Chester has been surprisingly good about the amount of time he must spend in his crate. Of course, it’s still early days and we have over a month to go yet.

The hardest time is usually first thing in the mornings. He has so much energy, and no outlet for it! I take him out early to potty, and usually I put him on a chair as I’m grabbing his leash, poop bags, etc. This morning he jumped off the chair.

One day I had him on the couch with me, sitting right next to me, leashed. He still managed to jump off the couch when the garbage truck drove by.

He doesn’t get a whole lot of chances like that. I’m afraid he’s going to damage his trachea, though, because even though I tell him to go slow, he’s still trying to run. He is always on a leash in the house, unless he’s closed in the bedroom and we’re doing some training.

Here are a few of the things I’m doing to try to make his recovery easier:

1. He never spends more than two hours at a time in his crate.
2. We go out every two hours, even though I know he doesn’t have to go that often. It gives him a chance to stretch his legs. I do not bring him immediately back into the house after he does his business.
3. I train him in his crate before closing the door.
4. I also train him outside his crate. Yesterday, in one session, I managed to shape him into going into a soft carrier. It started out as an exercise in creativity (he’s still not very good at offering behaviors, but we’re working on that). I would click and treat every time he put his head in the carrier, but he didn’t want to go all the way in, because of the e-collar, I think, so I ended up by luring him in by throwing the treat to the back of the crate after he stuck his head in.

   This morning he ran right and, and in fact laid down and stayed in the carrier for a while. If we ever travel by plane, this is most likely the carrier we would use.

5. I try to vary the behaviors we work on each day, so he’s not getting bored constantly working on the same thing. We’ve been working on wait at doors, touching my hand or a target stick, putting his head down when he does a down, kissing on cue.
6. He is getting chews in his crate. Merrick makes some great chews, and some of them last quite a while. Plus they have free shipping! I also vary which chew I give him each day.
7. I use Rescue Remedy, which you can get at most health food stores or stores like Whole Foods, quite a bit. You can put it in their drinking water, or rub it on their ears (which is what I do). It’s one of those subtle things, but I really do believe it’s been helping.

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