The Story of Bear About ten years ago, my wife and I acquired a dog that a neighbor had basically found wandering on the side of the road.
He was a large chow mix (about 90 pounds) and in short was both physically and behaviorally a mess.
He had no collar, no tags and no sign that he belonged to anyone.
To this day I'm not really sure why we felt compelled to take him in.
We certainly were not looking for a dog at the time, especially one loaded with so many problems.
I think part of it was compassion for the dog (we named him Bear -- as he looked like a big fuzzy black bear) and the other was sympathy for the poor girl who took him in off the street with all the best intentions.
After she had taken him in, she took him to the vet where they were able to address his physical ailments (mainly heartworm).
What they were not able to fix; however, was his behavioral problems.
In short he had what most would label as severe separation anxiety.
Every time this girl left Bear in her house alone, he would transform from a big mellow dog into a wild beast tearing up all he could get his paws on.
He had literally destroyed parts of her house and she could no longer afford to keep him.
The vet had prescribed various "doggy downers" but to no avail.
His future was dim; however, my wife and I decided to take the challenge.
Crate Training The first thing we did with Bear (in consultation with our veterinarian) was to wean him off of the depressants he was on.
They clearly were not working, and my wife and I had no desire to have a doped up dog wandering around the house.
We wanted to address the problem behaviorally, not with drugs.
This is where the crate came in.
We purchased a large crate that was big enough for Bear to stand up in and easily be able to turn around.
Our mission from that point on was simple...
to make that crate the most rewarding and positive place in Bear's world.
We did this through many short and positive sessions approximating Bear to love his new sanctuary.
Now I do not want to disillusion anyone, it was not all smooth sailing.
There were moments of regression (as should be expected), but we remained consistent with our approach and it proved to be an enormous success.
The Approximations We began the whole process by simply reinforcing Bear with his favorite treats just for going near the crate.
At first we did not even ask him to go inside.
We wanted to make sure his initial introduction was a positive one.
Once he was consistently going up to the crate, we asked him to go inside.
At this point it was not difficult at all.
I pointed him inside, he walked in, and then I reinforced him through the opening on the back side of the crate.
This way he was receiving all his reinforcement for being INSIDE the crate.
We did LOTS of short positive sessions just like this throughout the day.
In fact, almost all of Bear's food was delivered for being inside the crate.
Once Bear was comfortable walking inside the crate, we began closing the door.
Once again, ALL his reinforcement was placed inside the crate; now with the door closed.
Just like before, we did many short sessions often throughout the day.
The idea was to have him voluntarily go inside the crate and allow us to close the door.
We were NOT trapping him or tricking him to go inside.
After he was consistent going in the crate and allowing us to close the door, we slowly began to increase the amount of time he remained inside.
We would then intermittently reinforce him for being inside the crate AND for being calm.
We were very careful to be sure we were not reinforcing him for whining or scratching at the crate.
We were also very careful not to let Bear out of the crate if he was exhibiting any of these behaviors.
By doing this and remaining consistent, it did not take long before Bear would go in the crate and remain there for hours at a time.
The key was to apply ALL reinforcement for being inside the crate, and ZERO reinforcement for leaving the crate.
I have to emphasize this, as it is REALLY important.
Most dog owners have to fight the urge to pet and reward their dog after they walk out of the crate.
By doing this, you are only teaching your dog that leaving the crate gets them lots of attention.
This is the opposite of what you want to teach your dog, especially at this stage.
Important Notes We were successfully able to get Bear to stay inside his crate and remain there for hours at a time without "freaking out".
How did we know this? The best indicator was the state of his crate when we would return home.
There were times during this process where he would dig up his bedding and also salivate inside the crate.
Eventually, with careful attention to what we were (and were not) reinforcing, these things disappeared.
The entire process took us about three to four weeks.
Again, we were only able to accomplish this by doing MANY sessions, applying all his reinforcement for being in the crate, making sure we were not "releasing" him from the crate if he was not calm, and also fighting the urge to give him attention as an immediate consequence of leaving the crate.
I also need to mention that during this process we also approximated ourselves for not being present in the house while he was in the crate.
At first it was just for very short periods of time...
like walking outside to check the mail.
We then slowly begin to increase our time away from the house (doing yard work, running short errands to the store, etc.
).
As I mentioned earlier, we did have some regression, but by remaining consistent were able to work through it.
Happy Ending After Bear was calmly staying in the crate consistently while we were away, we were then able to begin leaving the house without having to put him in the crate.
Our theory was if he could learn to remain calm inside the crate while we were away, he could probably remain calm even if he was not in the crate.
We initially only did this for very short periods of time.
Just like the approximation we took before...
checking the mail...
then quick trips to the store...
and then longer periods.
Our theory proved correct.
After a few months we were able to leave Bear in the house with no incidents.
I have to be honest; it was a LOT of work in the beginning.
Our lives literally centered around this one behavior because we knew Bear's future with us depended upon it.
It was well worth it though.
Bear ended up being a terrific dog and hugely loved member of our family! I hope this little story might help someone else out there who is dealing with a similar problem.
Crate training may not be the only solution, but it was certainly one that worked great for us.
Thank you for reading.