Pup prefers floor rather than crate?

Anyone remember their 8 weeks old pup preferring to sleep on the floor rather than their crate or bed?

We tried 2 different crates and 1 bed to no avail.
1 crate is a wire crate with the partition. We changed its size multiple times and nothing.
We also have a plastic crate and he didn't sleep in there either.
We have a smell bed setup next to the crate and that didn't work either.
We even tried putting the bed in the smaller plastic crate and still nothing.

The pup is currently setup in an exercise pen in our kitchen.
What he likes to do is run to the sides and sleep on the floor.

We fed him inside the crate, placed his toys inside the crate, praise him when he goes in the crate looking for his stuffed Kong. Even tried to block access with his water bowl only to have him step all over it to get to the other side.

It is his 3rd day here, am I expecting too much?

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on August 31, 2009 at 3:33pm

He might like it later...is it hot where you live???It could be cooler on the floor...my pups slept well in a fence like yours but my own puppies always got used to crates and love them yet...but the crates are warmer...just a thought! I would just leave the crate in there and put a blanket in there and maybe he will find he likes it...or maybe he won't....after all he is a corgi and they know what they want!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alex on August 31, 2009 at 3:37pm

It was hot when we brought him home (80 degree), it's a bit cooler now (68 degree).
What type of blanket should we use? He might be a chewer, he almost demolished one of those Hedgehog toy, lol.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Meredith and Paisley on August 31, 2009 at 3:53pm

When Paisley was little she didn't like her crate much either. I have found that she likes it better when she can choose to either lay on an old towel (easy to clean and it doesn't matter if she chews on it) or directly on the plastic. She would, however, get too hot in there, even in our air conditioned apartment, and so I also have a small fan for her. I usually just put it on low and direct it only on half of the crate so she can decide if she would like to be in the wind or not. Now she likes her crate and is happy to sleep in there all night and for her naps during the day.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Beauty and the Beast on August 31, 2009 at 3:56pm

It's OK if the pup doesn't go to the crate on his own as long as he doesn't bark or whine when he's inside.
For the first month Shiro never went to his crate, but he didn't mind when we put him in there. Well we don't usually put him, we throw the cookies inside and he goes. By now he already knows that cookie means bedtime so he goes there like a good boy.
I saw him go and sleep in the crate on his own only a couple times. He usually prefers the floor and sometimes his bed that's next to the crate. Maybe it is too warm inside.
So don't worry too much. If your puppy whines and screams while in the crate, this is something that needs to be addressed.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Beth on August 31, 2009 at 6:09pm

Many Corgis seem to be cold-weather dogs and don't like the heat much. Mine will almost always sleep on the bare floors when it's warm out. Our new one, Madison, is currently being crated at night because she's only in the house a week (she's four-and-a-half years old) and she pushes aside the towel we use as bedding and sleeps on the plastic floor of the crate.

The ex-pen is fine, but I would get pup used to being crated for awhile in case you need to crate him later on, like post-surgery or something. Put him in, give him a treat and close the door, and ignore him if he cries. We attached our ex-pen to our crate so he had free access. Just be warned that it may take longer for him to learn to hold his urine at night if he has enough room to go in one corner and sleep in another, so that could delay housebreaking somewhat.