So, as already posted, we realised that some time into keeping Faro he had learned to be noisy in his crate to get attention as we would reprimand him for whining when he wanted out but barking usually means he needs to get out to toilet. We stopped giving any kind of attention when he was noisy and this worked well.
However since then, Faro has gradually been whimpering a lot throughout the day which we at first put down to his bad tummy that he had. He has continued to do this even once his tummy was better so I broke out the maternal instinct and felt that whining and being impatient is one thing, but whimpering a lot sounded more like emotional distress to me.
So I got to thinking about the fact that crate training allowed us to simulate working conditions for Faro but that means lots of walking, playing when we are out and that he is missing out on the freedom that pet dogs have to walk up to their family and instigate a pat on the head or cuddles.
So to test the theory of whether Faro was a little lonely and just wanting some physical contact, when he is quiet, we have been opening his crate and letting him out for some fuss then back in again.
Whether this is the right thing to do I don't know but it certainly works.
He seems much more content and I am supposing it could just be a puppy thing - when you think how much physical contact pups have with each other - hopefully we won't ruin his training in future and as an adult dog he won't crave cuddles too much!
Pleased with Faro's confidence etc but I still think we need to work on our crate training skills! It is not as easy as it sounds. :o(
