Lemmy and I are taking Susan Garrett’s 5 Minute Formula for a Brilliant Recall, a 5 week online course. One of the core exercises of the course is Crate Games, which I was concerned about. I bought the DVD a month or two ago and was never able to get past “Yer Out Yer In” Lemmy never wanted to go back in the crate and when he did it was slow and sullen. Yesterday I watched the DVD again and geared up to give it another try. The one thing that I think made the difference this time is that I used a neutral crate. The last time I tried it I was using one of the 2 crates I had set up already, the one he slept in at night and the one he went in when I left the house. This time I brought in his travel crate and set it up in the family room, a place he had never been crated before. It went much smoother and he actually went back in the crate. Today when I was working the collar grab game as I released him to go back in the crate the cat chose that moment to jump the gate and run past him. Lemmy veered towards the cat and pounced on him, then immediately broke off and ran back in to the crate without any direction from me. I am so proud of him!
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I’m also taking Susan Garrett’s 5 Minute Formula for a Brilliant Recall. Thank you for your comments about using a neutral crate. Progressed well with two of my dogs, but Dylan just went hang dog, wouldn’t take even his most favourite treats. The crate I was using was the crate he uses when we travel to trials and training. I have a soft crate which is used
in the house (door always open) and although Susan warns against using this as the door takes longer to shut perhaps I will try this with him as it doesn’t have the connotations of me going off to have fun with one of the others without him. He doesn’t try to come out, just sits there hang dog when I try to play crate games with him in his wire crate.