Puppy Crate Training Tips - Ten Things NOT To Do When You Crate Train

You just got a new puppy or dog. You are very excited. You look up all the puppy crate training tips and information online. Your puppy is going to be house trained in 7 days or less. Uh huh!

Dream on - dude or dudette!

Let's look at these puppy crate training tips from another perspective. Listen to an expert at trying house training methods.

Five Things NOT To Do When You Crate Train A Puppy

- Use a crate that's too big for the puppy. Install the divider that comes with the crate. Otherwise, the pup will find a place to eliminate out of his sleeping area.

- Toss the pup into his crate on the first night without a proper crate to puppy introduction.

- Force a puppy into his crate.

- Remove the pup from the crate at the first sign of whining or crying.

- Leave a puppy crated all day and then crate him at night.

Five MORE Things NOT To Do When You Crate Train A Puppy

- Forget to take the pup out before you crate him over night.

- Refuse to drag your ugly butt out of bed when a 2-month old puppy whines, cries, and barks at 2 am.

- Tease a puppy in a crate. If you were imprisoned in a box, would you appreciate your captors poking at you through the prison bars?

- Scream and yell at a puppy that's crying and whining in his crate.

and my favorite of the puppy crate training tips that you should NOT do . . .

- Take the puppy out of the crate and put him in bed with you. You are asking for all sorts of puppy elimination where you sleep. Yuck!

Read 'em Again and Let 'em Sink In

Read these DON'T DO's one more time before you start crate training a puppy. Let them sink in. Then decide what to do at 2 am - put the pup in bed with you or put up with the noise?

Resources For Crate Training Your Puppy

You can HOPE your puppy or dog will develop into a well-trained companion or DISCOVER how to make it happen! Find expert guidance from experienced dog trainers at http://www.secrets-to-dog-training.info/.

More puppy house trainings tips.

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Sent to your email, this course covers selected training tips and methods used in Secrets to Dog Training.

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Click http://www.secrets-to-dog-training.info/ and scroll down a bit. The Secrets to Dog Training 6-Day Course sign up box is on the right.

valmillsy

Crate Training 101 - Lessons Learned

Prince Alvin During One of His Rare Moments of Rest
in His Crate

Your "dog whispering" friends are recommending crate training because of course it worked for them both during the day and over night.

You google "Puppy Crate Training, " read the articles, buy a crate, and are hopeful that this will be THE solution to your housetraining nightmares. Here's a link: Crate Training a Puppy or Adult Dog.

I agree that crate training will work for your puppy under these conditions:

• you are disciplined,
• the pup is healthy, and
• you follow the crate training guidelines outlined online.

Prince Alvin the Bichon Cockapoo was NOT blessed with owners who stuck to crate training rules. We used a crate at night and when we were out for short time frames.

During the day, I stuck to the standard schedule -

pup goes outside

• when he gets up,
• after meals,
• after a nap,
• after playing,
• before bedtime

Also, take away the water bowl after about 8 pm.

The rules are that you take the pup out every few hours at night (hours = dog's age in months plus one). Alvin's time interval should have been 3 - 4 hours. Except that Alvin had a urinary tract infection (the infection was being treated with antibiotics) and cried every two hours to be taken out. Over a two-week period, I probably logged about 3 hours of sleep every night and was showing definite signs of sleep deprivation.

When he started peeing in the crate repeatedly, it was time to change the method. Remember this is NOT supposed to happen because dogs do not like to soil where they sleep.

Here's what I learned from this experience:

1) Know the signs of a urinary tract infection.
Try this link Urinary Tract Infection in Dogs and see if it helps you determine if your dog has a UTI. Alvin was peeing every 1 - 2 hours and drinking a lot of water. A lab test at the vet's confirmed the UTI.

2) When the pup crate trains YOU, it's time to change the method.
By the time Alvin's UTI started to clear up, he was fed up with the crate and wanted out. He developed the every 2-hour whining routine. This leads to #3.

3) Stick to the guidelines.
If your dog is healthy and you just took him out, but he's whining, put the crate in another room on the other side of the house/apartment, and set an alarm for the next time he's supposed to be let out (hours = dog's age in months plus one). Alvin's other family members can't handle his whining, so this did not work for us.

Hope this helps eliminate problems with your puppy's crate training.