Kennel training

I haven't taken much time to try to kennel train Miss Ivy. The only time we've put her in there was when it was necessary, if we were going to be gone for a while and couldn't have her roaming about. 

She HATED it. I've never seen a dog that upset. She drooled and cried so much in a 45 min span of time that she had a blanket soaking wet. I've heard that deaf boxers can have extreme separation anxiety and, I guess Ivy is no exception. 

She also started being somewhat obsessive with her chew toys (pig ears, oinkies etc) and it was suggested that she only be allowed to have them during kennel time. 

Soooo, I figured I'd better get to work on figuring this whole thing out. First of all, I moved the kennel from an obscure corner in my bedroom to a cozier spot in the living room. Somewhere where she could find solitude but not be completely isolated. Then I got one of her oinkies (it's just a rawhide wrapped chew toy) and offered it to her in the kennel. She got that glazed over look in her eye but I patiently kept offering it to her only if she went in the kennel. She finally surrendered and went in. Of course the first thing she did was grab it and try to run. I made myself a comfy spot on the floor and the game of wits began. 

She would try to high tail it out of the kennel with the oinky and I would stop her, take it away and place it back in the kennel. We did this for about 15 minutes and she finally laid down to chew on it inside the kennel, to which I signed "yes" and smiled as big as I could. She attempted a few more times to sneak it past me but I was consistent and kept on putting it back. Then she decided to give it up completely and crawl in my lap to snooze. I simply placed her in the kennel. She woke up for a second but was pretty worn out from the morning and voluntarily laid down and fell asleep. 

As you can see, Emma is on puppy watch. She actually is more likely on oinky watch, but it's cute nonetheless. 

Anyway, we've made a small step in getting comfortable with the kennel and not dreading it quite so badly. I plan on leaving the door open and hoping she will start voluntarily choosing to sleep and find comfort there. 

Comfort but not solitude apparently.