Crate Training New Puppy

[sconski]

We have a 9 wo beautiful little schnauzer boy and we want to crate train him. We have only had him since Friday 11 June, so it's very early days for us.

I've been reading Ceasar Milan's Raise the perfect Puppy and it all sounds good in theory, but am having trouble putting some into practice.

My biggest issue is Crate Training. I really want my puppy to be Crate trained for many reasons, specifically due to the amount of travelling we do and also so that he will have a safe haven which we are teaching is off limits to our 19mo son.

Ceasar says to have the puppy go into the crate himself and settle before you close the door.

I try to make sure he is tired when we attempt to get him into the crate. He will stick his head in and get his toy or a treat out, but then backs straight out. He will then roam around for ages doing everything he can to not go into the crate. How am I supposed to wait for him to settle before shutting the door if I cant get him to stay in it?

Do I hold him in there until he settles?

On the odd occassion that we have run out of patience (after about 30 minutes of trying) we have just put him in and closed the door. He fusses for around 2 - 5 minutes, then settles and goes to sleep. I can live with the fussing, am even much better at ignoring it than I thought I would be. I am just concerned that our "forcing"him in there is the reason why he's not all that keen on going in there. Or is it just that it's still new and he's still learning?

How do you crate train your puppy??

Sonja

Edited June 13, 2010 by sconski

[persephone]

I have never used crates for pups- but would imagine you need to make the crate the BEST spot to be put his food in there... a comfy bed with a heat pad if needed, etc.

make sure the crate is somewhere he likes to be ... a corner is good- away from drafts, and somewhere he can feel safe . perhaps cover the crate somewhat ,so it feels secure?The back and top, maybe?

Do it gradually... he is used to being with either other pups or humans.. being alone and physically separated from a pack is foreign to a puppy! don't sneak up and lock him in- this will lead him to be mistrustful! And rightly so . The crate should be somewhere he loves- it is NOT a punsihment ..it is where he snoozes- where he is put for short periods when you cannot supervise , and where he can safely chew his bones away from kids etc.

One thing I will suggest is to start, NOW, training your boy to toilet on command :D This will make your life much easier ;) When you see him begin to wee or poo ..say your chosen word (it has to be something you are comforatble saying in public) repeatedly as he is toileting, and give lots of praise immediately after!

It may take a week, or three, or a few days- but you will then start to say the word before he toilets... then as soon as he starts- say Good boy , or whatever- but not TOO enthusiastically, yet- or he will STOP to see what the fuss is about

This way, when you get him out of the crate.. and before you put him away, etc he will have the cue to empty out.

There will be crate training folks here soon, no doubt, to share their ideas

[koalathebear]

Hi Sonja: We got Elbie at just on 8 weeks and because we are currently living in a rental house we knew that we'd have to crate train him to minimise any damage to the landlord's property. The first few days we had Elbie, we did not close the crate door at all except when we put him in there at night to sleep. We just had the door open and he would wander in and out as he saw fit. We put toys in there, treats ... like your puppy he'd wander in and then wander out again. Now and then if he stayed in there for a little bit, we'd close the door partially - sometimes all the day but not lock it. The first three nights, Elbie screamed his head off and we were very worried that it would give him a distaste for his crate but he actually loves it and will go to it to chill out when he wants to relax or have a nap.

It's important to put the crate where the people are and not in a separate, quiet room. Elbie's crate was in the kitchen and we have basically relocated there during the remainder of our rental period It means he gets to be in the thick of the action. If the family mostly hangs out in the study/lounge/family room/kitchen, you should move the crate there.

Not all dogs take to crates but after a few days, he should get comfortable enough in it that he wants to go in there voluntarily and doesn't mind if you close the door. These days, we have a dog bed for Elbie and we only lock the crate:

1. at night when it's sleep time

2. if we're doing something like cleaning/opening the front door etc and don't want Elbie running around underfoot

3. someone's just come to visit and Elbie goes hyper and we put him in his crate to calm down and settle before we release the kraken on our poor guest

4. we are going out at night

5. we are going out during the day for more than a couple of hours. If it's more than 2 hours, we'll generally leave him in the backyard to play rather than crate him. Once we went out intending to leave for no more than an hour and a half, got lost and it was over 3 hours before we got home. Elbie was fine but we felt so guilty ... I love crating but it's a bit scary to think of what would happen to the poor dog if we were in an accident or something ;) But that's a morbid thought.

The main thing is, as everyone says - never use the crate as punishment - at least in the early days. Elbie's pretty settled with his crate now so now and then if he's being overly rambunctious or biting at his bed mat, we will sometimes plonk him into his crate for a few seconds as a time out. It doesn't seem to give him any aversion to his crate but it does seem to let him know he's done the wrong thing. Like I said though, in the early days though - never use it for punishment.

Even now with his dog bed, Elbie will voluntarily seek out his crate rather than his bed if:

1. he is sulking

2. he is afraid of something e.g. the first time I used an electric mixer, he ran to his crate to hide for a few seconds before coming out to investigate the sound :D

Good luck with the crate training!

Edited June 13, 2010 by koalathebear

[aussielover]

Hi,

Congrats on getting your new puppy! He sounds lovely!

I had exactly the same issue as you 1 week ago! My lab puppy is also 9 weeks old. it is very frustrating how books say don't lock them in until they are comfortable with the crate. I mean, what are you meant to do in the meantime?

Thanks to some experimentation and lots of advice from fellow DOLers, we now have a lovely, crate-trained puppy who not only sleeps through the night in her crate and has no accidents , but she will sometimes go in there for a snooze during the day if we are annoying her and she needs her beauty sleep!

IMO, 2-5 minutes of fussing is pretty good. On the first 2-3 nights my puppy howled/cried/aberked for anywhere between 30 mins-2 hrs!

My advice to you would be:

1. Feed all his meals in the crate

2. Give him ferquent treats in the crate. I made sure every time I walked past the crate with puppy- there would be a tasty treat in there! she still wanders into her crate now looking for treats!

3. When he is getting sleepy during the day (eg after a big play/training session)- try to relocate him into the crate then.

4. situate the crate in a busy area during the day.

5. I wouldn't actually lock him in at night, my pup only started to like her crate after we stopped locking her in at night. If you can, put the crate in a small room (such as a bathroom or laundary) but leave the (crate) door open. you can put some newspaper or puppy pads down on the floor if you want, but in my experience, they don't tend to want to go in a small space. This REALLY helped my pup begin to accept her crate. We can now shut the door on her without any fuss.

I also put a warmed up bean bag in her crate at night and a "heartbeat" pillow (you can use a ticking clock or even leave the radio on overnight). Another great piece of advice i got was to put a piece of my clothing in the crate. The first night i did this, she went to sleep in the crate straight away, no fuss at all! so maybe something to consider.

Good luck! I'm sure in time he will begin to like his crate- it just takes a few days, especially as they settle in to their new homes.

Edited June 13, 2010 by aussielover

[GoldenGirl85]

^^^

What they said

Basically you need to make the crate "the" place to go, my girl didnt like her crate at first either, even refusing to go in at night time, but because Im in a rental I wasnt going to leave her loose, she was the first dog I ever crate trained so I wasnt sure if I was going about it right, but anyway one day I decided to take out the divider as she was growing...and ever since that day she has been happy to hop in the crate, the two previous posters have given you some very good suggestions so Id go with what they have posted and see how you go, just remember my girl was 4 months old before she would just walk into her crate at night

[Nahla + Teddy's Mum]

Hiya!

We have a 15 week old puppy and we tried create training for the first time last night! We set up a big create in the family room and 1 in our bedroom. At first she was a little scared but then I put all of her toys and daytime bed in there and I actually hopped in there with her and had a little play (its a large create/pen!) and then left the door open and she was perfectly happy! We are using it mainly for toilet trainig as she was just taking steps back and not forward! So far its realy worked. I read it on here and did some research and it realy helped so find as many create training links as you can! Goodluck!!

[Dogsfevr]

Okay from someone who shows dogs & has all crate trained dogs i can safely say we dont piss fart around nor do any of the people i am associated with.

most pups have experienced crates before you brought them home,generally for the vet visit or the likes.

With ours its very simple ,in crate door is shut,no fuss,no making tired or pandering & in 25 yrs & to many dogs to list never had a dog hate there crate.

The more you make of it the harder it is.

Std schnausers are generally way smarter than there owners & will take you for a ride given any chance.

have been around the breed for 25yrs ,we breed Minis & i use to handle stds.

[lovemesideways]

I didn't go through the fuss with my dogs either.

Both dogs it was, in you go, door closed, then I would walk away.

And both my dogs love their crates.

[sconski]

Thank you for your replies. A couple of weeks in we are doing well with our little fellow.

We ended up adopting the approach of "stuff him in, close the door and let him figure it out".

He's not at the point yet where he will go to bed by himself, but he doesnt fuss at all anymore. Settles right down and sleeps through the night.

Am very happy with our little boy!!

[lovemesideways]

Thank you for your replies. A couple of weeks in we are doing well with our little fellow.

We ended up adopting the approach of "stuff him in, close the door and let him figure it out".

He's not at the point yet where he will go to bed by himself, but he doesnt fuss at all anymore. Settles right down and sleeps through the night.

Am very happy with our little boy!!

We need some photos !!!

[Tokkie]

I had to put Nandi in her crate within the first hour she was home.... I was not sure if Ringo will be ok with her and had to put her in her crate every time I was busy or could not keep an eye on them, it was the best thing I ever did.

She loved her crate from day one and now.... after a couple of weeks, Ringo (who use to sleep in my sons bed) sleeps with her in her crate....

Edited June 26, 2010 by Tokkie

[Fleuri]

One thing I will suggest is to start, NOW, training your boy to toilet on command This will make your life much easier When you see him begin to wee or poo ..say your chosen word (it has to be something you are comforatble saying in public) repeatedly as he is toileting, and give lots of praise immediately after!

It may take a week, or three, or a few days- but you will then start to say the word before he toilets... then as soon as he starts- say Good boy , or whatever- but not TOO enthusiastically, yet- or he will STOP to see what the fuss is about

This way, when you get him out of the crate.. and before you put him away, etc he will have the cue to empty out.

There will be crate training folks here soon, no doubt, to share their ideas

I totally agree with persephone on training your boy to toilet on command. My schnauzer is perfect at it. Makes life so much easier,like my children before we go out shopping I say has everyone gone to the toilet? they all go toilet. With my dog I just say 'go toilet', and he does his thing. It's wonderful.

[sas]

You can also use Crate Games which you can google on Youtube