Henley has been a crate trained pup from the first day we got him. In the beginning, he spent his days and nights in the crate. This was to house train him and to keep him safe. As everyone knows, puppies chew on everything.
Now that Henley is older, he spends less and less time in his crate, but still goes in when we're at work. The vet, as well as other veteran dog owners, have told us he won't be ready to spend all day free until he's about 2 years old. Some people I've spoken with have strong objections to crating dogs. These people usually don't have dogs or have schedules that allow them much more at home time with their pup. Honestly, Henley sleeps all day so he doesn't really care where he does it. Also, the crate is to protect him from potentially hurting himself. Houses are as dangerous to dogs as they are children. You never know what could happen.
My point in all this is that lately Henley has been refusing to go willingly into his crate. He makes us chase him and bribe him and then once in he starts the Shiba shriek. We know it's only him expressing his sheer displeasure at not getting what he wants, but it's very hard to walk out the door hearing that. I'll be very glad when he's old enough and well-behaved enough to stay out during long periods of us being away. He does get to be out when we run errands, but not for more then 2 hours at a time.
Anyway, for a pleasant ending, below is a video of Henley positively interacting with his crate. We're not quite sure what his ultimate goal was, but he did clean up any stray treats previously uneaten.
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