New dog coming to the house. Need pointers on crate training.

[SabreKiller]

I know ya'll done it before. Give me the readers digest version on how to do it. Thanks

[Sika]

Don't get a large size crate thinking your pup needs the extra space. If your crate is too large, he will use the far corner to go to the bathroom.

At first let him stay in the crate for an hour or two at a time. When you're ready to let him out, pick him up and go straight outside. As soon as he does his business praise him generously and take him back inside the house.

You can gradually increase the time he spends in the crate until he gets used to sleeping in it all night without having to go out to pee.

First thing in the morning, repeat the usual going straight from the crate to the yard, letting him do his thing, followed with praise.

Crate training works but some dogs catch on faster than others. If he is going in his crate a bunch that is an indication that you need to downsize it.

Don't pay attention to the crying and protesting. Just ignore it. Eventually they will stop crying. Eventually.

[Brannon74]

THE CANINE BEHAVIOR SERIES
By Kathy Diamond Davis
Author and Trainer


Crate Training Puppies
Every puppy needs to learn the skill of resting calmly in a crate. This skill will be needed at the veterinary hospital, for traveling, and for restricted activity due to illness. It's also a lifesaver for many young dogs during the destructive chewing stage that starts at several months of age and can last until age 2 to 3 years in some breeds.

After a dog has become trained and reliable in the house, the crate will often be needed only for specific reasons rather than everyday use. One critical situation that can call for bringing out the crate again is separation anxiety. The ability to relax in a crate can save a dog's life during this crisis.

Usually it works best to crate the puppy in your bedroom when you're sleeping. If you want the dog to share your bed, wait until the adult temperament emerges. Then if it turns out the temperament is not suited to bed privileges, you will not have the difficult job of teaching the dog to stay off the bed. Teaching a puppy to stay off the bed from the beginning is much easier, both for you and for the pup.

People tend to make the mistake of giving the puppy attention for making noise in the crate. When you do this, you confirm the puppy's instinct that being alone is death (it would be, in the wild), and that calling for help will bring someone. Having the crate in your bedroom for sleeping tends to help because the puppy can hear, smell and possibly see you. Not being alone, the puppy usually finds it easier to get used to the crate. Your sleeping helps set the scene for the puppy to sleep, too.

Keep the puppy on a good schedule of food, water and outings so the puppy's body will have the best chance of making it through the night without a bathroom break. If the pup does need a break, make it very low-key with dim lights and soft voices and no playtime. If you completely avoid going to the puppy when the puppy is making noise, problems usually pass quickly. But make no mistake, lost sleep comes with the puppy-adoption territory! Don't miss the chance to start your puppy off right, or you will lose a lot more sleep over a longer period of time, because crate-training will take much longer.

The worst thing to do is let the puppy yell for a long time, and then go to the puppy. Doing that teaches the puppy to persistently make noise in the crate. It communicates to the pup that you want to be notified with lots and lots of noise! It also causes the puppy enormous stress that can become a lifelong response to being confined in a crate. Adult dogs in this stressed state can break out of crates and badly injure themselves. This is not the future you want for your puppy.

What you want the puppy to discover is that nothing bad happens from being alone in a crate. You also want the puppy to learn that it's okay to let you know of a need, but you will not come in response to loud racket. Check on the puppy after the puppy has become quiet again.

If your puppy isn't making it through the night without a potty break, schedule it so that the puppy doesn't have to wake you up and ask. Realize, too, that the puppy's body will awaken and need to potty whenever someone in the household gets up. That person or someone else will need to give the pup a potty break.

Don't trick a puppy about the crate. Give a treat when the pup goes in, but don't be sneaky about shutting the door. Don't put the puppy into the crate when the puppy is sound asleep, to wake up trapped in a crate. That can cause the puppy to distrust both you and the crate.

Be careful not to abuse the crate. When you are at home and awake, supervise the puppy in person rather than using the crate. Puppies need exercise, mental stimulation and guidance from you in order to grow up healthy and happy. Too much crate time is not humane. Puppies sleep 14 hours a day or so. If the crate time is scheduled so the pup can use it for sleeping, that's ideal.

Make the crate a pleasant place to rest. A few safe chew toys and a treat can help the puppy relax and drift off to dreamland. Everyone in the household can sleep better with a crate-trained puppy.

Date Published: 6/11/2002 12:38:00 PM

[bowhuntertex]

I do exactly as Court described above. If the crate is to big I will fill it with boxes. They just need enough room to lay down and that is it. Once they are trained then they can have more space

[Dc78]

As Sika said. Don't get to big of a crate, learned that lesson with pup we got at Bownaza.

[SabreKiller]

Thanks gang. I bought a crate thinking it would suffice for when it as an adult dog. We just picked up the pup today and he is only 6 weeks old. do I stuff the crate with old boxes to make it smaller? The pup for sure won't make it all night without peeing and I think it will go in its bed. Is there a preventative for this or do I just go ahead and get up in the middle of the night and let him go?

[ShockValue]

He'll make it all night as long as you don't sleep until noon.

To add to the above, one thing is to never use the crate as punishment.

Good luck!

[Phillip Fields]

Good timing on this thread, I'm picking my new pup up tomorrow!

[keep]

I do like mention above but one thing I add is every time I put them in the crate I start saying "crate" as soon as we head that way and while I'm putting them in there. That way they understand what the word means and quickly you will be able to say "crate" and the dog will go straight there.
We are watching my BIL's dog for a month and a half and his dog handles the crate well but never went to it, she had to be carried there after being caught. I had that fixed in 3 days. By doing as said above I can stand in the living room and say crate and the dog will go there and wait for me to come close the door.
It's pretty handy.

[keep]

One other thing and off topic, don't feed your dog one specific thing and that only. Because when your BIL babysits the dog and it has a stomach that can't handle ANYTHING out of the ordinary it will puke all over your BIL's carpet and kitchen floor.

Give them all kinds of crap so they can build themselves a stomach made of iron and not porcelain.

Now off to get more paper towels.

[cricman]

We crate trained our Viszla, who will turn 2 in July, and he was super easy. Now, he gets a break at 10PM, and when he comes in, he usually walks to his crate, bumps the door open with his nose, steps in, and lays down! Even on the weekends, when we let him sleep outside his crate, when we get up in the morning he is laying in it. In one year, he has only had 3 accidents in the house, and they all early in his first months with us, and were really our fault for not paying close enough attention to him.

cricman

[axisbuck24]

Get in the crate with your dog, they will follow you. ..been there and done it with my malamute.

[Randy2Loris]

https://www.dogcollarzone.com/best-d...ation-anxiety/
You can ease a pup's conditioning to a crate by putting the crate in the room with a person while the pup gets used to sleeping in it. Ideally, crate time will be time the pup needs to rest anyway. Dogs sleep 14 or more hours a day. A crate needs to be the dog's safe, relaxing haven, not a prison. The schedule will determine which it is.
Have a look!!

[double bogey]

I have found a dog door is a wonderful help after housetraining. If my dog can get outside, she wont go in the house. We used the crate to housetrain, now she sleeps with us, or one of the grandkids if they stay over. If I put her crate in a closet corner, she will sleep in there if we are not home. 13 months old now, the only accidents are if we are away too long, and if we know it, we crate her before leaving.

The first couple of months set the tone for their whole life in the house. Stay with it and you will be rewarded for the rest of the dogs life. Don't, then deal with accidents and odor.

[Acameron52]

Not a fan of crates. Mine either stay in the back yard or out in the house when I’m gone.