Crate training is a very effective method that can be used to house train your puppy. If you are thinking of adopting this approach, there are a few things that you must take note of. Firstly, a crate is not a prison. Your puppy will be spending a lot of time in the crate. It will even sleep in it. That means you shouldn't do anything that will evenly remotely suggest that the crate is a bad place for the puppy. Otherwise, your crate training may fail.
The goal of having crate training is to train your puppy to have better control over its bladders. By nature, young puppies find it hard to control their small bladders, so they urinate rather frequently. If your puppy already has adequate control over its bladders, crate training may not be the most suitable approach. Usually, this approach is adopted for puppies that are at least 9 weeks old.
Here is a step by step guide that you can follow to commence crate training for your puppy.
4 simple steps to start your crate training
Step 1: Choose a suitable crate with the right size.
The size of the crate depends on the age and the size of the dog. As a general rule of thumb, the crate should be at least 2 - 3 times that of the puppy. If it's too small, the puppy will find it uncomfortable, and may be unwilling to settle down in the crate. If it's too big, the puppy will just eliminate in one corner, and then go settle down in another. That will defeat the whole purpose of having crate training.
Step 2: Bedding for the crate.
Not all puppies prefer to have a soft bedding. You can use a towel or a blanket as a bedding. Observe the puppy while its in the crate. Does it push away the towel? Or does it rest on it? Some puppies do prefer hard surfaces, so it's completely normal to see a puppy pushing away the bedding. If you have a very small puppy, try using a thick blanket that doesn't tear easily. This will prevent the puppy from biting some pieces off and choking on those pieces.
Step 3: Lavish the crate with toys.
Place small little toys for the puppy to play with in and around the crate. For the time being, the crate will be like a second home to the puppy. So do all you can to keep the puppy happy. This will also help reduce anxiety. An anxious puppy may bark non stop due to separation anxiety. Toys will help keep the puppy occupied while its in the crate.
Step 4: Water, water, water!
The crate is not a desert. Place a small dish of water in the crate so that the puppy can drink whenever it wants to. If the puppy is till very young, a water bottle with a feeder (like those you use for hamsters) will work just as well.
Once you complete the above steps, you have a crate that's ready for your puppy!
Now where do you place the crate, and for how long should you keep the puppy in the crate?
If possible, try to place the crate in the presence of a family member. Try not to leave the puppy alone. It's normal for puppies to crave for attention. And if its left alone, it may get excited or anxious and start urinating or barking.
The duration that you should keep a puppy in a crate depends on the age of the puppy. This ranges from 30 mins to 6 hours. The duration slowly increases as the puppy gets older. Again, it is important to remember that it's perfectly normal for very young puppies to eliminate very frequently. So don't keep young puppies in the crate for too long!
Crate training failing.
Crate training usually works, but in some cases, the training may fail. For example, if a puppy has been kept in a crate that is too large, it may just get used to eliminating in the crate. Some puppies are kept in small crates when they are still in pet stores. That means they have little choice but to eliminate in the crate. After some time, they get used to eliminating in the crate. In such cases, it's hard to be successful at crate training.
Fortunately, young puppies are highly adaptable. With a little bit of perseverance, your crate training efforts will eventually pay off.
