u/Gullible_Bat6699

We have this four-month-old toy poodle cutie who sleeps happily in his crate at home, but struggles with his travel crate in more stimulating environments.

Our goal is for him to eventually be comfortable in it on trains, airplanes, outdoors, and ideally in a secure bicycle carrier (my dream!).

At home, he's at the point where he himself goes into his crate to nap or chill. But placed in his travel crate and in the real world he can quickly start scratching, screaming, and trying to get out.

Most crate-training advice seems to stop at: go in, treat, close briefly, open, repeat. What I’m struggling with is the progression from that to 30–90 minutes calmly confined in a stimulating environment OR in the context of trains or on a bicycle.

I'd appreciate all tips and tricks!

How did you build duration without triggering a meltdown?
Did you train confinement, movement, and new environments separately?
What did you do once the scratching/screaming started?
Did this get substantially easier with age?

Would really appreciate practical examples of what the progression looked like over a few weeks. Thanks in advance 🙏

We brought home our 9 week old toy poodle puppy yesterday and I would really appreciate your perspective.

He’s sweet and adorable, but wow. I feel like my brain is constantly checking: pee? food? water? nap? crate? whining? am I ruining him already?

I’m far from naive and I was expecting this. I’ve been a member here for quite a while, and I’ve read plenty about puppy blues. But it’s one thing to read about it and another to experience the early signs of it first hand.

Yes, I’m definitely overreacting. It’s been 24 hours. He’s a baby… that we kidnapped! Not literally, but you know what I mean. He’s been taken from everything he knows and suddenly we’re his whole world.

We are prepared as much as one can be, but I’m new to this version of daily puppy life, and it already feels like a full-time job.

For those of you who remember the first few days/weeks: when did it start feeling more manageable? When did you start really bonding? When did routines fall into place? When did you stop feeling like life as you knew it was gone?

Please reassure me that this is normal. Any small form of support or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Travel tips

[Pedulla] Atlético and Tottenham in further talks today to try to close the Cristian Romero deal. It would be a fee similar to the €40M bid that Inter had accepted. Personal terms with the player won't be a problem

[Tuttomercatoweb] Newcastle and Tottenham interested in Atalanta defender Giorgio Scalvini, contacted his entourage to explore personal terms. No negotiations yet with Bergamo who are expecting an offer of at least 50m to consider a sale.

First 24 hours with my toy poodle puppy... when does it get easier?