Crate Training Tips

[seashell]

Hi all, I'm new to these forums, and actually to having a dog at all! I am about to be a new mum, picking up my pup this Friday, very excited!

Anyway I have done a lot of reading and preparing for my puppy, and I have decided I'd like to try crate training. I think I get how to introduce it etc etc (at least I've READ how to lol). My question is, what do I do at night?? I would like to keep the crate in our bedroom, but at first I don't think I can close the door yet (or can I?) so I am afraid he'll come out and pee on our carpet. Or actually, that he won't stay in there at all. Would it be ok to wake up once in the middle of the night to take him out to pee? The alternative is to keep the crate in the kitchen inside the pen, with newspapers all around but... I'd rather him sleep in our room

I'd really appreciate anyone's experiences and what they did about this, thanks so much in advance!!

[Luke W]

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Edited December 20, 2008 by left the building

[Tintin Jac]

I am about to be a new mum, picking up my pup this Friday, very excited!

Good luck with the crate training.

BTW Willing to share any more details about your new pup???

[seashell]

Thank you both for your fast replies! Still love to hear about what others who crate trained did too!

mrmac, my puppy is a blenheim cavalier boy, he will be 8 weeks old this Wednesday. He is yet to be named, but at the moment Peanut is looking likely

[Pawprints]

As per LukeW said.

We put some of our pups favourite toys in there and left the door open during the day. Put treats in there so when it explores the crate, it associates positive things with it, such as 'discovering' food in there.

Feed him in the crate and close the door when doing so. Food will distract him for a while.

Have crate in lounge with you and watch tv. Put chicken wing and pup in the crate and close the door. Ignore the carry on but as soon as he is quiet, walk over, open the door, and walk off. Don't create too much of a scene about letting him out. Wait a bit then play with him etc.

At night, make sure his favourite toy/blanket is in there and shut the door. Ignore the protests. The first night Tealc (9 weeks) whinged the house down, for about 45 mins. Next night, half and hour, 3rd night about half an hour, 4th night about 10mins and 5th night 2 mins then nothing. We even got up and sneaked a look coz we wondered if everything was OK!

Now, after 2 years, I have trouble getting him out of the thing and he puts himself to sleep in it!

[KarriLab]

We did exactly what LukeW said above - and yes she cried for most of the night on the first night with the door shut. We ended up taking turns sleeping on a mattress next to her crate with our hands poking through the wire for the first night or two, but it very rapidly got better and before long she was sleeping in there with the door shut with no worries. We'd just get up to let her out to the toilet several times a night, reducing the number of toilet breaks as she got older. Our puppy is now 7 months old and still sleeps in her crate, but we've moved it outside and leave the door open for her now.

It was so handy having her used to being in there with the door shut though when she was desexed a couple of weeks ago and we had to keep her confined!

[LuvMyCav]

I second what Luke said. Spend the day making the crate an inviting place to be and at night have the crate beside your bed with the door closed. We did this and had barely a whimper during the first night - I put my hand to the cage and spoke soothingly when he whimpered - and he's been great ever since (he's six now and still sleeps in his crate beside our bed).

I would suggest that you put pup outside for a wee last thing before bed (stay outside with pup and praise when toileting has been done) then off to bed with no water in the crate. When pup wakes up during the night, take him outside with no chatting or playing, praise when he toilets, then pick him up and put him straight back in the crate. (If it's a particularly hot night, you might want to offer a drink when you toilet him - we never used to but we used to pass by the water bowl on the way to the toilet but our boy was never interested).

Also ensure that you have made the crate small enough when pup is young by sectioning off the back part (with plywood or something similar or a proper crate divider) so that pup doesn't sleep up one end and toilet down the other.

Good luck seashell. Come and join us in the ckcs thread:

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=96578

Just don't bother trying to read the whole thread before you say hello. Go straight to the last page (we talk a lot in there) - be warned though - they'll want photos.

Edited December 15, 2008 by LuvMyCav

[persephone]

Good for you in pre-planning!

May I suggest that for the first day or two you refrain from randomly cuddling and cooing over your new boy? especially on the way home in the car

Have a routine set from day ONE.. and give pup lots of praise and cuddles for participating... NOT for jumping on the couch ... or demanding a cuddle .

Puppies aren't human babies- patting/cuddling/picking them up when they whinge/cry/shake just tells them that that particular behaviour gets rewarded!!!

[seashell]

Thank you so much everyone for your replies and advice, I'm so glad I found this forum! I've only ever had cats so very new to this puppy thing! Lucky I'm picking up him on a Friday - it seems like we may not get much sleep the first few nights

Thanks again and I'm open to any other tips

LuvMyCav - will check out the cavalier section, I don't have many pics though since I don't have my baby yet!!

[Luke W]

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Edited December 20, 2008 by left the building

[persephone]

and most of all - enjoy your new puppy!!!!!!

MOST of all.... post pics!!

[Kelpie_Pup]

I agree with everything said so far Naturally!

At night time, make sure he toilets right before bed, then put in crate, shut door and no fuss. If he cries for a half hour or so, just ignore. You can talk to the pup, but make it very matter of fact(not "its okaaaaay we're heeeeere!!" just "ok don't be silly, we're still here ) We put her crate next to our bed for the first two nights. She winged for about 10 mins the first time, but she had been toileted so we knew she was just protesting. She woke again at about 2 am wimpering, so we opened her crate, carried her outside to where we wanted her to toelt and she did her thing.. praise etc! .. Straight back to bed with same routine as before.

Each puppy is different.. some dogs will continue to wake through the night for a toilet for months, even years. Halle went two nights.After that, it was 6 am before she would cry, but that too lasted a few days. We normally crate her about 10 at night and she is up and out by 6.30-7am. We still continue to take her straight outside for a wee first thing in the morning. I guess if it continues for some length of time, you can change the siutation so you don't have to get up at 2am every morning.

Also, remember that EVERY time you get your puppy out of the crate, even if its only been 5-10 mins, take them out for a toilet.

Good on you for deciding on Crate Training !! It's the one thing I couldn't recommend highly enough to a new puppy owner It won't take long before your little boy loves going in there and treats it like his own little home :D

[The Spotted Devil]

Make sure pup is tired but calm when you put him to bed. I would always have a good play session with Zig before taking him outside to toilet then sitting quietly for about 10 minutes on the floor with him having some nice, quiet cuddle time. Before long......one yawn! two yawns! three yawns! Three strikes and you're out and off to bed with a Kong full of biscuits for company - the dog, I mean! Then pour yourself a glass of wine so you can ignore him doing his own whining

Zig sleeps in an open crate in the laundry - perfect set up for our situation but work out what suits you best. He just loves it

Enjoy your puppy

[Blue Fox 001]

We have had our baby in a crate next to our bed since he first came home at 8 weeks. Our bed is in one big room which is also our lounge room so he can hear the TV from his crate also. His breeder had done work with crating before we got him which I think helped enormously as he cried for about 5 minutes the first night and not a peep really since. Perhaps he whinged for about 5 minutes when first put in there maybe 4 or 5 times over the past 3 months.

Initially I was getting up 2 or 3 times during the night for about the first three weeks, but we're down to once now which I can handle. He does have water in his crate now as he was drinking from his bowl outside everytime we walked past to toilet so I gave in and put some in there which I am sure is contributing to the once a night trip, but what the hey I like a drink of water during the night so he might too.

After about 4 weeks he would go in to his crate of his own free will, but so far he has never stayed in there to sleep while the door is open, he prefers the couch or the bed

[Dogsfevr]

The most important thing is dont makea big deal over the crate.When pup enters good pup,when you get it out good pup,dont go troppo with praise.

As this is certainly the most important point

"Puppies aren't human babies- patting/cuddling/picking them up when they whinge/cry/shake just tells them that that particular behaviour gets rewarded!!"

Dogs are very smart & learn this quickly

[seashell]

Wow i can't thank everyone enough for their replies, it's helped me a lot! So the general consensus is shut the door from night one which is good. I was afraid it would be too soon but if you guys have done it successfully I feel more confident to try it and not give in to the crying and let him out!

For those who woke up at night to toilet puppy, did you wait until they cried/whimpered then let them out, or did you set an alarm and wake up yourself to take pup out?

[Kelpie_Pup]

Wow i can't thank everyone enough for their replies, it's helped me a lot! So the general consensus is shut the door from night one which is good. I was afraid it would be too soon but if you guys have done it successfully I feel more confident to try it and not give in to the crying and let him out!

For those who woke up at night to toilet puppy, did you wait until they cried/whimpered then let them out, or did you set an alarm and wake up yourself to take pup out?

We waited until Puppy cried.. you'll know that if they wake at 1am crying, its not cause theyre cranky about being put in their crate.. they already did that at 10pm! Literally race to get your dog and take it outside... don't let it walk out on its own four feet.. it WILL wee in the house on the way outside! Having said that though, the Puppy will only cry cause it doesn't want to wee in its bed. Make sure the crate isnt so big that your pup can get up and wee in one end of the crate and then go back to sleep in the other end..

[acm_02]

Hello Seashell - i have a blenhiem cav pup too. She is 11weeks old and we have had her a week and a half. I dont have many suggestions - i think you have been given PLENTY of great advice from others, but i will share my experience so far......We used a crate from day one. We moved into the spare room and moved her crate in with us. She has had about one or two "bad" nights - meaning she took 10-15mins to settle, would wake up 3 or 4 times a night. We discovered the aircon helps her sleep (we live in Nth QLD), she now sleeps the whole night (from 10.30 to 6-7am) and will cry to toilet in the morning and sometimes once in the night but this hasnt happened for about 4nights now. I sectioned off the crate with cardboard, which she hasnt chewed through yet. We have since moved her crate in the study next door and we are still in the spare room, our next move is back to our bedroom down the hall. She has her futon and teddy in there, we closed the door from day one. She deosnt sleep in there during the day though, she prefers her bed in the loungeroom and that is okay because we are watching her, so im not going to make her sleep in there during the day. She has taken herself to the crate a few times, but i think that is just to get teddy out!! In the future i hope that she will take herself to bed because at the moment we wait for her to fall asleep and we carry her in there and she just plonks down straight away. We make sure we go to bed at roughly the same time each night though so hopefully she gets into a routine. We have a cover on her crate too, so it looks a bit more sheltered (i didnt like the wire look personally!) I have found it to be helpful in not having to worry about her getting up to mischief during the night. She is doing well with her toilet training, but we make sure we take her out regularly anyway. I wish you all the best with your new pup and with crate training. Stick in there with the crying too!

I attached a pic of my crate setup and of my pup!!

[LuvMyCav]

Wow i can't thank everyone enough for their replies, it's helped me a lot! So the general consensus is shut the door from night one which is good. I was afraid it would be too soon but if you guys have done it successfully I feel more confident to try it and not give in to the crying and let him out!

For those who woke up at night to toilet puppy, did you wait until they cried/whimpered then let them out, or did you set an alarm and wake up yourself to take pup out?

I never set an alarm. Just took him out when he called.

[Blue Fox 001]

We don't set an alarm - when he asks we respond