Crate Training 4 mth old puppy

[AmyK]

Does anyone have any tips for crate training? Our pup came from a shelter a week and a half ago and is all of the sudden (since Saturday night) trouble at night. She whines, howls and barks incessently. We have tried taking her out, etc and she still continues. Eventually after and hour or more stops. i really wanted to put her in bed with me last night, but thought I would be defeating the purpose of the crate since that is where she needs to be for a few hours at a time-I work full time and come home and let her out mid day.
She went in easily this morning and tried putting in a box to take up room in her crate since it was given to us and on the large size-her first time alone for a couple of hours at a time was yesterday with 2 accidents-and someone at work told me to put something in there to take up some of her space so hopefully she will get the hang of this. Is it Ok not to crate them at night and only during the day?
It has been 15 years since I had a pup-I guess I don't remember what we did with ours that long ago.
She did fine until we had her at the vet overnight and now she is resisting being in her crate.

[anna_66]

Well I'll tell you now I will be absolutely no help

When Roxey and Bon were pups we were ever so bad and let them out of their crates and let them stay in the room with us, we just closed the bedroom door. Luckily they would let us know when they had to potty by whining.

I wish you good luck!

[lute]

first of all, get a crate that is only big enough for the puppy to stand up, turn around, and lie down in. if there is all this extra room in the crate she will poop in one end and sleep in the other. i recamend a wire crate with a devider. you can buy them at almost any petstore.

since you work a full time job, and can only come take the dog out once i would buy an exercise pen from a petstore and put it in your kitchen or other room with hard floors. put newspaper in one corner of the X-pen so she has something to go on, and it's easier to clean up.

having a puppy costs a bunch of money, but once you get past the housebreaking stage it's more fun.

oh yeah, if your puppy is barking and throwing a fot in her crate, DO NOT take her out! she will QUICKLY realise that if she barks long enough and loud enough she will get out.

hope this helps.

[jennifert9]

So is she in here crate during the day while you are at work AND at night while you are sleeping? That's a lot of crate time...
When I first brought Duncan home, he was in his crate during the day and slept in my bedroom with the door closed at night. Is that a possibility for you? Do you want her to sleep in her crate as an adult also? Once you set up a routine for her, she should settle down, be it in her crate day and night or just day. It's hard when they cry but Lute is right, taking her out for anything more than a pee break during the night will just encourage her to cry more to get attention. Also, when you do take her out for a pee, don't speak to her. No playing or cuddling! No matter how cute she is or how much she tries to get your attention! She'll have you up all night then!!

[AmyK]

We were only planning on crating her at night until she doesn't really get into anything and is pretty much housebroken. We have had her a week and a half and she has only had one accident in the house. She knows to go outside-except for her crate accident yesterday. I thought maybe she would be able to sleep in our room with us and maybe would do better then-hoping she will whine to let us know to go out. More sleep for all of us!!

[jennifert9]

Amy, what kind of puppy is Gracie? I saw her picture but it's hard to tell...? Will she be a large dog?
When I first brought Duncan home, he was already 45 lbs and six months old so obviously the training for him and for a little puppy is quite different! But when I had him in my room at night, we had no accidents! My room was fairly small so with the 2 of us in there, it was full! I don't know if that had anything to do with it but he never had a problem and would wake me up if he had to go. I also puppy-proofed the room though since I'm paranoid! Everything but the alarm clock was unplugged, everything off the floor unless I didn't care if it got destroyed! Why don't you try it, having Gracie in the room with you? You will be happier and Gracie probably will be too!

[AmyK]

She is a collie/sheppard mix and will be 4 months old this week.
I guess we will have to try it again tonight and see if she will cooperate-if not, we will take her out and see how she does.
Thanks!

[tricollie4me]

Well, we started crate training our collie pup just a few weeks ago, and she's 5 months old now. We adopted her from rescue when she was about 14 weeks old, and kitchen crated her for the first month+ she was with us. It worked for a time, though it was interesting climbing all those baby gates to get in and out of the kitchen (we have two entrances). Once Bijou got tall enough to climb over the gates, we decided she needed a crate for her comfort and safety as well as our sanity.

We did get a large size crate but she's a big pup and still growing. She's never had an accident inside her crate; the biggest issue has been the whining. When we first started with the crate, we did the usual daytime "it's a fun place to check out -- hey, here's a little treat, go find it!" experiences...then we would have her go in and shut the door behind her...then we'd have her stay in for a time, and then we did the nighttime crating. She whined the first few nights as she went to sleep, and then would whine and wake up way too early (much like my kids -- I have five). We just worked with her as best we could. We ignored the whining and if it got too lengthy and/or turned into barking, we went to her, opened the little inset door (not big enough for her to exit) and with great affection, stroked her face and whispered what a good puppy she was! Then we very, very softly (almost no pressure) held her mouth/jaw in a light circle-style caress, we whispered, "quiet now!" She always quieted and went back to sleep and has never needed a second "visit" in the same night. If she wakes up at 5:00 a.m. or later, I do go to her and we start our day. It's earlier than I'd prefer but that's one of the concessions I have to make as a fur-mommy!

Though I'm a SAHM, I do crate Bijou in the daytime but it's only for brief periods; e.g., when I want to give the kids lunch and it's PB&J day (Bijou's self-professed favorite, evidently!) and I'd rather the kids not "accidentally" share with our food-nabbing pup!

I would say that crating Bijou has been wonderful overall and I wish we'd introduced it when we first brought her home from rescue. She likes her space, likes going in to retrieve a favorite toy throughout the day, and is managing much, much better at night. I'm not one who wants to sleep with my pup (though I can absolutely appreciate how much comfort it can bring) so crating Bijou at night has been the best solution for everyone in our household. Our goal, eventually, is to to have Bijou become more mature and responsible and we'll hopefully be able to give her the run of the house day and night. Crating was something new for us and we resisted at first...it ultimately has been a really positive measure.

[ginagt]

Hi,
Most dogs view their crates as their dens and so are ok with being inside. Make sure you have something for your puppy to do in the crate, a kong is good stuffed with goodies so when you leave in the morning you can give it to her or you can give her a sterlie bone (make sure its not something she can distroy or chew up into pieces). Make your puppy's crate into an enjoyable place. I have a small container of cheerios on top of my crate, each time my puppy goes in I throw a few pieces inside and say kennel, now at 7 months old she can hardly wait to get inside the crate. Being in crate for that many hours may seem like a long time to you but to a dog it doesn't really matter, most dogs sleep when not busy anyway, which is usually most of the day.
Like was said before, do not let your puppy out of the crate when she is making noise. At 5 months she can hold her potty and so you don't have to worry about that. When she is quiet for more than a minute or so then you can let her out. This goes for every time you open the door. She will quickly learn in order for the door to open she must be quiet. If she continues to bark and whine while in the crate ignore her, don't say anything to her, just let her bark. You might not get a good nights sleep for the first few nights while she figures out the new rules but in the long run it will pay off. You might try putting a towel or something to cover the door so she can't see what is going on outside the crate. Patience and consistancy are the key. Hang in there.

[AmyK]

She seems to have messes whenever I go home to let her out. She will not do so in the house-has only had one accident in a week and a half in the house.
I really don't know how to help her with this. By the time I let her out-she doesn't need to go. I don't leave food in her crate for her due to her usually needing to go within an hour or so afterwards.
This week is the first that she has been alone since we got her. Will she get the hang of this??

[ginagt]

I am confused now, you said she was sleeping in a crate at night, is she still? Can she hold her potty all night? If so then its a behavior issue more so than a potty issue. Block the crate off so she only has room to stand up and turn around. If the crate is too big (which sounds like it is) the dog views it like living area, potty area, most dogs will not soil the place that they sleep. That is why it needs to small enough for just her right now. As she gets older and more reliable you can give her the space back but right now she can't have the extra space.
Yes, she will get the hang of it. She is still adjusting to the new routine and rules. Its hard but patince is the key.
As soon as you open the door (she must be quiet first) take her directy outside and tell her to go potty. When she goes give her a treat and say good girl. Go back inside play with her a bit give her a little water and take her out again before you leave good girl and treat when she goes outside. Back inside, kennel with yummy bone to chew on and you leave.

[AmyK]

Yes ,she is sleeping in the crate at night and settles down after 15-20 minutes of whining and then she howls a little. We take her out once, two times at the most at night. She doesn't mess in the night of course and last night I took her out after I got home (and she didn't go) and she held it for about 4-5 hours before she decided she had to go(which we took her out several times beforehand). Not sure if she is mad that there is no one there to pay attention to her or what. I have a box in her crate, but obviously it still isn't small enough. Should this be kept in at all times?
I will work on that tonight again.
Thanks!

[ginagt]

Is she waking you up at night to take her outside to potty? Does she go when you take her out?
She is testing you and figuring out her limits, when she does go potty outside make a huge deal about it, prasie her basically throw a party, treats. This will help her to be eager to go potty and to please you.
Yes, you have to leave the box in the crate to make it smaller all the time. Until she is got the hang of things and is not using the bathroom in her crate.
Does she like treats? How are her eating habits? Are you putting down the food and she is eating it all within 5-10 minutes?

[AmyK]

Yes, she wakes up for us to take her potty in the night. We do praise her when she goes all of the time. She likes Milk bones and we have tried that and she goes in her cage. It is at night that she carries on. She decided to settle down when I got up for the day!! I wonder if she has her days and nights confused-or she is just exhausted from carrying on off and on during the night.
She paws at the cage and whines and then it goes to a howl to a bark! I think she is just trying to see if someone will come (even though we are both in bed not far from her).
She didn't cry at all except for a whimper for almost the whole first week...then she went to the vet for an overnight stay due to seizures and was crated most of the time there of course. She is on medication for them and should be really sleepy and not have time to do her "duty" in her crate I wouldn't think.
Oh well. It hopefully will get better.

[Dixieland Dancer]

Crate training is something you really have to be consistent with. I do believe in crate training but it has to be done properly or it can actually be a cruel tool used on the dog.

Personally, I crate train my puppies at night when I'm sleeping as well as during the day when I am teaching housebreaking. However, the crate is beside my bed facing in a manner that the dog can see and hear me breathing. After I am very sure housebreaking is understood, then I let the dog stay in the bedroom with the door closed instead of in the crate. This is usually by 4 months of age. By having the dog in the room even though they are in the crate, helps give them a sense that they haven't been abandoned and builds on the bonding between the two of you.

I usually refer people to this link on crate training because it is very thorough and I agree with everything it says. It also addresses the whining issue. I believe you will find any questions you have on crate training answered here. Best wishes on a successful crate training program.