[memphis]

Hello,
Last week my dog puked in his kennel while I was at work and freaked out, kicking the tray out of the kennel. he wouldn't go in the kennel at all after that. I cleaned it out real good, got rid of smell. He goes kennel on command and then I would reward him with a treat, now he won't go in the kennel on command, when I say go kennel, he looks inside and runs away. tried treats to lure him with no luck. I put him in the kennel by hand like when I first got him and he whinned and barked for 20 min and calmed down, but woke up 3 hours later and barked and whinned like crazy again, had to let him out cuz he was banging the crate and I thought he would hurt himself and he slept in the frontroom. I don't think he would cause too much trouble when I'm home and sleeping outside the kennel, but I need to have him in the kennel while I'm at work cuz he would destroy my house/hurt himself...he's 6 months old. He's been so good in his kennel, sleeping while I'm at work, he would never whine or bark in the kennel, so did the puking incident ruin the kennel? Help!!!! My dog and me need sleep!

Thanks,
Joe

[CorkyMax]

I am prob. not the best one to answer your post because I as a rule hate kennels/crates/CAGES. Too many people who have to work leave dogs in these Cages way too long at a time and too much of the time. Really, you don't know what may of happened and why your puppy threw up as you were not there to witness it. WHY DID HE THROW UP??!

How many hours was/is he in the crate at a time? How long is it between potty breaks?!

Is there a room/place that you can block off and dog proof so he doesn't need to be in a crate all the time? And if you are expecting a dog to hold off going potty for too long a period---Make a potty area using some kind of litter box or poo/pee pads/newspapers--even using a big enough cut-down cardboard box, etc.and line it with the above. Clean it up when you get home each day. When I was working--being gone 9-10 hrs a day---I blocked off the kitchen area for the dog---I also put in a doggie door to a fenced in back yard. I realize not everybody can do all this but can't you come up with some ideas that would work. Put yourself in the poor puppy's situation!
Lol, I remember the 1st few days, the surprises when I got home. I made the mistake of letting my dog not only have the kitchen space but the bathroom was open space too---Came home to the whole roll of toilet paper covering the floor from being pulled off the roll. So you are thinking I closed the bathroom door after that--Lol, no, I just put the toilet paper out of reach on the sink vanity!

Seriously, I hope you find the answer as to the safe and right thing to do.