Crate Training

I'm trying not to compare Zumi with Pyra but I've already called her Py like 20 times in the 4 days.  

Really though she is quite different from little Py from the way she moves to her attitude.

Zumi really does love to zoom.  And bite.  Lots of biting.  And apparently thinks she is a sheltie as there has been lots of tugging on my pants as I walk.  

Crate training still sucks.  Massive screaming and once she starts she will not stop on her own no matter how long you ignore her.  Fingers in the kennel are helping a bit and if Zumi's somewhat tired she will try and curl up against the bars to trap your hand in.  Very sensitive to any attempts to escape your hand.  She does best of course if she's super tired and you sit right outside her crate as she goes back to bed.

Work today could have been a disaster if it weren't for 2 amazing other trainers that happened to both be there and at their desks way more than I'm able to be at mine.  Zumi was able to stay out with them in our cubicle/hall area and only was crated for 2 brief naps in which she had already fallen asleep on a lap.  During the later part of the day, after an unsuccessful crate nap attempt in the office, I tried putting her in a crate in an isolated room where she could scream her head off without disturbing others too much.  Scream she did.  Just 15min later I went in to grab something and she was just trembling as she screeched.  Flashbacks of Puppy Vito.

I sat on the floor with fingers in the bar for several minutes  and while I didn't get her completely quiet she did stop trembling.  Plan B was devised and put into action.  Zumi went back to hang out freely in the cubicle area while I set up an X-pen immediately outside the hall with her open crate, toys, and a sacrificial doggy friend.  There was only an hour left of work by the time I got her settled in and she was already exhausted.  But Plan B was successful with only a mild tantrum.

Fingers are crossed that Zumi will both improve her crate manners quickly and that the X-pen setup works this week as I don't think she will have the option of cuddling with a person the rest of the week.  And on Wednesday she has to go to the obedience club while I teach classes.
I'm not worried about Zumi yet.  She's very young and she's only had a few days of being on her own to practice this type of stuff.  But it's hard not to think of puppy Vito and his issues.  Zumi is the most anxious I've seen with the puppies I've fostered vs frustration.