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Reluctant Roommate

Reluctant Roommate

March 25, 2013
Posted in: Dogs | Reading Time: 3 minutes

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"Princess, this crate's not big enough for two dogs."

About a  month or two ago, Loki suddenly developed a deep fear of his crate. He's gone through highs and lows with his crate but for the most part, he loves his crate, because we played tons and tons of crate games before moving to Switzerland. He loves his crate so much, he will seek it out if it's around and will go into it when he's worried or stressed, like in a busy airport.  But something happened one day as he jumped into the car and straight into his crate: the bed moved.

You all know how Loki feels about things that move, such as ocean or lake waves and flowing rivers. So for a long time, he refused to go into his crate on his own. I tried installing in a soggy doggy floor mat, which has a rubber gripping bottom and soft micro fiber top. He adores that mat, and I showed him that it was stable, but no go. I put the crate on the floor out of the car and tried the old crate games. He'd just stare at me with fear in his eyes and would run further and further away from his crate.

So in order to go places in the car, I had to put his leash on him and physically heel him into the crate. For whatever reason, if the leash is attached, Loki always complies. I don't have to drag or pull  him. It doesn't even take any sort of collar correction.  I just have to attach the leash and hold it. When we're connected, he gains confidence. Then one day, without his leash on, he leaped into the car on the empty side, next to his crate. I held the crate door open (it stupidly only opens from the left and the crate sits on the right of the car for my best vision), and he slowly walked under my arm and around the door and calmly into his crate. On his own. Gladly. Getting Loki over fears takes patience and letting him come to terms with it on his own timeline and in his own way. And usually, it has to be his idea. Not mine. I'm lucky that leashing him gives him enough confidence to override his fear, because frankly 70 lbs of pure muscle is too much for me to lift into the Xterra. Otherwise we wouldn't be going anywhere for a long time.

Six weeks later, Loki is back to jumping straight into his crate inside the car. We still continue to play crate games. I vary it up with going further and further away from the crate, recalling and sending back to the crate and even sending him to the crate in the garage from the house. I play with both dogs and each takes their turn. But sometimes Juno gets a little impatient. And while it was Loki's turn she couldn't help herself. She jumped up from her down-stay on her mat and bolted to the crate, pushing her fluffy self inside, right next to Loki. Loki, confused as ever, allowed the interloper to stay.

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"I'm here and I'm stayin' Big Boy. Deal with it."

She may be uninvited, but she's much too cute to kick out. Even Loki can't argue that.

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8 comments on “Reluctant Roommate”

  1. What a cute pic! Dakota and Phantom were the only two sibes here who ever got into one crate together. Phantom has a crate that has always, always, always been HIS and only his. No other pup ever dared go in it. Now the princess Ciara has decided that she likes that crate much better than any other. It is quite funny to watch the scramble from Phantom to get to his crate before she does. But being the gentleman, he never boots her out. And he never gets in with her:)

    Woos - Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning

  2. I adore those pictures of them in the crate together! Morgan and Blueberry will sometimes share a crate, but not for long. I'm glad Morgan's not the only one with neuroses!

  3. so cute! it's my first time visiting here. We adopted our Formosan mountain dog (mixed) Bagel 3 years ago. He's a complete opposite of Loki! Very mellow, never barks, high energy when we play with him but otherwise very very quiet and low energy. I LOVE HIM! My husband and I always said we'd adopt more dogs from Taiwan (we volunteer with a group Sweet Home Rescue, bringing dogs from Taiwan to the US) because of our experience with Bagel but I guess we should be more careful 😉 People here think that he looks more like Basenji though. I wonder if Formosan dogs and Basenjis are related in any way..

  4. Crates are better to share, I know from experience! I also like to go in mine when our neighbor sets off her smoke detector, which is pretty much every day. It keeps me safe! Steve

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