Crate training also helps if your dog needs to spend time at the vet, the dog is used to being confined and does not stress as much. Nothing worse than listening to a dog carry on at the vet's when in a cage - stress for both patients and humans. Also if your dog is ever injured and needs restricted activity crates come into their own then! Unless you own Mirra that is!!

Dandybrush one option you could have is just leave the crate there, put some treats or toys into it and just ignore the crate. Say nothing when he goes near it or into it. Just let him take the initiative, it will probably take longer because he does have an issue with it now but you never know. Maybe your stress about the whole crate thing is transferring to him, making him feel that there is something to worry about with the crate. A sort of cyclic thing.

As a safety issue with crates on the back of utes would they be better if they were bolted onto the floor of the ute so they couldn't move if you went over a large bump or slide on bends? especially if it's going to be a permanent fixture.

thanks bluedog, it is currently in our living area and i have just put raz's jumper on him this morning and as i type this he has gone and curled up in the crate :) Ill keep doing the "crate games" stuff and hope he comes to like it more and more

i like crates on the back of utes better then just chaining the dog there as poor red fell of the side of old jeff's ute yesterday and was hanging from his collar don't panic people it was only for a second we were only just leaving and jeff chucked a u-turn to go back out the drive way and poor red went off straight over the side of the ute yes he was chained on but when i asked jeff if the chain which he use's for his pup was short enough as i had my doubts but jeff told me it was find and yes i shortened that chain a lot more before we left, there was no way i was going to let that happen again. I have never under stood why people let dogs hang their heads out of car windows or dogs on utes have their heads around the side near the door if they ever stopped it think about all those big juicy bugs that splat on the windscreen or go bang on the side mirror what damage they could do to their dogs eyes if one hit. i am hoping to get a ute very soon and you can bet that my dogs will have a very short chain on them

raz has a harness so his whole body is stuck in the bak...he does stick his head out the side, but if im doing more than 60 then he just stands or sits in the bak, so i think he is safe from fast flying bugs :)

I hate chains on dogs on the back of utes. Think about it. Even if the chain is short enough to stop the dog falling off, what about the horrendous stress on the neck vertebrae and muscles if its feet go out from under it, and it is swinging flat on the deck of the ute. You might as well hang the dog. It will have a bad case of whiplash at the very least.

Please get one with a canopy and put cages inside. Shade and safety in one. :-)

A good friend of mine had her dogs in cages in the back of a ute canopy when she was blown off the road by a wind gust. she had a fractured neck, her passenger a broken collar bone, and the dogs got away with bruising. the top of the cab was crushed, the canopy was damaged, but the steel cages inside kept it from crushing and saved all 3 dogs.
They are worth it.

when you put it like that penny i see you're point..soon as we can afford to do something i will try to convince my husband

I've seen a german shepherd hung by its neck as it fell off the back of a ute held by a chain. Its back legs touched the ground and it was running alongside the car on back legs held up by the chain. Fortunately driver saw it in his mirror and stopped and threw the dog back into the ute! Didn't stop to check for injuries. I was walking at the time and just happened to see it happen. It was a heart in mouth moment I can tell you.

I had a navara twin cab with a cage built in as a canopy, roof and mesh sides. When I got my new patrol, cause I got too many doge to fit in the other tray and nobody wants to stay at home, I got a purpose built canopy for the dogs, complete with lift up doors etc. Will put a picture up when I find the camera.

Ok bak to the actually crate training, I have some questions

Update so far: when my trainer came to look at him she told me to put him in for 1 hour before bed, doing the rewards and time out exercises. I have been doing that, and lockign him in for dinner and randomly during the day.

come night time when the crate goes in the bedroom he is like a diff dog, at no other times does he have issues with the crate, but he cries and barks constantly for the hour basically. then after the hour i tie him bak up outside.

I was wondering if i should leave the crate in the tv room (where i want him to sleep) and i should sleep out on the couch and reward all night for him choosing to sleep in the crate. (as in leave the door open) or maybe even try locking him in...see how that goes in the tv room. He is a shocker when i move it to the bedroom, yet when i let him in the house this morning, he went and lied in the crate by choice in the bedroom

I wonder if he has bad memories of being locked in all night? or just knows if he whinges that he will get out :/

what are all you're opinions on this

the answer is YES leave him in the T.V room he likes the crate better there he just may not like your room because the Alfa male sleeps there lol (your hubby)try it you may find he won't whine or he may play up worse are you giving him a pigs ear or bone to chew on at night that might help him with the stress of being locked up.

i was...he was never interested in chewing anything when locked in, i might prepare for no sleep on the weekend and lock him in in the tv room for bed and stay up with him rewarding all good behaviours

He's used to the crate being in the tv room, he goes in there reasonably happy - why keep changing things on him? I don't mean that in a nasty way! If that's where you want him to sleep that's where I would train him. Different if he was a little puppy then I would say put it in your room to be able to comfort him. I would try locking him in the crate while it's in the tv room. Send him out for a wee, do your normal night routine, put him in the crate, give him some treats in the crate, turn the lights out. Do your get ready for bed stuff and see if he makes a fuss. Dogs like routine so they can predict what's happening, by leaving the crate in the same spot, he can learn to go straight there when asked and even put himself to bed if so inclined. By moving the crate to the bedroom each night it's like you've reset the rules for him. You might need to spend a couple of nights in the tv room with him just to make sure that he really settles for the night but I think you're almost there already you know!!
We had to move Paxy's crate from its normal spot the other week because of fumes coming into the house from some outside work we had done. She went in OK but spent a few minutes trying to dig her way out and then pulled the towels on the top of the crate through the holes and ripped bits off them. Her way of showing that she was unsettled by the change in routine. We just ignored her and she settled down after a few minutes. Mind you the cat didn't help as she sat on the top of the crate for a while too!

ok i might give that a go on the weekend, when i wont miss the sleep :/

quick update: raz was in his crate for 1 hour today, did not whinge once...and for the last 20 mins had no treats as he was sleeping and when i let him out, he climbed bak in anyway to sleep, how cute is he

very good, i would have started his training here in the first place if that is were you wanted him to sleep but yes i always start mine of in the bedroom lol right to my bed so i don't have to crawl out to settle them if they play up i think half the time they just get a mumbled shhh it's ok and i am off to sleep again it's very hard to stay awake some times lol

lol, yeah prob if raz was a baby when i started then the bedroom yes...but we'll try it this way now, ill move the crate right beside me when im on the couch for the weekend and reward him as much as i can during the night when he calm and in the crate, im only gonna tie him to it tonight...and see if he chooses to sleep in it. then i might progress to locking, ill see how he goes

I'd probably start off with the crate where it is now. But start early in the night for "just in case" you need to move it! Instead of locking him in try just pushing the door shut a little more each time. Make sure to rattle the locking parts (I don't know what you call them - slides/pins?), as this could be part of the problem that alerts him to when he's being locked in. Just fiddle with them without shutting the door if he's in the crate and throw in a treat if he looks at you and stays there, praise him for being a good boy. Good luck and I hope you get some sleep.

quick update: raz has spent the last 3 nights asleep locked in his crate next to me while i sleep on the couch, i tried moving the crate away last night, he wouldnt settle and tried to pull the crate to me. So i might move it away slowely and i might leave the room for longer periods. Also i have not once forced him into the crate, i just tie him up and he goes in on his own, except for last night he was lying half in half out. so i just kinda rolled his bottom in, lol, but he relaxed very quickly and went to sleep :) im hoping all these positive nights are teaching him good behaviour :)

Well done!!!!