7 months old? I hate to keep him in there all day for the sake of housebreaking him but when I do take him out he still does it in the house too. Or do I put the crate downstairs in a room (or the bathroom) and go get her out during the night for toilet breaks (we then won’t hear her crying / whining ) but does she need to be near us or will she get use to been on her own downstairs? In the early stages of crate training, if they’re making a fuss, calmly reassure your puppy until they’re calm and quiet and only then release them. When she cries and whines in the crate, the absolute last thing you want to do is go to her and give attention of any description, either good or bad. If your puppy whines at night and you go to them, they quickly learn that all the noise works and will in future try the same trick, even if they have to go on for hours. I go home on my lunch hour and clean up poop and pee, play outside with both dogs, and do the whole routine again when I come home from the office adding on a full bath due to her being covered in poop. If so, she should be able to last the night at 14 weeks. And before we get into the nuts and bolts of how to crate train a puppy, for those that haven’t followed my crate training series so far, you’ll first need to have a crate ready and soak in some introductory knowledge. I feel that this has led us to crate him more. As long as their needs are being met for mental stimulation, exercise, training, food, water and sleep, they will fall into line with the work, play, exercise and sleep patterns we decide for them. The following two articles from Dr. Sophia Yin regarding food aggression are fantastic (as is nearly all of her work.) They both sleep through the night and do not wake too early. What size dog crate should you get and which type is best? I guess what I’m asking is it better if she is with someone during the night or will it still work if she is on her own? Playtime. If you wouldn’t mind, I do have some questions: – At night, how do I tell if the dog is whining to be let out of the crate and whining because he needs to go to the bathroom? Crate Training Your puppy should see their crate as a safe and calm place. At first i had them in the same cage thinking that they … She slept soundly in there for about 50 minutes. When training our service dog puppies we always setup the crate beside our bed. Or if they won’t lay down in the crate, assuming you have trained or are training a ‘down’ command, ask them to lay down or lure them into a down position with a treat. I really appreciate your article and all the detail, and the detailed replies you’ve given to the other questions. However we recently moved him into his own room in his crate and now he won’t sleep in. They’ve proven they’re happy to go in there now and because you’ve been feeding them food (our current dog food of choice is Wellness Core Puppy Food) and stuffed Kong Toys in the crate, you’re promoting the idea that only good things happen there. You will have a crate large enough to have a separate area for the pads. Take the age of your puppy in months and add one, and that is the maximum number of hours that your puppy should be able to comfortably hold it between potty breaks. I am not sure what her reaction would be. And if ‘mother’ has seen them urinate on a plant inside the home, chances are they cannot be trusted completely so you should continue house training them until they can be. What do you think? It’s OK to leave your puppy in the kennel overnight (as long as you take them out for potty breaks as needed). So he learns he get released without whining, hopefully breaking the connection. For advice on how long to crate them, it’s all explained in my crate and house training series in the training section. That was about 4 times in one night. Dogs already see their crate as their own, and if they are prone to food guarding it might have some sort of stacking affect making her doubly on guard. My Stella chews everything! He is very good at asking out day and night (he is from my nephews litter and they have all been very good at toileting from around 6wks which is really helpful) but with him being so against the door being closed – which I am going to work on using your plan – I wondered if an alarm might assist in this. You want to make it inviting and comfortable to lay in. We take him outside every 4 hrs to relieve himself. At 8 weeks though she is certainly ready to eat solid food and should be keen to. We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Here's a general classification of the same: These are some of the basic things one needs to know about training their puppy for dog crates. The first thing to remember about house training a puppy is they can not hold themselves long. So let me begin by stating that our goldendoodle puppy is 9 weels old. I wonder if she would start barking for me. my neighbors want to file complaints of abuse on the puppy. Don’t let him sleep on your bed nightly for weeks or months and then change it, this will be confusing and hard for him to understand. From this point forward it’s a very good idea to feed your puppy all their meals in the crate. We are crating them and that is going fine. How long does it take to crate train a puppy? You’re a life saver. My roommate who was helping me with starting off with the crate training was telling me to shush the pup when she started getting too loud, but I didn’t think that was the best course of action but went with the advice for the night while not knowing better. And thank you James for the wonderful article and also for your responses. if i don’t see her, she will seek out the wee wee pad i have down in another room for emergencies. How soon should I start moving it? We are trying to train him to sleep, or at least be contents, with staying in the crate for 7-8 hrs a night. How would I go about training the two puppies? But is this counterproductive? Thank you for the ever so useful information and your complete. She’ll usually sleep for 1 – 1.5 hours in the crate while I’m driving, and then I always stop and let her run around, potty, play, for 20 – 30 minutes before we drive some more. I read the articles in the rest of the series and have been waiting for instructions to start crate training my Lab puppy. 3) do we need to have water all the time in the puppy’s crate? While some puppies tend to adapt to living in them within days, some might feel uncomfortable even after months and months of training. Crate training at night is incredibly helpful for your puppy's overall house training. Hi, my puppy has explored his crate all by himself and then we worked through Steps 1 – 8. The problem is the mother doesn’t want him in the room when no one is here even if it is just 1 hour or so. Should I take the play pen away? Unfortunately the crate hadn’t arrived in the mail in time for his first night last night, so we tried putting him in a box in our bedroom but he quickly jumped out of it as soon as I turned my back. I’m starting to train her with the potty bell. A full night's sleep without a potty break is usually seen around 16–20 weeks of age, but some puppies might take longer due to their breed, size, or house training … Please look at the ‘break the cycle’ section, it’s sound advice: https://www.petfinder.com/dogs/dog-problems/home-alone-barking/, Also, this article repeats the advice if you scroll down to the heading ‘bark set ups’ (ignore the rest for now. Too bad, because around that time of night I am like “aaaaaah, she’s sleeping and I can have a little alone time this evening”. My mom has offered to take him to her house for the next two work days and do some crate work and “barking it out” in a house where neighbors won’t complain. Thank you. I think this will help in your situation. It not only frees a person of care taking duties but ensures that the puppy gets the rest it needs to grow healthily. Ready to crate train your new best friend? But there are, of course, some things you can do to help. All logic says it will go much smoother as it’s so unforced and running at your dogs own pace, therefore it will be far less stressful and almost certainly have a higher chance of success than rushing it. Slowly, slowly, small steps at a time. He definitely gets enough exercise and we take him out to pee pretty late and cut his water off early. I know some people crate their dogs for that long, but it’d be great if you could hire a dog walker, or have a trusted friend or neighbor give him a potty break during the day. Just minimize as much as possible is the goal. Throughout the crate training process we want to take things very slowly. Hoping the few non recommended crate interactions/reactions the first few nights/days haven’t done damage. As a firm believer that great care has to be given to pets, beside sharing my whole experience in this blog I also work as volunteer at pet stores during the weekend. 1 minute, 1 minute 10 secs, 1 minute 20 etc. She did great! You don’t have to follow everything to the exact letter, and most dogs will be able to skip a few steps. Do you have any advice in regards to this situation? Finally, for safety reasons, before you ever allow your puppy into the crate, make sure they have nothing on. It’s a good idea to take whatever becomes their favorite toy and keep it solely for play inside of the crate so it earns extra special meaning and is something they look forward to. There is no other way for them to learn. I have an 8 week old goldendoodle who has done fairly well being acclimated to the crate and will occasionally go in it throughout the day; however, I have a few questions for you: Dogs are effectively ‘gambling addicts’ and by only rewarding them some of the time we tap into their innate desire to gamble and this keeps their enthusiasm for training high. A good tip is also ‘a tired dog is a quiet dog’ While not strictly true, a ‘quieter’ dog is true. Our first night was kind of an up and down for everyone. The lab has never been crated, but has been kenneled when we traveled. If you’re happy to do so you can bet your dog will be too and it will not lead to any problems, they will prefer the night time company if given then chance. Hence, they are likely to be engaged in a lot of pushing activities like running and playing. After the first few days, slowly start moving the crate to where you finally want it, first moving it to the bedroom door, then the hallway but being able to see into your bedroom, then to the final resting place. Aie! She sleeps in her crate by my bed. Dogs are remarkably versatile creatures and will eventually slip into and live along with whatever schedules we create for them. And even when they’re happy to sleep in a crate while the house is quiet and we’re all asleep, it’s taken at least many more days (or usually weeks) of crate training to have them be happy crated during the day and for them to start using the crate themselves. Just one caveat…to keep her away from places other dog’s may have been and been to toilet until she has been fully vaccinated. We do this because as working dogs their partners may need them at any moments notice. I have been reading and reading your training notes and I want to get her back in the crate to sleep for the night so I can get her toilet trained ASAP! PS. 2) I’ve no advice here I’m afraid. I am finding your website to be very helpful. This to me is appearing more like a territory marking. Our 9 week old border collie is doing great at night in her crate, but some days she wakes up pretty early at 4:00 AM after sleeping through the night. I varied between being in the room and out of the room. Any suggestions? With consistent, well-planned strategic training, the majority of puppies are happy spending time in the crate within 1 to 3 weeks. Also he chews on everything despite liking his nylabones. First of all and most importantly, please make sure you read when and when not to crate your puppy so you only ever use it with your dogs best interests in mind and remove any chance of using it in a cruel way. I wanted to crate train her, but it may be too late now because we have been putting her in there to sleep at night. He doesn’t make a sound and happily waits to toilet outside when I take him out for a break and a leg stretch. and so on until back to the time when you want to get up. Click-treat in the morning too? Take them out of the crate and straight to their bathroom spot, encourage them to do their business and then take them straight back and close the crate door, all in absolute silence except for a calm and quiet ‘good potty’ when they’ve done the right thing. Right now I sometimes leave her in the car crate for very short periods of times (while I dash into the store to grab something, or use a public washroom while on the road). So, I have resorted to your puppy-proofed space with pads for now. Though the articles were very detailed and extremely helpful I was left with a few questions in my specific situation. I can’t offer much advice with your cat I’m afraid but if you Google ‘introducing a puppy to a resident cat‘, there’s lots of advice written out there. 3) Lastly, she wakes up every hour throughout the night! I’d hate for all my mom’s efforts to be undone once he is back in the apartment. A dog crate can come in handy for a puppy at the times of its early training days. “A tired dog is a quiet dog” is a phrase you will hear a lot! However, it's crucial that your puppy is getting consistent opportunities during the night to go to the bathroom outside. Tonight we will set an alarm to take him out around 2:45 before he starts barking/whining (don’t want him thinking we will come when he does that) and will follow your advice of no talking except small praise and put him right back to bed. They will look and feel safe and secure, look perfectly happy with no crying for release and often head to their crate of their own accord. When I heard her stop with that, I came back in, took the Kong away (so she only associates the really good stuff being available when I am not in the room), and she lay down right away without a peep, and fell asleep. They each have different pros and cons, so pick one that meets your needs. Finally, I believe he (all of us let the him out enough, with commands to potty) seems trustworthy to leave him alone for an hour or 2. For instance, if they just won’t put a paw into the crate, place a treat just inside so they only have to poke their head in to eat it. Then take them to potty right before bed. 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