Hellobee Boards

My dog came crate trained when we adopted him, so I don't have experience with actually getting him used to it, but I saw how well it worked and will absolutely crate train any future dogs I have in the beginning. We kept my dog in his crate during the day while we were out and at night for the first few months and slowly started giving him more freedom-- and he never even had any big behavioral problems, it just helped him to have a routine when our apt was all new to him. I would highly recommend it-- that way, you keep him from the bad behaviors and don't have to punish him and you can just focus on praising him when he is good.

@BabyBoecksMom: I would also love to see a Great Dane shimmy out of a crate! That's hilarious. He was very determined! My brother's border collie mix could get herself out of every single crate he tried, no matter how he closed it up-- she would either undo the latch somehow, or would manage to shimmy out without unlatching it. Escape artist.

It helps a lot with the crate to make it a happy place for him, like previous posters have said! I don't crate my dog often now but when I need to it could be an emergency and I need her to cooperate and be quiet. She loves it so much that all I have to say is "crate time!" and she'll run in expecting a treat. Heck, she even runs and stuffs herself into a dog carrier!

Another alternative is to hire dog walkers to walk him during the day time while you're at work to help release some of that energy. He's probably just bored. I know that we definitely don't pay as much attention to our dog (we have Maltese) now that we have two kids and she acts up for sure but not all the time. Just pee/poop in our bedroom to tell us her displeasure. We are trying, though, to play with her more. She loves to play. Good luck and I hope you can find a solution. Sorry I'm not much help!

I crate train dogs often as a foster parent. I work during the day and crate majority of my dogs.
To start off like someone else said, it should NEVER be a punishment. It should be a comfy "safe zone" for them. I actually see mine go in there on there own sometimes just because. I also never let other dogs go into a certain dogs crate. Thus creating it more their "special place".

I hate crating at night too, but in the beginning I find it very important. Crate at night, create that ability of them to hold off on going potty until morning and understanding its "bed time". After around 2 mos I would try letting them out at night. Sometimes they are good after that, sometimes they need longer, and some dogs just dont do well out at night either. Some who do well and then start to go back to having accidents or getting into something at night have to go back to crating at night for a bit.
Also when getting a crate. Dont get one too big. It should be just big enough for them to stand up, and turn around in a TIGHT circle. You give them more and thats when they will try to pee or poop in a "corner" or be more tempted to chew a bed up if you put one in etc...

Good luck. Let me know if you have any other questions. This is 100% behavior of your dog. Which is good because you can always work on behavior and fix the issue at hand. Dont give up!!! ; )

@Septemberlove: I too am a basset hound mom and know how stubborn they can be. I've had a pure basset and right now we have a mix. Crate training was so helpful. Everyone has given you tons of info on that. Our vet said "a bad dog is a bored dog" so we give Coop a kong filled with frozen peanut butter a few times a week and then he has a durachew in there as well. I think crate training is a life saver!

Bassets are hard to toilet train. I have two suggestions and it kinda depends in how often he is going in the house. When we first brought our dog home I took him out on a leash once an hour and he really only went outside to go potty until he got the point that outside is where he goes. We also gave a million treats for it and made a huge scene about how great it was that he went. Second, once that was working I would take him out on his leash and once he went potty then I'd let him have free time to roam and play. Eventually we reduced the frequency of the trips. It seems like your pup thinks outside is to play and he hasn't made the connection. For us, our pup will go to the bathroom first when he goes outside unsupervised because its what we trained him to do. I still give treats a few times a day for going potty outside. I appreciate that I don't have a mess to clean up.