I should of trusted myself!

AlphaOfGino

New member
Sep 8, 2013
22
0
Southern California
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Gino
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One morning after coming home from a 12hr night shift I find my all of Gino's toys on my bedroom floor and when I go to open my closet to change clothes I notice my doors will not slide on its rail. Both of these are red flag to me because I never give all of Gino's toys at once and I block my closet door from Gino. My first reaction: Gino go into my closet and chewed on everything inside of it. Boy was I pissed, worried, but most importantly thankful the doggy God was looking after Gino.

Naturally there are days when Gino (soon to be 6months) cannot be supervised by a human because of work, school, or social life schedules. So I as his main human (I have my brother, mother, and grandparents as back ups) am really really training EVERYBODY, not just Gino but the other Humans in the house as well, that Gino must stay in his crate when he cannot be physically supervised by a Human for the simple fact that it is SAFE! Yes it sucks to be enclosed in a wired box for 1-4hours, but it beats being physically harmed.

I've been training Gino for weeks to stay in his crate without barking. My process is: several times throughout the day I'll lure Gino into his crate, give him a treat, closed the crate door, give him another treat, look away from him by doing something random in the room, if he doesn't bark ill give him a treat, repeat that several times before I actually go out the room, I'll leave the room for a few seconds to a minute or two (gradually increasing my timing), and only returning with a treat if he is not barking. It has been going ok.

Now I've been training my humans by reinforcing the logical reasoning of him being safer in a crate vs roaming freely in my bedroom with only a doggy door enclosing him into my bedroom. I've also been telling that of course he will bark because no one naturally likes being confined but eventually he will stop barking. I've been telling them do not give him attention if he is barking, only give him attention if he is quite and calm (yes, I make sure he is hydrated and had a potty break before being crated). I've been begging them to leave him in his crate if you cannot watch him!

But the humans are resisting the crate more than Gino is. They keep telling me "no its ok leave him out nothing will happen to him", "what can go wrong", "all he does is bark", "we feel bad for him he is like a prisoner". So one night I had to go to work, my brother was going to be off work at 11pm, and my mother was out at a party. My grandpa was ganna be home but he lives in the back house and isnt really interested in watching Gino for hours, he'd rather just peak in to see if G is doing ok and give him potty breaks every couple of hours, which is fine by me. But before I left for work, that whole day they all, except my brother, kept telling me to leave Gino out of the crate because my grandpa would watch him. They said the doggy door was enough to keep safe.

Stupid me I listened to them. I left him out of this crate and let him roam freely in my room with just he doggy door blocking him from leaving my room. I left the lights and tv on. Two of his toys out for him to play. There's nothing G can reach that is small enough for him to choke on. No exposed wires. He does chew on my furniture which i can tolerate. But I do have mirror closet doors. One i blocked with a big dresser, the other I blocked with a bin full of stuffed animals. I left Gino at 6:30pm, my grandpa was scheduled to take G for a potty break and to feed him dinner at 9, and my brother was going to come home at 11pm.

I was stupid because I came home to find out he had pushed the bin aside, rammed his body into the mirror closet door, and chewed on everything that was in the closet (toys, poopy bags, clothes). My brother came home to the mess, questioned my grandpa, and my grandpa had no idea. Only response was "its ok, he's ok".

No NOT ok! I told my grandpa this is the solid proof of why Gino needs to be crated. I told him, what would he have done if the mirror broke on Gino and sliced his neck? What if he chocked on something? What if he cut himself? My grandpa's response: Its ok i would of heard him cry. AND THEN WHAT? No. No, I'm not having it! I'm am for now on strictly enforcing Gino be crated if no human is there to watch him.


Thanks for letting me vent. It's frustrating when everyone is not on the same page as me with training Gino.
 

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Rural mystic

New member
Jan 1, 2013
1,600
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North Florida
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Ace
I could not agree more. Crate your unsupervised dog. It's obviously safer and my opinion is they will develop less anxiety issues when crated when no one is at home
 

brutus77

Skinny-Dippin' Smokin' Tidy Bowl Bionic Woman
Jul 18, 2013
6,940
593
Long Island NY
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USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Brutus, Frankie, and Jack
I also agree unsupervised bullys should be crated. They are way to curious and get bored really really fast, and that leads to nothing but trouble. They actually like it. I think it really does relieve the stress of being alone. I know Brutus goes to sleep as soon as he goes in.
 

fastmatt613

Socks Don't Hold Pee.....Trust Me on This!
Community Veteran
Aug 6, 2013
1,026
55
New Jersey
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United states
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Rocco
My family members always ask if I crate Rocco when I'm not home or go to work. My response is always "Of course". Then they all give me the whole "that's so mean" and "I feel bad for him" and they never understand when I say it is not mean and it is for his own good. I never use his crate as punishment and he knows that when he'sin there it means on of two things: It's time for bed or nobody is home. Good luck with your situation and you need to let everyone in your house know that Gino needs to be crated for his own good and if he is your dog, you are the one to make those decisions.
 

Pati Robins

I'm Polish what did you expect! A lady like person
Community Veteran
Jun 12, 2013
2,888
238
Cardiff UK
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UK-Cardiff
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Lily (British Bulldog) & Shy (American Bulldog X)
We have been very lucky so far , at night we put girls in the kitchen behind baby gate (soon we are planning to stop this too)
But day time when we are not in the house they have free run and no problems what so ever
I crate trained shy only for few weeks but it was pointless for us ,looks like you are going to need yours,don't listen to your family neither xxx
 
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dolphin

Pooper scooper
Nov 5, 2012
10,936
962
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7
Couldn't agree more, the hard part about all of this is teaching the family. They would never let an infant or a 3 year old roam the house freely. I'm happy he's ok.
 

DudleysMom

New member
Community Veteran
Jun 25, 2012
1,521
111
Pennsauken, NJ
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USA
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Dudley, 12/26/2010-2/8/16; currently I have Kia, 7 yo femaie
Glad Gino was not harmed. When I worked outside my home, Dudley was crated every day...he was just fine. I had family that was horrified, but I would always ask them how they were going to handle my hysteria if he chewed through a wire and electrocuted himself!? Now that I work at home, my office is upstairs and he is usually downstairs, he's free. But where do I often find him when I go back downstairs...yep, sleeping in his crate! I leave the door open and he loves to go in there and take a nap!
 

ddnene

EBN's SWEETHEART aka our little GOOB
Staff member
Jun 19, 2013
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Nashville, Tennessee
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Willow (2015) Walter (2014-22) Winston (2012-13) Wellie (2012-13) Bella (2007-13)
I completely agree... an uncrated Bully alone is a dangerous thing!!! I made the mistake of letting Winston sleep on the couch while I picked up my daughter from school. Came home to eaten up blinds, which Thankfully he didn't ingest... We crate him every time we leave the house now!!!
 

Davidh

Head Pooper Scooper
Staff member
Mar 21, 2011
13,407
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Katy, Texas
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BeBe, Hazel, Lucy Lu, JLO, Hillary, Henri, & Katie
I agree with you 100% a crated bully is a safe bully. Hope he didn't swallow something that he shouldn't have.
 

RaRett

Oogle Me on Google
Community Veteran
Apr 15, 2012
1,475
194
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USA
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Missi -- With Gizmo and Hershey never far from my heart
Please use this story when talking to your family about crate training..

Not only does it protect the house from the Puppy....but it PROTECTS THE PUPPY FROM THE HOUSE ! ! !

1 electrical cord chewed on (Thank god the lamp was OFF at the wall switch) or things could of been different for Gizmo
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
Staff member
Community Veteran
Jul 28, 2011
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Gilbertsville, PA
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Chelios (Frenchie), Nitschke (2004-2011) Banks (2005-2014) and Lambeau (2014-2024)
wow... holy scary story! crate, crate and more carte if not being watched. they are too fast and too curious for their own good.

:whew: so happy all are OK
 

Jennifer Clark

I can handle the whiskey, if you can handle the nu
Community Veteran
Apr 16, 2013
2,872
117
Searcy, Arkansas
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United States
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Sheldon A.K.A Shelly Bean (06-12-19); Duecy (9-13-14); Maddie (4-16-19)
We crate trained Sheldon as well!! Its the ONLY way to keep them absolutely safe when not being watched by a human I totally agree with everyone else on here

So sayeth the Sheldon Puppy!
 

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