How To Crate Train ?

[Lil Miss LeiLani]

Hey everyone !!

As topic suggests - we are going to buy a crate for our pup to sleep in at night time.

When we first brought him home at 3.5mths old, the breeder lent us a crate to use and he slept in there no worries.

We are now buying our own crate after having to return the other to the breeder.

What do I need to do ?? (sorry if its a simple question - we've never owned a dog before).

Thanks in advance !!!

[Akitaowner]

do a search (top right of page) and you will find HEAPS of info!!

[musik]

I wish I could find the website someone posted for me when I was looking for info on crate training.

To be honest with you, this is really all you need to know.

To teach the commands they need to know, use food treats.

Start by throwing treat into crate and say 'Crate' as they go in there.

Repeat this for a while so it gets to used to the command 'Crate'. after a time, close the door on it. then open it up again while saying 'Wait' before they can rush out the door.

Then get them to 'Wait' or whatever command you use to make them stop and sit so that they dont rush out of the crate when you come to open the door.

Then say 'Come out' or whatever command you want to use which says its ok to step out the crate.

My Bob picked it up in about 10 minutes of training and now when its bed time I go to the crate open the door and say 'Crate' and he walks in and lays down. I get him to 'Wait' at the door and he comes out when I say 'Come out'. Most nights I don't even need to use the command, he just knows the drill now and does it without asking.

Just remember to keep the crate as being 'The Happy Place' so dont use it as a punishment place etc.

A warm blanket over the top and sides (except front) is great for colder months.

Using a crate also got him out of the habit of toileting inside the house when he was a younger pup. It's a great idea as they are safe in there and you know where they are.

[Lil Miss LeiLani]

Thanks sooo much musik!

I was looking thru the old posts, but what you've said is great !!

We are actually going to start off with a material/soft crate as we can use that for the car - and see how it goes. Its only $50 so thought it was worth a go.

The crate will be in our bedroom so I'm sure he'll be happy to be sleeping in our room again, as he is currently sleeping in the bathroom.

I will print that out and show to OH so we can use it as soon as we've got our crate ! So exciting for him to be able to have his own little spot.

Should the crate always stay in our room (besides when not in the car) or should we bring it in to the lounge room when we are watching tv, or in to the kitchen when we are doing the lunches/dinner etc, or keep it only for sleeping ????

[Reddii]

Should the crate always stay in our room (besides when not in the car) or should we bring it in to the lounge room when we are watching tv, or in to the kitchen when we are doing the lunches/dinner etc, or keep it only for sleeping ????

This depends on what you are using the crate for. Is it only for sleeping? If so then just leave it in your room. If you are going to use it for dog sport or have him in it for other reasons then move it around. Personally I'd move it around - that way you will always have the option of using it for obedience/sport etc if the need arises.

Agree with all the other advice - the other thing I was going to suggest is that we fed our dogs in their crates while they were getting used to them - mmmmm......happy thoughts for puppies. This is the key - NEVER use the crate as a punishment, it has to be their safe and happy place or you will have problems.

When/if he wakes during the night and wakes you to take him out just put him on lead, don't look at him or talk to him, take him outside, no play, just do the business and back to bed.

Both our guys are pretty solid now and mr 7 months don't wake any more than once a week if that - only then if we feed them too late.

Best of luck with it!

[musik]

we found if we kept up taking our pup outside regularly (every 45 when he was small then every hour as he got a bit bigger and now at 8mths its every two hours or so) then he hardly had any accidents inside when he was with us in the lounge etc.

so i'd leave the crate in the bedroom or wherever he will sleep.

not sure what size he is at full growth, but direct deals (online store) have cheap metal crates for about $62 all up and delivered for the large size ones, they are out of stock at the moment but they'll come back again I'm sure. I just bought one for our new dog we are getting tomorrow, they dont seem as good quality as the expensive ones but for security they do the job, I need to get two more for our caravan annex.

Means you can keep it in the one spot too. We sometimes leave our pup in his crate when we go out for a few hours shopping etc. They dont mind to be kept in there (as long as its not all day or something) and they'll just sleep. Then once they come out, take outside for toilet and give fresh water etc. Keeps them safe and unable to destroy the house!

Some hints from our puppy experience. best way to clean up pee messes on carpet is to use the good quality paper towel and put a sheet or two over it and dab up the most mess, then chuck that and put a new piece down and use your foot (with shoe haha) to blot up the rest. keep doing that till no more wetness comes up on the paper towell sheets. then you can spray with a carpet cleaner (Scotch Guard Spot Cleaner 2-in1 works a treat) and follow instructions on that.

Never had any accidents leave marks on the carpet that way.

Other good thing we do for toilet training is use a command when he wees, ours is 'Wizza' cuz its a word you can say with other people within ear shot and not feel like a looney haha.

When he is having his pee we say 'Good Wizza!' and then keep quiet till he finishes but he gets the association with what he is doing and the command word. It makes life much easier to have them know so you can help keep them from doing everything other than going for a pee when you take em outside. For poo we say 'Toilet'. When he goes we say 'Good toilet!' sounds funny but they do get to know that the word good means they've done something right

Kongs and other treat toys are great to help keep them from being destructive.

I'll have to go and have a look and see if you've posted any piccies of your new addition to the family!!

[Lil Miss LeiLani]

HEy again Musik ! Thanks for all that info !!

Our pup is 6mths old, rarely has the odd accident in the house, but thats cos we didn't let him out in time, so our fault.

Will have a look at that site for the direct deals and see how it goes. Otherwise we'll get this soft crate for now so we can use it in the car, and if need be will get a metal crate.

We use the term 'Go wee-weez' - original i know ! :-)

But i don't think we did it enough, we need to be more stricter with him so I think we will start back at Step One again and go out with him all the time. I can't' wait until we let him out, tell him to go wee-weez and he does it straight away !! All takes time so thats what we want to concentrate more on now.

I have posted pics last week, in Border Collie pics !!

he's a cute little man !

[musik]

ahh no worries I wasn't sure how old he was so I put in all the main things I could think of which I wish I had of known

going to check out the BC pics soon