Guidance With Toilet Training A Puppy Using A Crate

[remytheretriever]

Please forgive me whilst I try explain myself in a coherent manner, haha. I apologise in advance for the length.

I picked up my 8-week-old Golden Retriever, Remy, yesterday.

I'm attempting to toilet-train her using the crate train method, however, I have read soooo many different things, so I'm just not sure if I am doing it correctly, and the last thing I want to do is confuse Remy.

I am using a metal play pen, and had placed it in the spare bedroom. I put her bed in the corner of the pen, with some of her toys and couple of puppy wee pads on the (carpeted) floor. It's enough room for her to get in and out of her bed, but not enough room for her to pee somewhere and then avoid it by sitting on the other side of the pen.

Basically, what I did today was:

* We woke at 6.00am today, I took her outside on her leash, put her on the grass and told her to "do wees" - which she did after about five minutes. I praised her, let her say hello to Archie (an Australian Kelpie, my housemate's Dog), then brought her inside for breaky - her bowl was next to (but not in) her pen. After she finished eating, I took her back outside (on the leash) and she defecated. I praised her again, let her a quick play with Archie, then put her back into her pen whilst I returned to bed.

* When I got up, I took her outside and commanded her to "do wees" again, which she did, however took a while longer this time as she was too busy wanting to play with Archie. I let her play outside with Archie for around an hour or so. I then had to go out, so I put Remy back in her playpen. Upon returning to home, Remy was fast asleep. I let her wake up of her own accord, then took her outside. She did the right thing, and was praised. I let her play with Archie some more, then, to get her used to the whole pen thing, I placed her back there. I just took her out of her pen and outside, where she peed within five minutes. She then happily played with Archie for a few hours.

However, I have since changed my decision as to where I put her pen, due to not having direct access to outside being in the spare room. I have placed her pen (with bed, toys and a few puppy pads) in the sunroom, next to Archie's bed. I have left the pen door open so Remy is free to come and go as she pleases.

Since putting her pen outside, and putting her in the pen, I haven't heard a whimper from her, whereas I she would start sooking the moment I put her in it when it was in the spare room.

Was moving the pen to a place where she can come and go freely to eliminate a good thing to do? I feel like now I won't be able to always observe her relieve herself, and therefore won't be able to praise her. I make sure to praise her when I do observe it.

I want Remy to be an outside dog, seeing as I am a shift worker and it will be easier for my schedule, however I still want her to be house broken for the times when she does come inside.

We have had one accident inside so far (this morning). She has spent the majority of the day today outside, and appears to be enjoying it, which further encouraged my decision to move her pen outside.

I have read that it isn't necessarily a matter of teaching Remy NOT to relieve herself in the house, but to focus more on teaching her WHERE to eliminate (i.e, outside on the grass) as when a dog learns 100% WHERE it should urinate (and defecate), then it won't go in the house (unless there's no possible escape out to the toileting area/yard and it can't hold it's bladder any longer!) -- this is what I am aiming for.

Am I on the right track with this? Will having her crate in the sunroom (direct access to the grass) hinder house training? Will her eliminating on the grass (even with me not there to observe/praise) teach her that is the right place to pee, and therefore she will resist when inside?

I feel like I still am not getting enough opportunities to housebreak her when she is predominantly outside; I think I still have that "focus NOT to eliminate inside" mentality, which, as I just mentioned above, is not what I am trying to focus on.

Any guidance/advice would be greatly appreciated :)

Thanks!

Edit: Photo of Remy for added cuteness

Edit #2: Formatting & spelling

Edited January 18, 2015 by remytheretriever

[persephone]

welcome, well, done, and we want more photos ;)

It all sounds OK - just remember it may take several months before her & her bladder communicate properly . :)

Continue with a toilet word - you will find it almost THE best thing your dog learns :) It means that she can/will toilet whenever/wherever is your choice !

Sounds as if you are starting her off well -

[Rebanne]

you will still have plenty of opportunity to teach Remy where to go to toilet as I am assuming she will be inside quite often with you when you are home.

[remytheretriever]

I feel like I am way out of my depth here.

I picked up my Golden, Remy, on Saturday. She is eight-weeks-old.

On the first night, she slept in the spare room in a pen (with her bed, toys & a few puppy pads). She did really well - cried for about a half an hour and then she settled, not stirring until 6.00am. At which time, I took her out on her leash onto the grass and told her to "do wees" which she did within five minutes. I praised her, brought her inside, gave her some breakfast, then took her outside again for another "do wees", which she did. Praise, praise again. I let her play with Archie (an Australian Kelpie, my housemate's dog) for a while. I had go out for a while, so I put her back in her pen, which she cried about. When I got home (probably 40 minutes later), she was fast asleep. I let her wake up on her own accord, then took her outside for "do wees" - she did a poo. Praise! I let her play with Archie again, and then brought her back into her pen for a while. She cried for about a half an hour, then fell asleep. When she woke up, I repeated what I did before - took her outside, she did the right thing, and I let her play with Archie again.

Now, this is where I feel out of my depth.

Yesterday afternoon, I moved her pen out into the sunroom where Archie's bed is, as I wanted her to have direct access to the yard. Was this a wrong thing to do? I leave the pen door open.

When I went outside this morning, I put her on her leash and took her onto the grass and told her to "do wees" - nope, nothing. With the pen door being open overnight, I'm assuming she just relieved herself whenever she needed to. I just brought her inside to play, and to assess progress inside (she has had one accident, albeit has not been inside a lot) and all she did was sit at thee back door, whining, wanting to go back outside to play with Archie.

I don't know what to do :/ I want her to be an outside dog (I am a shift worker so this will be easier for me) but I also want her housebroken for the times when she does come inside. I have no idea how to progress with this if she doesn't want to be inside - should I bring her pen inside again tonight so I can police/control when she eliminates? If so, where should I put then pen? Should I leave the pen door open? Should I use puppy pads? Should I just not bother with the pen at all?

Thank you so much.

[remytheretriever]

When I went outside this morning, I put her on her leash and took her onto the grass and told her to "do wees" - nope, nothing. With the pen door being open overnight, I'm assuming she just relieved herself whenever she needed to. I just brought her inside to play, and to assess progress inside (she has had one accident, albeit has not been inside a lot) and all she did was sit at thee back door, whining, wanting to go back outside to play with Archie.

I don't know what to do :/ I want her to be an outside dog (I am a shift worker so this will be easier for me) but I also want her housebroken for the times when she does come inside. I have no idea how to progress with this if she doesn't want to be inside - should I bring her pen inside again tonight so I can police/control when she eliminates? If so, where should I put then pen? Should I leave the pen door open? Should I use puppy pads? Should I just not bother with the pen at all?

[Mavis]

Maybe I am off track here but it sounds like Remy is doing very well. She has not had any accidents? She is a large breed puppy... Perhaps as you said she simply did not need to go? Keep in mind that dogs naturally avoid going to the toilet in their den or home. Perhaps you could feed her inside if you are worried about her not making the connection between inside and her den?

[persephone]

:) she is now learning toileting outside . Good .

She is learning that being part of a dog pack outside is a better choice than being inside . Hmmmm...

It is your choice - you want her outside ? OK - seems she is very happy to do so.

I will suggest food be given indoors - several meals in the kitchen or somewhere ...so she is happy to come in.

Find her very favourite toy /food and spend one- on -one time with her - just playing - doing early training. Put your other dog in his crate/pen/room with a special treat . The dogs need to learn to be alone ;)

It takes time ...

[remytheretriever]

I have purchased a real crate, and will begin to crate train her using it instead of the pen. I thought a pen would work just as well, but after my housemate's dog got in there and destroyed Remy's bed, I am having second thoughts.

I'll be putting it inside, and placing her in it at night to sleep. During the day, I'll let her explore the house, supervising her. During the times where I have to work or cannot supervise, do I put her back in the crate or can I put her outside?

I'm a nurse, so I work 8 hours. I'll usually be able to get my Mum to come over and let Remy out for a pee periodically, however there may be times where I can't.

[RuralPug]

No matter how good natured your housemate's Kelpie is, I would not be leaving an 8 wo puppy with him for 8 unsupervised hours.

Baby puppies don't have proper dog manners yet, and if she does not know to respond to his "hey, that's rude! Stop it!" warnings then they may escalate to the point where he feels that he needs to hurt her to get her to understand the lesson. Some dogs are great at safely teaching baby puppies manners, but not all dogs are.

So I would be perhaps making a small barricaded part of the back yard that is her place outside while she is little - can you extend the pen somehow to do this? - for daylight shifts and enclosing her in her indoor crate for night shifts ( and perhaps asking housemate pretty please to give her a toilet run early in the morning, or late at night so she is not holding on for a whole eight hours...

[persephone]

Crates are NOT meant for puppies to live in - they are OK for night time ..and OK for when you are doing stuff inside and cannot watch puppy - but they are NOT an all day prison. if you cannot stop the kelpie getting into her pen .. then leave the pen indoors away from the kelpie ...

be aware though - now Pup has been free range outside - crate training will take time . She will want to be with Archie, and will not understand why she is now confined .... it is TRAINING - not just shutting the door ... It is very unfair, and defeats the purpose, if a baby pup is left in a crate for hours - they just cannot hang on for that long!

Remy needs the pen or somewhere during the day - so she can run and play ...

[suziwong66]

I wouldn't leave puppy to have free access to Archie - that's a potential recipe for disaster in a number of ways. Like others have said, Archie might not correct nicely and it's your job to make sure that Archie is given a rest from puppy before anything can occur.

Our 5 1/2 month old labby girl still has supervised access to our 3.5 yo desexed male labby - he won't correct her and she won't leave him alone. During the times they aren't given supervised time together, she's in the pen in the kitchen. At night she now sleeps in the lounge room in her crate (just recently moved from my bedroom to the lounge room to teach her that she has to learn to sleep independent from our boy and us). He has 'access all areas' in the house and sleeps on a futon next to our bed. Our girl will have to earn the right to sleep on a mat on the floor and atm she doesn't self regulate enough to leave our boy alone and can't be trusted to stay on her bed all night.

We also have a ex pen outside so she can have unsupervised time outside and i also tether her on the back patio - this allows our big boy to interact with her but also gives him an out by walking out of her reach when he's had enough of her. When we go out, she is separated in her ex pen in the kitchen.

[Rebanne]

My nearly 7 month old greyhound pup has been running with the adults since she was 7 weeks old, firstly with her litter mates and was 16 weeks old once the others left. I've always left pups alone with the adult dogs and never had a problem. As Archie and your girl will most likely not live together all their lives it would be a good idea to teach them both to be capable of living alone and independently. I don't make any special effort to teach mine I must admit, it just seems to happen.