: there was a thunderstorm, a pretty loud one may I add, and since Luna's terrified of those I took the chance and called her into the kennel. She hesitated a tiny bit and walked in pretty fast. She seemed to shake a bit less in there, so I closed the door and left her in there for 10 minutes or so, while I was doing things in the same room. After that I let her out and gave a special treat that she gets only on special occasions, different than her usual treats. She didn't seem to keen on that, but I think it was cause of the thunders still.

So this morning (no thunders today) I called her to get in the kennel again, and of course she wouldn't. I've put treats in the kennel, she doesn't care. In general, she doesn't care much for most things around...
So obviously that doesn't work with her, which makes it a bit harder for me. I've put her water and food bowls inside, right over the door so she can reach it without getting in, but I'm afraid she will just not eat and drink, cause she can do that and not even care... but I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do...

Please help, I'm lost with this issue
Thank you,
Liat

Comments

Consequences and Associations

Aidan's picture
On June 13th, 2007 Aidan says:

Hi Liat, just as food brings a positive association with being in the crate, thunderstorms will bring a negative association. I'm afraid you moved too fast, too soon.

That's OK, you just need to back up a bit.

Don't try to lure Luna into her kennel. She needs to enter willingly. I've been through this 100 times and luring is out for this sort of application in my books. That includes tossing treats into the crate (while she is not in it), or putting her food and water bowls in the crate (while she is not in it).

Take the door off the crate, or tie it back out of the way so that it cannot close. Have the crate in your kitchen or some other room without anything else going on. Take a seat and wait for her to approach the crate. Shape her into the crate over several sessions. There's no rush (yet, I understand you have to fly with her before long).

An alternative, which might be faster, is to train her to target a post-it note. Do this without even bringing the crate into the equation for a while. When she is really good at that, put the post-it on the outside of the crate, then just inside the crate. Then a little further inside the crate. That's the approach I would take.

Remove the emotion and replace it with thinking. Free-shaping does that, and targeting does it perhaps even better.

Whatever you do - aim for 'errorless' learning. Don't do anything she won't succeed at very easily.

Sue Ailsby told me an old cowboy told her the fastest way to move cattle is very slowly. Don't be in any rush to shut the crate door, you'll get there soon enough. Trust the process. The only thing you can do to speed progress up is to have training sessions more frequently, and given your time frame I would fit in as many as I could in a day.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

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