Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Bait in a Crate

Remember I told you the trainer lady Jane told Mom and Dad to crate me all day to stop me barking. Well, Mom and Dad have held off doing that because they know I like to have the freedom to move around. Besides, we never had a crate! But that changed when Gracie had the temerity to outgrow hers and get a new one. So guess who got the hand-me-down? Moi.

Mom's friend Christine, Mother of the famous Dean-O, instructed Mom on how to get me to like my crate.
"Give him rib bones in the crate, that way he'll associate the crate with delicious treats" (Well, that was the gist of the advice).
So off Mom went to the supermarket to buy me beef ribs. The crate was assembled in Mom's office and the experiment began.

I smelled the rib bone. I got excited. But I also smelled a rat when she threw the bone into the wiry crate! I am not dumb. I get my ass in there and I knew I'd be trapped. So I wasn't going in. Bone or no bone. Oh how Mom tried to coax me in. When she wasn't looking, I dashed in, grabbed the bone and ran downstairs with it. I hid it behind the TV, but Mom found it and brought it back to my crate.

Enter Dad. He told me to get to my crate to get my bone, and somehow coming from a fellow male, it made logical sense, and in I went.
And it wasn't so bad, the crate that is. And the rib was WONDERFUL!

Here I am eating it in my crate (note I am not wearing my orange harness. I killed it last night, I chewed the buckle off when Mom and Dad were not looking!):



So thanks to Christine and Dean-O for giving Mom this brilliant idea.
But I'm still a bit weary of that wire crate...den my little tushy - it's a cage doggone it!

AGC

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Ax!

I love my crate, and it looks just like yours. Tell your mom to get a nice soft plush crate cushion and cover the top with a blanket or a quilt. That will make it more cozy. Sometimes when mom is looking for me all over the house, she will find me sound asleep in my crate. It's my "safe house!"

Sydney in Lancaster, PA

fee said...

halo axel!

are you getting used to the crate already? do you get a nice rib bone EVERY TIME you go into the crate?

keep us updated!

loves,
fee

Gus said...

Axel Buddy:
It IS possible to do serious damage to a crate like that one with terrier teeth. I had one when I came to live with muzzer and dad. By the time we left Virginia, the door no longer closed 'cause I had bent it so badly. I probably only spent a grand total of 6 hours in it over a three week period, and they bent it back some, but it guilted muzzer so badly that she put it into the hall and piled newspapers on it.

She is fond of saying "We solved his separation anxiety problem by never leaving him alone." heheheh, I, Gussie solved my separation anxiety problem!

Gus said...

Axel Buddy:
It IS possible to do serious damage to a crate like that one with terrier teeth. I had one when I came to live with muzzer and dad. By the time we left Virginia, the door no longer closed 'cause I had bent it so badly. I probably only spent a grand total of 6 hours in it over a three week period, and they bent it back some, but it guilted muzzer so badly that she put it into the hall and piled newspapers on it.

She is fond of saying "We solved his separation anxiety problem by never leaving him alone." heheheh, I, Gussie solved my separation anxiety problem!

Buster the Wired Fox Terror said...

I have never seen one of those things! Looks kinda dangerous to me. And, you can still bark in it, right?

I say leave out some poisoned Cheetos in the neighbor's yard so he eats em. That would solve your problem - well it's his problem!

Bussie Kissies
Buster

Anonymous said...

Dear Lover Boy Axel

A new crate with beef rib bones sure sounds mighty delicious idea to me!

May I join you?

O.Y.O.Y.
Miss Amelia

Dean-O! said...

What’s for dinner?

NmB Photography said...

Axel buddy,
I'm crated during the day, too, cause I'm not very trustworthy (garbage, wastebaskets, picture frames, shoes). Anyway, I get a Kong toy stuffed with peanut butter every moring so I flip the door right open and hop in. After lunch, I usually get a little something else.