Crate training- is it worth it?

[NewPoodleMum]

I have had my first ever dog, a toy poodle puppy, for 2 days.
He is totally adorable and getting the hang of weeing outside already.

He just wants to be on me and with me the whole time and cries piteously when I leave him.

I currently have his bed in a crate, which is in a big pen in my sitting room.

Last night I fell asleep on the sofa with him cuddled up to me, and I didn’t wake up to put him in the crate.

My Dsis says I have to put him in the crate tonight and shut the crate (I haven’t done this yet) and go to bed.
I know he will cry - do I just leave him to cry??

As you have probably gathered, I’m a total softie and he has me twisted round his paw already.

What would you advise?

My dogs have never been crated. I don’t see why you would.

www.pdsa.org.uk/pet-help-and-advice/looking-after-your-pet/puppies-dogs/crate-training

crate training isn’t just sticking the puppy in - you need to do it gradually.

It’s useful, whether it’s essential or not varies a lot on the dog and your circumstances

My dogs are crate trained.
They sleep in open crates by choice during the day, sleep on my bed ar night and most importantly travel in crash tested crates in my van.
My rescue wasn't keen at first as her only experience had been going to the vets, but as I only travel them in crates it was something that became normal very quickly.

She's 14 and a half now and knows crates mean we are going to do fun things.
My youngest I had from 8 weeks and he spent his first year sleeping at night in a crate and for a couple of hours at a time during the day. Massively helpful for toilet training, and learning how to settle down and switch off.

Leaving a puppy to be alone and scared in any situation isn’t going to lead to a positive outcome. Our dog is crate trained for the car (crating during the night or while you’re out the house is illegal where we live), we started this by having him wander and in and out of it in the house and giving lots of praise, only once that was established did we add it to the car.

With regards to sleeping, it entirely depends on thr dog, ours was a fantastic sleeper from very young, so I was able to move out of the livingroom on I think day five. Ours was about five months old when he no longer needed the loo during the night on a regular basis. Ours is bell trained, so he rings a bell near the door when he needs to go out.

I slept in the room with him last night- he slept on a dog bed on the settee beside me. This is progress from the night before when he slept on my neck!
I moved this bed into his crate this morning and when he fell asleep on my knee after breakfast I popped him in. I didn’t close the crate but I did close the pen and the door.

He had a really good sleep and I even got to leave the house very briefly!

I’m just not happy to close him in the crate so I’m not going to- it doesn’t feel the right thing to do for me or him.

Thank you for helping me to reach this decision.

Never crated any of mine. When they were pups they would sleep in with me (or whichever of my children was the softest touch) but as they grew up they would learn to 'go to bed' and to sleep on their own, although my last big dog would lie outside my bedroom door. I think, like babies, they have to learn to sleep alone but I've never forced it.

I never shut my dog’s crate except for overnight so it was his safe space and he loves it. If I put it up, he’s straight in there. It’s very useful if they have to stay at the vets because it makes the whole experience less stressful for them.

I don’t think it’s worth it to be honest. Just don’t leave him on his own at first, they really will be missing their litter. Ours calmed down by about 3/4 months and we built up to leaving him for a while, very short bursts at first.

My last three dogs, I crate trained. Initially, because we got a new puppy when we already had an older dog. We wanted the puppy to have their own space.

For us, it meant they never went to toilet in their bed, they cried to be let outside during the night for a wee. During the day, the door was left open so they’d just let themselves in and out, to play or sleep.

When they were a year old, the crate was folded down and they just had their bed in the space. During that time, they had learnt to move themselves to their bed when we had visitors or went out, It meant we never had the unexpected item chewed up accidentally.

People say introduce crate training slowly but also say lock the puppy in overnight- I never understand that contradiction.

I have bought a crate for the new puppy we’re getting soon but I already know I won’t lock him in at night unless he seems 100% comfortable in there. I will use it as somewhere to keep him safe for short periods of time. Overnight I think it’s better to give them a bigger space. Our last pup was in the kitchen/diner overnight until housetrained. Once he was housetrained he had the whole downstairs and we did observe how he would move around constantly to seek different surfaces to lie on, to get cooler in summer or warmer in winter.

@NewPoodleMum you just have to do what works for you and for your dog and find a system that suits you. Just enjoy your lovely new puppy 😊

Thank you @Twiglets1😊
It’s actually going really well - he’s getting on great with the cats and is happy for me to go out for a bit as long as he can play with them.

I’m still sleeping on the sofa- I start off the night with him in the crate although not shut in, but he usually ends up on the sofa with me after his first wee. It’s not ideal but I’ve only had him for a week, so still early days.

No, in my experience. Give them a safe space, yes, but not crating.

Glad it’s going well, crate training isn’t for everyone, but like I said we did it because our dog would have destroyed everything when left alone. I always thought crates were cruel, but after using one and having somewhere safe that’s their own personal space is no bad thing.

it meant they never went to toilet in their bed, they cried to be let outside during the night for a wee.

My non crate trained dogs also never toileted in their bed and cried to be let outside during the night for a wee

My dog sleeps with me, but he is crate trained.
We did it in the day, slowly and building up and he was in his crate when we started leaving him.
He will quite happily sleep downstairs on his own, if we get his crate out and we do this every now and again.
I did the training in case he needs to stay at the vets or something, I didn't want him being stressed about being in a crate and not used to it as well not being poorly for example.