14 year old toy poodle help?

Question

I posted a question  and apparently people misunderstood what I was saying and thought we always left our older dog in a tiny crate. We do not. I was rushed and apparently did not add enough detail which led to the conclusion that I was abusing my 14 year old toy poodle. So this time I added every bit of detail I could think would be relevant.

She gets out to walk/run around the house, once we finally get her out of her crate, and when it is not too cold or nasty outside, the 12' by 12' dog run outside, we have hawks in our area that we were told by our vet would carry off a small dog if given an open opportunity and he told us to build a kennel for our dogs to keep them safe if we ever left the outside unattended even for a few minutes.  We make sure she gets exercise everyday.

We have a 14 year old poodle and since the day we got her her crate has been the place she sleeps at night and usually spends time in it when she chooses to go in it during the day, the crate is open. She has always stood in the door way and watches us, we offer to let her join us, however she does not want to. We get her groomed once every three months and she goes to the vet once a year unless she falls ill than we take her in immediately. We spent $1500 to get her a hysterectomy because she had a puss filled uterus 10 years ago.

She never liked to come out of her crate to play even as a puppy. She is friendly when she is not in the crate. She sits on everyone one's laps constantly and always has. She plays with toys, but only if someone holds her on their lap while she does it.

The biggest problem we have is getting her come out of her crate the last few years she gets aggressive and throws a fit when you try to get her out. She is going blind in one eye although our vet told us that if we touch her on the side that is not blind she shouldn't be scared and aggressive. Yesterday she bit my grandma drew blood. I understand a lot of people think that you should let the dog come out on their own however she had to get out of her cage because she had an accident in it and it needed cleaned, and I know someone will say it yes we had given her a half our to come out on her own, but she didn't. She has never gotten in trouble for having accidents, because we realize that when dog's get older they sometimes have accidents.

We recently got a puppy, and no for those of you that will say the puppy is going to hurt her we don't allow the puppy to play with her unless she initiates it by playing with the pup first. The problem is that she has become harder to get out of her crate since we got the puppy. She went with us to choose out the new pup and seemed to like her until a few days later. Yes the 14 year old had been around other dogs before and been fine.

We asked our vet and he had us try letting her come out on her own, which she would do however only for a few seconds before running back into her cage and bribery, which got her out to get the treat than she would run into her crate to eat it and not come back out unless it was for another piece of food. Once we get her out if we close her crate she relaxes and stays out with us, however I don't want her to think that she can't go into her crate.

So my two questions are 

How do we get the 14 year old out of it's crate without it biting us or being scared?

Is it normal for a dog to constantly want to be held and petted or hide in their cage?

Maxi · Accepted Answer

'Basset Puppy in the food bin' is right, use a lead....I would have light weight lead on her trailing, so you can just put your foot on it without any fuss or noise and you have control instantly, and trap it in the door before you close it, when you need to get her out, lift the lead, open door, don't look at her and just encourage her out..............she's 14 and this crate is her security, her den, she doesn't want to come out where she can't see as well, a pup is running about, makes her jump..she sounds like a sensitive dog so it could be difficult for her...........just to say many dogs will do this whatever age as they feel trapped in a crate and can't get away from being grabbed, you are close to them, giving direct eye contact ( aggressive in dog language) and getting stressed as they won't obey ( stress is weak energy, weak can't lead = anxiety that pack leader is weak), so react and sometimes the reaction is a bite.

My x2 older mini poodles one 18 and one 14 are much the same and with a litter of poodle puppies in the house they are kept out of the way of them, my 18 year old is blind and deaf which doesn't help her, but she gets around, wants to eat, go for walks, her lead is always trailing, so it is easy to control her especially as she goes the wrong way as she gets confused, but she is a star and has given me 18 years of delight so far, thousands of rosettes and trophies and has taught many people who were petrified of dogs that dogs are OK

Anonymous · Answer

It is really kind of too late to change her behavior in the crate.  Somewhere along the line, she got so attached to the crate that she sees any invasion as a violating her domain.  Given her age, I would let her be most of the time.  She could have some type of dementia also which makes her so uncertain of things that the only ways she feels secure is in her crate.  She may also be in some pain like with arthritis which may make moving  painful.  

I agree with the leash idea, to keep it on her and gently tug her out using bribery too.  Maybe even have it on a harness so you're not just pulling on her neck.  If it is a wire crate, you could also try sliding a board or something between the wires behind her and gently closing off her space behind until she is far enough up front to tilt out.  When you do bribe her out, you have to be ready to close the door or even just block it when she finally gets out.  Other methods would be using heavy gloves to handle her in the crate and covering her head with a towel but those might upset her even more.

ms manners · Answer

I have had a couple of dogs who got aggressive over the crate.  I just picked up the back of the crate and tipped them out of it.....no need to put your hands anywhere near them.

Unless you use the crate to confine her, I would take her crate away and either leave only the tray, or give her a pillow.

IMO, anything a dog becomes possessive over should be removed.....dogs own nothing, and should not be under the impression that they do.

You can crate the puppy to give her a break from him....old dogs usually do not appreciate puppies, and an old dog shouldnt have to put up with a young dog bugging her.

DaBasset - BYBs kill dogs · Answer

Put a leash on before she goes in the crate.  Make sure the end sticks out.  Then you can take the end of the leash and gently pull her out safely.

Or you can either pick up the crate and shake her out (which I don't really recommend in view of her age), or take the top off and tilt her out.

Anonymous · Answer

Take your Sammy to the vet asap. He is not vomiting urine, it most likely is bile, which means he has a internal problem. He is licking himself to keep clean and if he is leaking urine, then he has a problem with his bladder.

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14 year old toy poodle help?

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