Barnie, our new addition to our family is a male Akita, 7 months old, he was bought from a family who needed to have him re-homed, we have bought two cages for his bed time, and he has managed to get out of the two of them, we even resorted to putting padlocks on the cage to stop him, but he broke the bars. (Hard to believe Barnie is content, but he is)

Now this might sound cruel! But as Barnie has been re-homed because of his antics, we have decided that the cage, although new to Barnie, is going to prove a good mode of training. (and he can come in the caravan awning on his holidays with us)

We have bit the bullet and bought a transK9 now, which has cost an arm an a leg, but the quality is superb, you sure do get what you pay for.

Now if Barnie manages to get out of this TransK9 I will eat my hat, (honestly I will). But he loves it, you could tell straight away. Bizzare but true.

With 2 cages fit for the scrap yard after only a fortnight, I have to sing the praises of the TransK9, very expensive, but the rolls royces of the dog world.

Please don't just shove him in the cage if he isn't use to it! No wonder he broke out he was probably terrfied of being shut in!
You need to crate train SLOWLY so that the dog gets accustomed to being in there.

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sounds like an advert to me?

i agree, forcing the dog into the crate is no good, you need to teach the dog its a safe place rather than having a crate that it hates being in and getting totally stressed because it cant get out and feel trapped.

Mo

And a prime example of why I'm so anti cages for dogs. Although agree with Mo does sound like an advert, but can't say it's encouraged me to seek out the company.

The dog was not just forced into the cage, we took advice, and tried to put him in slowly, treats and games to a custom him to his cage, in his last home he destroyed the whole down stairs, we had to have a safe sleeping zone for the dog.

Its not an advert, but living proof that there is good and bad stuff out there on the market (whatever the marque). I wasted money buying crates that were inapt for a big strong dog, given my experience, I thought it would be polite to share my experience.

We have had dogs for many years and never had to cage any of them, but this dog is strong willed and wants his liberty, he is such a loving dog in company, but he didn,t want to spend his bedtime on his own, unfortunately for us he has been allowed to be the alpha of his pack (Family), we will not let him rule the house, and the rules have to sink in very quick as he has the capability of destroying our home.

I,m sorry you thought it was an advert, but I thought this was the whole idea of the forum, sharing knowledge and experience! or am I in the wrong place?

My family have saved a dog that could of easily have gone into the guard dog world, which I don't like. (He is already settling in)

I'm sorry but I have had a Northern Inuit in a crate that isn't even strong enough to hold my jrt x because it is so flimsy and he didn't even bother to try to get out, because I took my time over a good few days to get him use to being in there.
If a dog is that intent on getting out of a crate then you have gone too fast.
It is NOT about how strong the crate is, its how you teach the dog about being in there. if my staff x wanted to get out of his crate, well he can open the bolts from the inside- but he doesn't because I have trained him properly not to.
it sounds like you dog is claustrophobic.

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Yes I agree, it may have been too fast, the cost of doing it slowly could have been astronomical, as it stands Barnie is happy to go into his crate in the day, the door stays open, I've even been in there with him, my wife has said that maybe the forum isn't the place to be, it is open to abuse and not everyone will agree with what everyone else does. We did take advice from professionals and it has proven to save our home. As for a crate, I honestly am anti - crate, but if he does try to get out of this one, he won't! I doubt he will even try as he is getting better at night, he has lots of walks and given time the gate will be open for him. Just for info; in his last home he bashed down the fence, he certainly hasn't tried to here. Barnie is very content, and it will be great to take him to the caravan in the summer, knowing he is safe, as will be the rabbits and squirrels around him.

I'm sure with time he will learn to love his crate and see it as 'his place'.

I know I personally didn't do the crate training thing quite right with Dante. The funny thing is in retrospect I can pinpoint the exact moment I made the first mistake in his crate training . That's all in the past though and it's taken about 8 weeks but he goes in there when told and will go in late at night when it's bedtime so problem resolved.

Good luck to you and I hope you guys have lots of fun taking him out on your caravan trips!

my collie was crate trained, didn't do him any harm at all
but my huskamute wasnt or the rottie.
i really don't like them anymore and they take up wayy to much space in my house!

I am far from against crates, ALL my dogs are crate trained, they go in them at shows, travel in them, I enven have a few up in home all the time, one of my dogs go's into a crate each evening, what I am against, is hearing a dog that is sooo stressed being in a crate that he destroys it, and the solution is just to buy a stronger crate that he cant escape, rather than teaching the dog calmly that the crate is a good thing.

sorry opening poster, by saying I thought it was an advertisement, its surprising how many come onto forums giving a "story" and selling their wares, its only till later and you realise that person only does one or two post to inform people of their products and then dissapear, I hope you stay around.

Mo