Crate Training a Litter of Puppies(Pics)

**NicoleLJ** · 08-21-2007, 11:41 PM

I thought it would be fun tonight(and I could use some fun) to walk you all through my process of crate training a litter of 6 puppies. Now we have been doing this since Friday so they are actually doing very well and some are almost ready to move on to 10 whole minutes instead of 5.

First we now do it 3 at a time. We get their food ready in their seperate dishes and move the food into the back corner of the crate. Then we place the puppy in front of the crate on the floor and they are first given the option to walk in on their own. If they don't then we would place them in. But tonight was a huge break through and all walked into their crates after hubby put them down in front of it. As they walk in and start eating or sniffing around we close the door and the timer starts. It is set for 5 minutes. The first 3 pups are:

Dark Blue who is now 11lbs

Green who is now 11lbs

And Light Blue who is now 13lbs(biggest boy of the lot)

They have to be quiet the whole 5 minutes before the door is opened. All of these pups, as you can see by the pics are eating and stayed quiet the whole 5 minutes. All the crates are side by side(excuse the carpet, haven't vacuumed yet today)

Dark Blue and Green in their crates

Dark Blue and Light Blue in theirs

After the 5 minutes is up and if they have all been quiet then the doors are opened and they get to come out when they decide too. Dark Blue and Green came out right as the door opened. Light Blue decided to eat for another minute and came out after 6 minutes in the crate. He didn't care that teh door was opened. Then they get praised and loved on and then moved to the playroom(Kitchen). The food left in their dishes are then scraped to teh large dish to be finished as a whole group after everyone has been fed.

The next group is:

Red who is 10 1/2 lbs

Rainbow who is 10 lbs

and Light Yellow who is 11 1/2 lbs

They also all walked in on their own. Red and Yellow went right to eating. Rainbow decided he was not interested in the food. Sniffed around and then started to fuss(whinning and barking)

Red & Rain

Rain and Light Yellow

**NicoleLJ** · 08-21-2007, 11:42 PM

At five minutes Red and Yellow were quiet so their doors were opened. Red came out right away but as you can see here Yellow was perfectly content to just lounge in his open door:

He stayed in there 10 whole minutes with the door open for five of those minutes. Unfortunately Rainbow continued to fuss after the 5 minute mark so had to stay in the crate with the door closed till he had been quiet for a whole minute. His door was opened at 7 minutes but he also stayed in as you can see here for an extra minute:

He finnaly came out at the 8 minute mark. So how it goes is they have to do 3 sessions in a row where they are quiet for the full 5 minutes. Once they do that then the time is increased to 10 minutes. They have to do 3 whole sessions of quiet for that to move onto the next and so on.

We started them at 5 1/2 weeks of age and they are doing great. I am hoping that some will be able to start their 10 minute times tomorrow.

So that is how I am crate training my litter to get them used to being in a crate so that when they go to their new homes they are not only happy in the crates but want to go in them and spend time in them which will make things much easier for my adopters.

Hope you enjoyed.
Nicole & Sheena & Puppies

**KittyGurl** · 08-22-2007, 08:35 AM

They are so cute! Everytime you post pics of them they get cuter and cuter everytime.

Good job with the crate training! They did really good.

Thanks for sharing the pictures

**Romance** · 08-22-2007, 09:29 AM

(excuse the carpet, haven't vacuumed yet today)

please correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you just tell us a few days ago that your doc has put you on bed rest? (thread " a scary night") why worry about vacuuming if your supposed to be in bed? don't you care that by not following the doc's orders you are endangering your unborn child?
puppies are a lot of work, work that could cause you to miscarry. if your supposed to stay in bed then for the sake of your child STAY IN BED!

**WELOVESPUPPIES** · 08-22-2007, 09:34 AM

WOW, they are huge now. I cannot believe six weeks ago we were just getting the news of their arrival. 10-13 pounds

What are you feeding those guys...everything LOL. They are absolutely beautiful. I am very proud of all them for learning to like their kennels, and of you for having the patience to train 6 at one time. Their new owners are very lucky to have purchased a pup from such a caring and dedicated person. Give them all big cuddles from me...wish I could just hug them all myself.

**NicoleLJ** · 08-22-2007, 09:50 AM

Thanks so much.

We are feeding Innova Adult food and they LOVE it as you can see by their growth rate. lol

I was really worried about my training with the pups going out the window because of all that has gone on. But with my family and friends working so hard we are now able to continue with the training. We set up a schedule for everyone. A family member will be here once a day to help with any daily chores I need(foors, counters, meals and so on). My daughter who is 8 does all the lifting of the pups, cleaning up of them and so on that I need during the day and we are paying her a couple of bucks each day to help. So she loves it anyway but it is a lot of work so I thought it was fair to pay her. Once she is in school then a church member and another family member will stop by during the day to help, until she gets home, so that I can continue with all the training.

In teh evenings when hubby gets home he takes over. He does all teh evening lifting, meals adn so on. And does the bedtime routines of sweeping, vacuuming and so on. All I will be doing is supervising, cuddling puppies and writing the progress and such down. So we now have it all worked out so that everything will still get done, the pups will continue in their trianing and I can listen to my doctor and not lift a finger.

What I would do without my family or friends I do not know.
Nicole & Sheena & Puppies

**pitc9** · 08-22-2007, 09:52 AM

Congrats on the wonderful progress they are making!
They all look great!
Please take care of yourself and get back into bed!!

**Vela** · 08-22-2007, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by Romance

(excuse the carpet, haven't vacuumed yet today)

please correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you just tell us a few days ago that your doc has put you on bed rest? (thread " a scary night") why worry about vacuuming if your supposed to be in bed? don't you care that by not following the doc's orders you are endangering your unborn child?
puppies are a lot of work, work that could cause you to miscarry. if your supposed to stay in bed then for the sake of your child STAY IN BED!

Did she ever say SHE was going to do the vacuuming? No, don't think she did. You are way out of line to say anything to her about not caring and endangering her unborn child. That's just WRONG. Please stop the harassment.

Adorable babies Nicole! Thanks for sharing all of their growing up moments, it's so neat to see.

**Romance** · 08-22-2007, 02:12 PM

ohhh i get it, i'm not allowed to be worried about her little booger. veryyy sorry i didn't realize being concerned was against board rules my apologies to the rule queen.