Crate Training a puppy

[MarkM.]

This is what my dad told me to do when I got my dog, and he's used on every dog he's ever had, and had very good succcess with. Pretty much for the first few weeks you have your dog it has to live in the crate. Take it out every 1-2 hours, and if it goes to the bathroom let it stay out of the crate for approx. 30 minutes. Play with it etc, then you put it back in the crate. If not, when you come back inside back to the crate. Don't use it for punishment, and like you said, it won't go to the bathroom in it's "den" aka the crate. If it is, you need a smaller crate. Give it a treat when you put it back in the crate, after the 30 minutes, rinse and repeat. You will have to deal with it barking and whining while its in the crate, a good way to help reduce the barking etc is to put the crate in the same room you will be in where it can see you. It took my dog about a week to learn outside is where he uses the bathroom, when I do this, I don't have to go in the crate. I know it seems kind of harsh, but it works.

[Dantrag]

Crate training is the best thing ever.

Few notes:

1) Do not use it for punishment.
2) If you can walk the puppy as much as possible(sometimes 30min in between walks - we did that with ours but my gf was at home all the time w/ the puppy.)

It took about 4-6 weeks for our puppy to be completely house broken. After that point he only went inside 3 times from that point until he was about 5 months.

3) Do not punish the puppy for going inside.

4) walk walk walk walk walk walk walk.

5) keep the puppy in the crate for at least 2 months while you sleep.

we were lucky, our puppy only wined if it needed to go outside to do its business.

[Cephius]

Repeating what everyone said, you do not want the crate to be seen as a punishment. It should be a safe haven for them. I've found it helps to put a blanket over the crate itself so that it's mostly dark inside, it helps makes them more relaxed in there it seems.

Postive/Negative reinforcement go a long way. It helps to learn some "dog language". If you catch the puppy going in the house, say "no" sternly, point at it. Stand up straight, don't lean down. Leverage is everything in the dog world. The higher up you are, the more dominant you look. I'd never, ever use physical actions, but if you have to, grab the scruff on the back of the dog's neck. It's how they were carried by the mother as a puppy, and it won't hurt them. And again, it reinforces dominance. The dog recognizing you as the alpha will go a long way in training it.

On the flip side, when it does something you want to reinforce like going to the bathroom outdoors, make sure you pet it repeatedly, and speak in the high-pitched friendly tone. Get into the habit of giving them a treat when you come indoors as a reward.

I wouldn't crate the dog all the time... you have to let it out and get used to being part of the "pack". Keep it in it's crate overnight though.

Finally, obviously, walk the puppy within 15-20 minutes of it drinking or eating anything, every time. And then as much as possible inbetween.

[miokomioko]

Yeah, I've got something similar going on with our new malamute/wolf puppy which is 8 weeks old. The house breaking is actually going pretty well which is basically based on rewarding the hell out of her when she goes outside in an appropriate zone and catching her REAL FUCKIN' FAST if she tries to go inside. We have her enclosed in a small linoleum kitchen zone with a baby gate, containing her bed, blanket, toys, food, water, and two puppy pads at the far end.

It's not as enclosed as a crate, so it obviously won't keep her from crappying/peeing on the ground if she really needs to go and we're not around. However, she apparently considers the entire area her "den" and will cry for a bit before she actually decides to go to the back and crap on the pads.

Anyhow, the best thing we have found to remedy the howling/crying when she's isolated from us is to obviously be somewhere where she can see us or give her something to distract her until she falls asleep. Also, I reward her when she's in her zone by herself and being quiet, doing her own thing. As with just about any training, enough repetition and it'll start to click.

Such a young dog is so difficult because you can't really do anything about the inevitable canine-separation-anxiety that causes the crying and for the first week, it won't hurt much too much to occasionally baby them to calm them down whenever they start getting loud. We live in an apartment as well and the first time we knew she didn't have to go and it was just her being a brat, it was almost midnight. We were sitting up in bed cringing as she was being so fucking wretched loud until she just tired herself out and slept. 5 minutes felt like an hour.

I only do it in severe moments, but gripping them firmly by the scruff with a little shake and the solid verbal command you have for "no" will make them submissive and actually calms them down as a mother dog would be doing something similar (minus the "NO").

[Amelya]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with crate training. It's in the best interest of the puppy to have it confined when you're not around, not only to prevent accidents, but to also make sure the puppy isn't getting into anything harmful. (the golden in our puppy kindergarten got into a box of razorblades for example...) It's also beneficial if you ever need to board your dog or it needs to be confined for medical reasons such as surgery.

As others have said, don't use the crate for punishment. Lure the puppy in there with treats and try to make it a nice place for him to be. If he whines, you have to tough it out until he stops, otherwise he will learn that whining/barking gets your attention and will continue to do it.

Our dog really doesn't care much for his crate so we use an x-pen type enclosure in the kitchen instead of a crate when we're gone. It might be something to consider if your puppy is really disturbing the neighbors. You can get a linoleum remnant at flooring places for pretty cheap if you have to put it on carpet, makes for easier clean up. I'd also recommend a kong to keep him busy for a while.

I would NEVER suggest keeping the puppy in the crate for the first few weeks...you want to socialize that puppy as much as you can, not keep him isolated. Look into a puppy class or see if your local AKC or vet offers any kind of play time for puppies. You do want to be a little careful where you take him though until he's had all his shots.