Crate Training Puppy ???

[divinedi]

Hi! We got a puppy on June 24, approx. 7 weeks ago, and I'm having the devil of a time crate training him. And I mean getting him quiet during the night, not the potty training crate training. He's such a sweetheart, he looks like a mini Chewbacca (we tried to name him that, but my one daughter just hated it, so a no go!, pictures posted below, hopefully!). He's part Dachsund and part Poodle according the breeder, but I'm not really sure they were totally honest with us, but no problem, we love him! He's getting very good with the potty training, listens when we tell him no, and with very little sternness either. He plays well with our 9 year old poodle, so all is good, except at night.

Now for those of you who think putting a dog in a crate is cruel, please do know that I respect your decision, at one time I would never have considered it either, but have since discovered the pros to doing this, so I would be very grateful if we didn't make this a debate about the pros and cons of crate training :)

Has anyone had a dog that no matter what they did it wouldn't crate train? I've tried different things, no water or food well enough before, then someone suggested maybe he was hungry during the night, so I fed him about an hour before we put him to bed, so he had time to do his business, that helped, but not totally. He's now finally quiet when we first go to bed, but never lasts the entire night. And he doesn't cry or bark loudly, but he does something that I can only describe as 'twittering', he almost sounds like a bird, it's not that loud, but lately he's started about 3 in the morning(he's done it from day 1, just different times during the night) and does it off and on until someone gets up. He also drools the whole time he's making this noise, his blankets are very damp in the morning, and I know he's not peeing, it doesn't smell like that, and what doesn't hit his blanket is on the crate, mainly by the door as he's looking out. I tried getting up in the middle of the night to let him out, he'd pee and sleep for a short period, but then start again.

Sorry, this is long winded, but if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. If it were only the nighttime thing, I might let him sleep with me, but I like him in the crate when we're out of the house too, and even though I know we can't hear him (and I have no neighbours to bother at this point) it bothers me that he stays so upset and drools, he's usually pretty thirsty when he gets out.

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx140/divinedi/crazylogan.jpg

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx140/divinedi/ondecklogan.jpg

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx140/divinedi/img_1829.jpg

Hopefully the pictures worked, the black dog is our other dog Max.

Thanks!!

[Lizzy]

I have had Shelties my whole life, and we have crate trained all of them. With the exception of my most recent addition Dora.

She refuses! I got her at 8 weeks old, and put her in the crate since I brought her home. She messes and cries in there EVERY DAY. Sometimes more than once a day. I thought she would grow out of this, but no. So at about 7 months old, I got an exercise pen and some pine chips. Wouldn't you know that from the first day of being in the pen on the porch rather than the crate, she stopped messing and crying. She was a compeltly diffrent dog. She is now about 10 months old. This past week I decided to try her again at crate training now that she has learned how to hold it. She does much better, she doesn't mess in there but she does cry and howl a lot still- that is if you can catch her to get in in there in the first place. :shake:

This problem is so strange to me, because my other sheltie refuses to come out of his crate! He can't get back in there from outside fast enough. I can leave the door open and he won't come out. If we are out back and I tell him Kennel Up- he will run all the way around the house, in the door and into his crate. Silly dog

[olivegirl]

Could you tell me if your other dog is crate trained?

We recently got a 1 year old Yorkie who was never crate or basically "anything" trained. The first few nights were rough as she cried and barked in her new crate. But I got the idea of putting her crate next to our other dog "Pepi" crate. It worked GREAT!! From then on she would not make a peep until about 6am. I am a HUGE fan of crates!

Hope this helps!:thumbsup:

[garymacd]

I have had Shelties my whole life, and we have crate trained all of them. With the exception of my most recent addition Dora.

She refuses! I got her at 8 weeks old, and put her in the crate since I brought her home. She messes and cries in there EVERY DAY. Sometimes more than once a day. I thought she would grow out of this, but no. So at about 7 months old, I got an exercise pen and some pine chips. Wouldn't you know that from the first day of being in the pen on the porch rather than the crate, she stopped messing and crying. She was a compeltly diffrent dog. She is now about 10 months old. This past week I decided to try her again at crate training now that she has learned how to hold it. She does much better, she doesn't mess in there but she does cry and howl a lot still- that is if you can catch her to get in in there in the first place. :shake:

This problem is so strange to me, because my other sheltie refuses to come out of his crate! He can't get back in there from outside fast enough. I can leave the door open and he won't come out. If we are out back and I tell him Kennel Up- he will run all the way around the house, in the door and into his crate. Silly dog

I wonder if she's claustrophobic? There's no way of knowing, since she can't answer you, but something to think about.

[Missy_Mouses_Dad]

It's possible the puppy may have "separation anxiety". Did you try putting an old blanket or something else with your scent in the crate with the dog? We have done this with our puppies, as well as a windup alarm clock. This was to imitate the mother's heart beat to keep the puppy at ease. Strange but it always worked.

Good luck..

[NotaGeek]

From everything I have learned about crate training, the most common mistake owners make is keeping puppies in a crate for too many hours at a time right off the bat. As a guide a puppy can spend about 1 hour per month of age in a crate that way the puppy learns to "hold it" and its not so much a separation anxiety issue, because they know its not like they are caged forever and the crate is like their den. Also, the crate should only be big enough for the dog to stand up and turn around in comfortably ... getting a crate that is big enough for a full size dog and putting a puppy in it gives them way too much room to have accidents ... dogs rarely want to sleep in their own mess. This might mean going through 2 crates until they are in a adult size crate.

To help train your dog you can try picking a day you're home and put the puppy in the crate on and off several times a day and give lots of praise (and a treat if you're the treat kind of folk) when they go in / come out so they associate the crate with positive reinforcement. Crates shouldn't be used as a punishment or it can break all the training...

[divinedi]

Thanks everyone! To Olivegirl, yes, our other dog is crate trained, and I don't remember if he had a problem with it, it's been quite awhile. Unfortunately, since he is older and fully housetrained, the only time he is in the crate is when we are out of the house, he sleeps with one of my girls at night. He's always been sooo good though, only a 'it's bedtime' and he's in his crate, and often sleeps in there during the day, especially when puppy wants to play for too long ;).

We did try the 'smells like Mom' trick, an old t'shirt of mine, Missy-Mouses-Dad, that didn't seem to help either, but thanks for the suggestion! and I don't have a ticking clock, can't stand the things myself, although we did try a fan beside him, thought the white noise might sooth him, not!

NotaGeek, I may try your suggestion, I've been thinking about that. Any other dog we've had has worked on the overnight thing, not right away, but usually within a week or two, but not this one, so maybe during the day for brief periods might work. He's not food oriented sadly, so treats didn't work either, he just ignores them when we put them in his crate with him.

I'm just at a loss, and losing sleep, as even though I don't get up with him, it does wake me up!

The breeder did suggest putting him in a smaller, more contained crate (we have both, I was trying him in a small cage to begin with, switched to the carrier) and that again helped, the breeder thought he might like the 'den' feeling of the more enclosed crate, which seems to be the case, but not entirely.

I'm sure this will pass, eventually, but anymore suggestions would be great!!!!:mickey:

[MNNHFLTX]

How old is your puppy? It may be that he still needs to be let out more often. We've always gone by the rule that a puppy can hold his bladder 1 hour for each month in age, so if he's less than less than 4 months old he may need to go out every 3 hours or so. Plus puppies do still have separation anxiety up until 5 months or so and should only be left alone in crates for a few hours at a time. So the extra bathroom break at night would be a good thing for that too.

We got one of our dogs when she was 8 weeks old and we did 3 bathroom breaks a night until she was 3 months old and then 2 a night until she was about 5 months old. Since I was only working weekends then, it wasn't necessary to crate her during the day, but we would do it for short periods a couple of times a day just to let her see that we were still there and would always eventually let her out (not when she was crying though, so that she didn't associate the two). Eventually she learned to be patient and at that point the crate became a haven for her. Today, even though we don't use the crates anymore, when bedtime comes around all we have to do is say "good-night" and both of our dogs will go and lay on their beds (that used to be in their crates).

[Carol]

I have 3 dogs and they are all crate trained. 2 of my dogs are no longer in the crate since I can trust them to not chew or get into mischief when I am gone.

My baby (1 year old Corgi) typically goes to work with me -- but I do crate her at night since she's a chewer.

I have never had crate issues. I have always put their nighttime crate in my bedroom so they can see me. It's never been a problem. All 3 of my dogs were 'potty' trained very early and stopped their middle of the night sessions by around 3 months. I took them out at 10 before bed and they would go until I get up at 5:30.

I got my Shepherd at 7 weeks and my Lab at 8 weeks. They are now 4 and 2 and will sleep in their downstairs crate all the time with the door open. They LOVE their crate. I don't even need that crate now - but cannot take it out of the house since they consider it their 'place'.

Can your puppy see you at night??

[RenDuran]

I just got a puppy last week and we're crate training too. I drag the crate into the bedroom at night...we call it the puppy train! Anyway, she wakes up every night at 4:30 to go out. I take her out and then pop her back into her crate and she sleeps until 7:30. During the day, I keep her crate in the living room next to our older dog's. When we got our other dog last year, she went out several times a night until she was about 6-months-old. Maybe your puppy really does need to go out, even though he's only "twittering" and not making a mess. He may be upset that he can't get out. Have you tried taking him out and then popping him back into his bed?

There are several types of crates...your puppy may like something more enclosed, like the airline crates. My dogs seem to like the open-wire ones, because they can look around at everything.

[JRocker]

My wife has volunteered for a local humane society for the last 15 years. So my home has seen countless puppies, kittens, dogs, and cats come through it.
Just like kids, all pups are different in how they react to being stuck in a crate. One thing that we have found that seems to work well for the overnights is a Kong. It is a red rubber toy that has a cavity in it. We stuff a little treat into the cavity and then pack it in with peanut butter. This keeps the pup occupied for quite a while, and usually when its done digging stuff out, it is tired and falls asleep.

[azdisneymom]

I was convinced we would never crate train our dog. We tried every trick we could think of. Our vet and the trainer at a local pet store offered a few suggestions. I felt like the worst pet owner ever. Then he just accepted it. Now he is 2.5 and prefers to sleep in his crate, day or night, with the door open.

What helped me was putting him in his crate and leaving the house. To be honest it was hard to hear him whine. When I came home he was rewarded with a walk or swim. I increased my time away little by little. He got the idea that there was nothing he could do to get out and it was an awful lot of fun when that door finally opened.

Hang in there. Your pupply will eventually learn.

[crazeedizneefinatic]

I completely feel your pain...we tried for 3 months to train our puppy before one day she just stopped whinning....my suggestion is to stick to your guns...remember to reinforce love and kisses and put her in the crate at night...we made the mistake of bringing the crate into our room at night and every little sound woke her up and she would whine until we walked her and talked to her...she did much better in a quiet place to call her own...she eventually learned and we all sleep peaceful now...it's hard and they are sometimes harder to raise then children but worth it to teach them as hard as it may be...good luck...

[Stitchahula]

the puppy might not want to be alone, they are pack animals and you are their pack. Try putting the crate in your bedroom at night. My first lab was like that she hated being alone at night, she ended up sleeping in our bedroom until the day she died. All of my dogs have slept in my room, the 1 we have now will sleep in the hall way in between my sons room and my room. As far as some people not liking the crate thing, they den just like wolves. Most dogs feel safest when in their "own" area. Good luck.

[Tinkerfreak]

Before we brought our dog home from the breeder I took a blanket there and had the breeder put it in with the puppies for a couple of days before we picked our puppy up. When we picked up our puppy we took the blanket with us and cut it up into smaller pieces (not small enough to be a choking hazard). We put a piece of blanket in the crate with our dog every night. It smelled like her mom so she loved to go in her crate and snuggle with that piece of blanket. If we did not have the blanket in there she would be restless all night and cry. By the time we ran out of blanket pieces she was all set and loved the crate so she was fine.

[Bri]

when i first got my dog she cried and cried when i put her in the crate at night. so the next day, i put her in the crate with a blanket over it to make it dark and let her cry it out. she never cried again and actually loved her crate after that. puppys are in shock for the first 2 weeks after you bring them home because of the sudden chagne of environment and being separated from their siblings. i hope it gets better!

[nyobabe2]

We got a pug puppy in Jan. and I was sleeping on the couch the first couple of nights, getting up to let her out. We took her to the vet and she told us to stop that right away, she can hold it all night. No water after 8.
The first night she cried almost an hour, the next couple of nights it went from 30 mins, to 20 to none. We keep her crate in the living room. Thought about bringing it to the bedroom at night but never had to.

Someone did tell me they had a doggie door put in and at night they put the crate up against the door so the dog could go in and out in the middle of the night if it had to go. Sounded like a good idea...never had to do it though.

Good luck!...Now if there is something I can do about her biting!!!

[divinedi]

Well, it's been a long road, but I think we have it licked, finally:secret:! Tried many different things, the other night I moved his cage a few feet so that he could see down the hallway of our house (he was in the LR before, but the LR, Kitchen and DR in my house are all open concept, small bungalow) and didn't the little 'darling' finally stop crying:thumbsup:! He had stopped crying when we put him to bed, for awhile already, but still woke up anywhere from 3-5 in the night crying and carrying on and the drooling thing. BUT, 4 nights in a row, and no noise, dry bedding and cage and him!!! I'm loving it! It was so hard understanding this one thing he just didn't seem to grasp, because he's been sooooo good with everything else.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, who knew he just wanted to see more:confused:!?!?!