The Dog Charmer

Making a crate into a den

Hi Tom,

I have a 15-week-old mini aussie doodle whom I adopted at 13 weeks. The first two weeks were fairly smooth until he developed what seems like a sudden fear of his crate.

He won’t go in at bedtime he cries and screams like it’s the end of the world (he has a soft bed, puppy chew toys, a snuggle puppy in the crate, I’ve added a t-shirt with my scent, covered the crate with a blanket, and tried playing soothing music). Nothing seems to help even though his crate is next to my bed.

Any suggestions to help him get over his fear of what should be one of the happiest places on earth?

Thank you!

Anjali & Pharaoh