Puppy Crate Training From Day 1

[VonnieBelle]

Hi, I'm currently doing some research on crate training while I'm waiting on my new Staffy pup to be ready.. There's so much information and I think I may be confusing myself a little! Can someone please help me clarify whether or not I should be shutting pup in the crate on that first night? Some people say don't close the door on the puppy until they've associated it with positive experiences through the use of feeding, toys and lots of praise but how is the few hours between picking the puppy up from the breeder and bed time enough time to develop the feeling of security in the crate? Am I just over thinking it? Thanks =)

[Tassie]

Personally, I do crate a puppy on the first night home - but I have the crate right next to my bed, so that the pup can hear my breathing, and I can reassure pup if necessary - and most important, so I can know when pup needs to be taken out to toilet. I take pup out on a light lead, wait for the toileting, praise lavishly, then return the pup to the crate with a biscuit, to go back to sleep.

Oh, and I sometimes cheat, and delay bedtime until pupy is quite sleepy. :laugh:

If you're using a wire crate, or even an airline crate, I would cover the crate with a light polar fleece blanket or something, so it is really den like and cosy.

And yes - in the daytime, keep working on making crates a pleasant place to be in.

If you're lucky, your breeder will have done some crate training/separate sleeping training for a few days before you get the puppy - that makes life so much easier :D .

[YvonneM]

There are lots of people here with plenty more experience than me in this area, but I will share what I have done. My Maltese pup is just 11 weeks - we picked him up at 8 weeks. When we visited our breeder when he was 5 weeks I took a soft toy and asked my breeder if she would allow the pups/mum to play with the toy and I would bring it home with me when we picked our pup up. She was happy to do this and said it was a good idea. I have a soft sided crate which is in our bedroom - it zips at the front. We had about 6-8 hours with our puppy before it was bedtime. We played in the bedroom near the crate, threw his toy that had spent time with his littermates etc in there and allowed him to chase it around ... I also bought a SnuggleSafe Heating pad (coz it's getting cold at night now!) Our pup was perfectly happy in his crate from night 1. I didn't close the door until it was time to sleep, he whimpered for a little bit then happily slept. There's lots of info out there, so I understand the overwhelming feeling of "am I doing it right", go with what feels right for you and your pup.

[smashtank]

I crated my boy the first night all closed up. But he's one of those freak pups that loves his crate I think/hope. I did praise him when he was exploring earlier in the day and treat him etc

[VonnieBelle]

Thanks everyone!

[twodoggies2001]

I brought my mini schnauzer home last year at 8 weeks old. He had never been in a crate and the first night he slept in it the first night without any fuss. He didn't wake to go out to toilet from around 11pm to 7 am next morning. I couldn't believe my luck.

[Dogsfevr]

All our showdogs are crate trained & love there crates but we never train via many methods "suggested " these days in books.

We have never bribed our dogs to sleep in them,they go in door shut & all is fine.

There is no fuss or performance made about it .

The greater majority of pups from breeders have been in a crate at 6 weeks,whether it be a vet visit or something else.

Our pups at 6 weeks on travel in crates & spend time in a puppy pen so its more normal than people think so if you do wish to head down this path chances are the pup has already experienced it.

Ask your breeder a good breeder is worth there weight in gold

[smashtank]

Question... I'm nervous that Tank will pee or poo in his crate so every time I wake up and see him awake I quickly run him to his pee pad. He didn't go at all last night when I wanted him to. Instead he peed on the floor (only a tiny amount) on the walk back to the bedroom :laugh:

Also, he had dinner last night around 8pm and he ATE. But he didn't poo and I watched him and waited for the sniffing for like an hour. That's why I was a bit nervous last night I think - he still hasn't gone poo at 6:45am as I write this.

Des this sometimes happen?

And should i start waking up at say only 2am and risk him having an accident? I'm sure he will wake me with a whimper or lots of movement though if he needs to go before/after 2am.

[Zug Zug]

I agree with earlier posts - yes crating on the first night is fine but you need to be sleeping near the crate.

I did this with my latest puppy by setting the crate up in the family room (which has doors to the back yard) and camping out in that room myself for several weeks. We have a very comfortable couch which makes a perfect bed when the back cushions are removed so it was easy. Alternatively setting up a bed for yourself on the floor would be an option.

That does 2 things:

1. it means you're nearby if your puppy needs you during the night (e.g. to go outside to the toilet)

2. it means you and your puppy are bonding closely by spending a lot of time together, sleeping near each other, etc.

3. teaches the puppy that being in the crate does not mean being isolated from its 'pack' (although of course later on I migrated back to my own bed, but by then he loved his crate)

The other thing to be mindful of with a young pup is to make sure the crate is made smaller while the puppy is smaller. Essentially the area in the crate should be essentially the same size as the dog, and you increase the area gradually as the puppy grows. This is usually done by using some kind of internal barrier (some crates come with these) to limit the internal space in the crate. Alternatively you could put a cardboard box in there or something similar just to limit the amount of space inside the crate while pup is little.

Too big and you risk the puppy weeing down the far end of the crate.

They're great tools and your dog will learn to love the crate and see it as his/her haven from the world.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Zug Zug

[Nushie]

Question... I'm nervous that Tank will pee or poo in his crate so every time I wake up and see him awake I quickly run him to his pee pad. He didn't go at all last night when I wanted him to. Instead he peed on the floor (only a tiny amount) on the walk back to the bedroom :laugh:

Also, he had dinner last night around 8pm and he ATE. But he didn't poo and I watched him and waited for the sniffing for like an hour. That's why I was a bit nervous last night I think - he still hasn't gone poo at 6:45am as I write this.

Des this sometimes happen?

And should i start waking up at say only 2am and risk him having an accident? I'm sure he will wake me with a whimper or lots of movement though if he needs to go before/after 2am.

My suggestion would be to make the crate smaller if you have to by dividing off a section big enough for Tank to sleep but not to pee or poo. If he is near your bed he should start making a fuss when he needs to go to the toilet then you can take him. I didnt set any alarms to wake up at any specific times, i just let him wake me up (i am a light sleeper).

If you fed him a late dinner this will probably push back the time that he would go to the toilet. If you want him to go earlier then feed him a little bit earlier.

[smashtank]

Question... I'm nervous that Tank will pee or poo in his crate so every time I wake up and see him awake I quickly run him to his pee pad. He didn't go at all last night when I wanted him to. Instead he peed on the floor (only a tiny amount) on the walk back to the bedroom :laugh:

Also, he had dinner last night around 8pm and he ATE. But he didn't poo and I watched him and waited for the sniffing for like an hour. That's why I was a bit nervous last night I think - he still hasn't gone poo at 6:45am as I write this.

Des this sometimes happen?

And should i start waking up at say only 2am and risk him having an accident? I'm sure he will wake me with a whimper or lots of movement though if he needs to go before/after 2am.

My suggestion would be to make the crate smaller if you have to by dividing off a section big enough for Tank to sleep but not to pee or poo. If he is near your bed he should start making a fuss when he needs to go to the toilet then you can take him. I didnt set any alarms to wake up at any specific times, i just let him wake me up (i am a light sleeper).

If you fed him a late dinner this will probably push back the time that he would go to the toilet. If you want him to go earlier then feed him a little bit earlier.

Okay cool - I have the barrier in his crate - it's the smallest one you can get from Pet Barn I think and I have the barrier set up which sections off between 1/3 and 1/4 of the crate. He can fit in stretched out so I'm pretty confident he thinks of the whole space as his bed and not somewhere he wants to be pooping!

I'll try a 2am alarm tonight and see how it goes.

[dekadent]

We've just bought Milly home a fortnight ago, she's slept in the crate from day 1 but only at night, she's right beside our bed so that she knows, if she makes some noise I'll get up to her, last night she went from 10.30pm until 5am, which for us is a realllyy good nights sleep lol, until last night I was getting up at least once during the night, the first week probably twice a night, she gets taken outside, does what she needs to, then straight back to her crate, she does still have the occasional carry on, but nothing much, if Tank is in your room, you should hear him when he wakes, unless you're a heavy sleeper? Setting the alarm for 2am might mean that you wake not only yourself, but Tank too lol

[smashtank]

I'm a really light sleeper so maybe I don't need the alarm but the flipside of that is I wake up whenever he wakes up so even if he's just having a break from sleeping and not needing to be let out, I still wake up

[Nushie]

I'm a really light sleeper so maybe I don't need the alarm but the flipside of that is I wake up whenever he wakes up so even if he's just having a break from sleeping and not needing to be let out, I still wake up

Same thing happened to me, and whenever he woke me up i would take him to the toilet but made sure that that there was not play, no cuddles. Just straight out to the toilet, wait for 10 minutes, if he didnt go we went back to bed and i would put my fingers in the crate so that he would settle down. First few nights were torture, probably got up about once every hour or two but that stopped pretty quickly and eventually he was only waking up to use the toilet. I also got used to what different whimpers meant so that if he was just being restless i would just stick my fingers through the crate and he would calm down and others i knew meant that he needed to go out. It was all abit of trial and error for me cause Jager was my first puppy.

[smashtank]

Ok so last night we fed him around 7pm. He didn't go toilet at all (a little wee in the wrong spot as usual - he is NOT learning the puppy pad thing...). We went to bed at around 10pm and I put him in his crate and he woke me up (just moving around and stuff) at around 1:30am so I got up and took him to his pee pad and he did nothing. Went back to crate all fine and then he just slept in there until about 6:30am when I let him out. He didn't toilet until around 7am. A big wee and a little poo and then when I closed the gate to his pen while I showered he got a bit stressed and did a big poo not on his pad (of course!).

Seems like he holds the whole night which I think is weird for a puppy especially has he eats and drinks before bed.

He's a pretty good boy I think. Just is not picking up that I like him to go toilet in one spot. Not sure what else I can do.

[moosepup]

You may need to put him on a lead so that he stays on the puppy pads why you wait for him to go and don't give him free reign until he does go. Or restrict the size of the area he has access to with his pads. I think it also helps if the pads are up against a wall or in a corner. Nacho prefers to back up to the corner of his pen to do his poo.

When he does toilet, go mental like it's the best thing you've ever seen and praise him like crazy. I'm not a fan of food rewards for toileting but you could try that also.

Nacho also holds it all night but he's a little older than your pup. I don't think I've ever had a puppy that peed/pooped every couple of hours like google suggests and all my puppies have been tiny. :laugh:

Good luck.

Edited May 22, 2013 by moosepup

[minimax]

Ok so last night we fed him around 7pm. He didn't go toilet at all (a little wee in the wrong spot as usual - he is NOT learning the puppy pad thing...). We went to bed at around 10pm and I put him in his crate and he woke me up (just moving around and stuff) at around 1:30am so I got up and took him to his pee pad and he did nothing. Went back to crate all fine and then he just slept in there until about 6:30am when I let him out. He didn't toilet until around 7am. A big wee and a little poo and then when I closed the gate to his pen while I showered he got a bit stressed and did a big poo not on his pad (of course!).

Seems like he holds the whole night which I think is weird for a puppy especially has he eats and drinks before bed.

He's a pretty good boy I think. Just is not picking up that I like him to go toilet in one spot. Not sure what else I can do.

It's only been a few days, it can take months. Patience, patience and more patience. And parties and rewards the times he does :)

Do you not have a backyard or something for toilet training, it's much easier that way. And making sure the pee pad is far far away from his living area.

I pee pad trained my pup when I lived in an apartment, the pee pad was on the balcony and I would spend as long as it took out there with her until she peed. If she moved off the pee pad, I'd pick her up and put her back on, and give her a bit of a "good girl" for standing on the mat, but no other attention otherwise. No playing with her, no talking to her, no nothing. We were there for one purpose only.

He won't know to go to the mat to pee, you have to put him there. Sometimes I'd need to put a collar and and leash and stand there so she couldn't move off the pee pad.

But she would wake me at night when she needed to pee, I'd take her out and she'd pee on the pad straight away, which made training easier as she already needed to go, so it was a good opportunity for training.

[smashtank]

I live in an apartment so I don't have a space for him outside. I've got his pen set up with his pad in one corner, his food away from it in another corner and in another corner is where his crate goes during the day.

I guess I'll just keep trying... :)

[minimax]

I live in an apartment so I don't have a space for him outside. I've got his pen set up with his pad in one corner, his food away from it in another corner and in another corner is where his crate goes during the day.

I guess I'll just keep trying... :)

Honestly, I'd put the pee pad further away so as not to confuse the "living area" and "toileting area", especially when you're home to take him to his toilet place.

[smashtank]

I live in an apartment so I don't have a space for him outside. I've got his pen set up with his pad in one corner, his food away from it in another corner and in another corner is where his crate goes during the day.

I guess I'll just keep trying... :)

Honestly, I'd put the pee pad further away so as not to confuse the "living area" and "toileting area", especially when you're home to take him to his toilet place.

Really? So maybe for when we're home have the pad in the bathroom? And we just take him there the whole time for toilet?

Can I still leave one in the pen for if we're not home? Will he make the connection between what he's peed/pood on in the bathroom with the one in the pen?