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Crate trainjng

7 replies

lionobserving · 20/03/2021 13:30

We pick up our new boy next week and are making sure we have everything we need, having not had a puppy before.

Read a lot about crate training, and we have seen the "heartbeat" toys that have a beating heart / warmth to help sooth pups away from mum.

Has anyone had an experience with these? Also does anyone have any MUST HAVES for first time pup owners? (No matter how silly / obvious)?

Thanks :)

OP posts:
Colouringaddict · 20/03/2021 13:47

Crate training is a process. Unless your puppy has been in a crate up to this point, it’s going to take some time. Cover the top of the crate to make it more den like.

We feed ours in there for the first few days, kept all toys in there, fed treats in there.

She had a mattress in there which was the base of her usual bed but it covered the whole of the bottom of her crate.

The crate should be big enough to go inside, turn around and lie out in, any bigger and you risk the pup toileting in it.

At bed time, take the pup to wherever you want them to toilet (puppy pads can take longer to potty train because you are allowing pup to toilet indoors). Once they have done, lots of praise and reward.

Put pup in the crate and shut the door and start using whichever phrase you are going to use to signal bedtime, we use time for bed.

We slept beside the crate for a couple of nights, so we could comfort her, and after that we gradually moved away until we weren’t in view at all.

Remember your pup will probably need to go out in the night, we didn’t speak or play at all at that time so as not to confuse her. Use your phrase again as you put them back in the crate.

We never put water in there, likely to be spilled or knocked over.

You could ask the breeder for something with mum or litter mates smell on to put in the crate, and something that smells of you.

Any children you have should be taught that the crate is the dogs safe place and they shouldn’t interrupt your dog while he is in there.

Toilet trying tip, use the phrase you are going to use to signal its potty time, we used “ go wee wee” and ours will pee on command now, which is useful on the nights it’s cold outside. Massive praise when they are successful with a high value treat, we used hot dogs. Take them out on waking, when playing and after eating. They usually circle and sniff before they go, so watch for that.
Lots of luck with your new baby!

Claudia84 · 20/03/2021 14:10

Sleep as close to pup as possible. The heartbeat teddies are a nice idea but bit of a waste of time if I’m honest, as is advice like having a tshirts in there that smells of you (your whole house will smell of you)
First night they’ll sleep fine as they’re overwhelmed and you’ll be super pleased thinking you have the easiest puppy in the world. Second night is likely to be worse and be expect to be woken up a few times. We raised the crate up so my head was literally next to his in the bed and kept it like that for a couple of weeks then moved it on to the floor. At about 4 months we just let him choose where to sleep and he slept on our bed for the first hour and then moved to the landing and then came back to bed about an hour before wake up. I never thought I would be someone that would have a dog in the bed but I love it!
But back to crate training:
Never let a puppy cry it out - they’ll be quiet eventually but that’s because they’ve “shut down.”Remind yourself that dogs are social species that sleep with their pack/ family. Take it at puppies pace. My advice would be only put puppy in crate once soothed to sleep rather than putting in and expecting to settle down.

And also crate training in day will be different to night so treat them as two separate things. Just whatever you do don’t ‘poison’ the crate by letting puppy get distressed in there at all.

lionobserving · 20/03/2021 14:11

Thanks so much @Colouringaddict this is so helpful!

How do you ensure the crate is big enough to feed pup in there, but then not too big to encourage them using as a toilet?!

OP posts:
Colouringaddict · 20/03/2021 15:11

You don’t have to feed in there, it really depends on whether your pup is a “get it eaten super fast” or a slow coach. Ours was a gobbler so we just put it in there and when she had eaten, we took the bowl out. She now has both bowls in the kitchen, she is 4 now and we still use the crate for over night or if we go out.

What breed is your pup?

lionobserving · 20/03/2021 18:32

That's both!

Our boy is a cavalier King Charles, so a really social breed which is why we're so conscious of making the crate a comforting place for him at night rather than somewhere he feels scared!

OP posts:
alseb · 20/03/2021 19:18

Don’t bother with that toy. I bought one, I don’t think it was particularly safe as the battery could easily be found and chewed.
Get a dark coloured blanket to go over your crate at nighttime.
Be prepared for your life to be turned upside down in a nice way. We are 6 weeks on from getting our puppy. It has been hard work (much harder than I had expected) but things have settled down a bit more.
Get a bag and take your puppy out to get it used to the outside world (puppies shouldn’t go out walking until second vaccination).
Enjoy!

LondonPupMum · 21/03/2021 22:20

We have a cavalier too Smile 15 weeks now. We made the crate fun the day we got him with food and treats. At night the first week we put him in there sleepy with a small cuddly teddy and a piece of our clothes, sometimes a small hot water bottle wrapped in a blanket if he was extra difficult sleeping. We settled him pre putting him in when waking at night. In hindsight doing this a few times a night was exhausting so we sought advice from breeder who said just take him out and put him straight back in so after about a week we were taking him out at night and putting him straight back in without crying and wished we'd done that a lot sooner as we got much better sleep!.

He cries a little going in there in the day but it's for his own good as he gets a lovely long nap whereas he cannot settle himself outside the crate!

Crate trainjng
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