Crating at shows

[u/YamAppropriate6850]

Hi Dog Show Friends!
My 1 year old smooth fox terrier recently became a champion! He is a great dog, loves showing, it is his favorite thing to do! But I need some tips and tricks for how I can make him crate trained at the dog show. He is great at home and in the car. But he won’t settle and stop barking in a new environment. Like I would love to be able to make a little setup for him while we wait for groups where he is content to just take a nap. But for right now that means we go back to the car. I want to try and get a handle on this while he is still young. Thank you so much for your help!

[u/neverknowitisme]

Do you have something over his crate? Like a blanket or cover perhaps? Then he might be able to settle better because he can't see?

[u/jadnastnerb]

This can absolutely be taught. This is what we do for noisy dogs. Their crate has water (and for summer shows, a fan) but we will cover it over with a crate cover. The front can be open if they can be reasonable. If the noise is excessive, they get their door covered over too. They will realize at some point the correlation to getting to enjoy seeing and being quiet.

Good luck and have a great time in the ring.

[u/Ok-Walk-8453]

Cover over crate helps a lot. I would also practice crating in other environments outside of a show that are more than home or car but less than the show- park, friend's house etc- helps with generalization so they learn crate everywhere is normal. My biggest issue right now is at fun events, the one of my 2 that is in the crate get FOMO because me and the other are having fun. Thabkfully confo shows are boring enough but other things are not.

[u/olioili]

Try the cover for sure but also, at the price of looking a little peculiar, you can put his crate in front of a dog park and work with him on it there

[u/East_Explanation_227]

Check out Sarah Stremming's Happy Crating bundle on her website (two webinars together if I remember right). WELL worth it!

[u/Ok-Door-7563]

Why is he barking? Alert barking? Stress barking? Reactivity? Insecurity?

Once you understand that, training it out of him will be easy.

I have a bitch I just started showing that was an alert barker. I never planned on showing her, so I didn't raise her like I would a show dog. I didn't do early exposure to shows or baby puppy classes with her. 

What worked for us was just getting her out more. I took her to handling classes, I took her to dog shows to just spectate/be groomed. I took her to my local park and trained her around other dogs there. We did our first show together last week and she was brilliant. She did a little whining, but no barking.

I do not use a crate, she's a table dog so I put her up on her table between shows because that's her familiar and safe spot where she knows to lay down and rest. She wasn't perfect like a seasoned show dog would be, but she was excellent. 

Just keep up with it, make shows a positive experience, allow him time to learn but also provide firm but fair corrections balanced with praise. He will learn how to relax at shows.

[u/lovenorwich]

It's a smooth, they're like that. Remove the stimulation. Go sit in your car or buy a camper van and park in overnight parking so you can't some rest and still be hopefully near the rings.

[u/Narrow_Possession348]

People who allow nuisance barking at trials are the bane of my existence. I seriously *immediately* have a searing, burning hatred for those people. Take him and set him up in his crate outside of the local dog park, the regular parks, by a children's soccer or lacrosse game, etc. Use Pet Corrector, a prong with a grab tab, smack (with a stainless bowl) or rattle the crate, or whatever it takes; sit behind the crate far enough that he doesn't know you're there, then correct him strongly for barking. Walk away. If he's still quiet after 15 seconds, walk by the crate and say "good quiet" as you toss in a treat. Go back out of sight. Rush back from "out of nowhere" and correct him again. Or, if he goes 30 seconds to a min, walk by and toss in a treat. Keep doing this, increasing the time in 30-second increments until you're working up to a good 5-10 minutes. Now, load up, go somewhere else, and do it again. In a day or so, load up and go somewhere else and do it again. Keep at it until you can sit away from the crate, out of sight, and read a book or something for a good 30 minutes to an hour, doing a treat walk-by every 15 minutes or so.

All of my dogs never make a peep in the crate at trials (or snarl or charge at dogs passing too close or sniffing). They lie down and go to sleep almost instantly, regardless of what's going on. I keep my crates covered on three sides, with only the front open.