Crate Training Your Puppy |
Crate training for a puppy is useful for two main reasons. Firstly, it trains the puppy from a very early age that he can resist the urge to relieve himself as soon as he feels it, and secondly it prevents him messing around the house and creating favourite hidden corners to be his toilet.
Crate training is relatively easy, but must be approached responsibly and with understanding of what you are doing if it’s not to become cruel or counterproductive.
The reason why early crate training works so well is because it works with the puppy’s natural instinct not to soil his own bed. |
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. If you put him in a cage or crate that is just large enough to be his bed, he will curb the instinct to relieve himself until he is let out.
Obviously he cannot control his bowel and bladder indefinitely so don’t keep him in a crate for very long periods of time.
If you want to restrict his movements about the house, or just have a safe place for him to play, get a dog pen instead.
Follow these simple steps in crate training your puppy and you will have a healthily housetrained puppy who is unlikely to regress at any point in his life. |
- 1. Choose a crate that is large enough to accommodate him when he is fully grown, but that has divider panels built in so that the used area can be made smaller whilst he is growing. Choosing this type of crate makes sense as you don’t need to keep on buying bigger ones as the puppy grows.
A word of warning - if you put the puppy into a crate that is larger than the space needed for a bed, he is likely to choose a corner to mess in. If he’s allowed to do this, he may well then walk through the mess, trample it over his bed, and so ruin his instinct to keep his bed clean. This could result in a housebreaking problem that will stay with him for the rest of his life.
Get the right size create to start with and for the peace of mind of both yourself and your puppy, don’t cut corners.
- 2. Put the puppy in the crate whenever you’re not able to watch him. For instance, whilst doing housework, cooking, popping to the shops, putting kids to bed etc. Anytime your puppy needs to amuse himself unsupervised, into the crate he goes. This includes overnight, but make sure you take him out first thing.
- 3. Don’t put food or water in the crate. The only things that go in the crate with the puppy are his blanket and maybe a favourite toy.
- 4. Most important! ALWAYS take the puppy outside to relieve himself before putting him in the crate.
- 5. Most important! ALWAYS take the puppy outside to relieve himself as soon as you take him out of the crate.
The idea is to work with the pup’s own instincts, to make his training as pleasurable and painless as possible, and to minimise your frustration if your puppy makes mistakes. So take care not put him in the crate when his bladder is already full, and to give him space to empty it when he comes out.
Remember to give praise when he pees in the right place so he knows you’re pleased with him. If mistakes do happen in the crate, don’t scold or get cross. Scolding won’t help him not to do it again. If you must scold someone, scold yourself for not letting him out sooner or noticing that he needed the toilet.
But don’t praise either. Praise, pats, treats and cuddles are reserved for when he goes in the correct place. Just quietly clean messes up, deodorise the crate thoroughly and let the incident pass, all the time ignoring the puppy.
Pretty soon your puppy will see the crate as his safe place for sleeping, and will quickly get the idea that outside is for his toilet. Don’t expect miracles or overnight success. You’ll still need lots of patience and time to get your pup housetrained.
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