Crate Training a Puppy

One of the first things you’ll need to do when you get a new puppy is start crate training. Crate training is a vital part of housebreaking your new pet, and it can also provide a safe place for them to stay when they’re not supervised. Here’s what you need to know about crate training your puppy.

The most important thing to remember when crate training a puppy is that they should only be in their crate for short periods. They will need to use the restroom frequently, so you’ll need to let them out often. A good rule of thumb is to let them out every two hours or as soon as they wake up from a nap.

When you first put your puppy in its crate, it may whine or cry. This is normal, and it’s important not to give in. If you let them out every time they call, they will learn that all they need to do is whine, and they’ll be let out. Instead, could you wait until they’ve been quiet for a few minutes before letting them out?

Please make sure you give your puppy plenty of positive reinforcement when not in their crate. This can include treats, praise, and petting. Online shops make it easy to buy dog pet pads and treats online to save time from going to the store. This will help them learn that being in the box is good.

Crate training can be difficult, but it’s well worth it in the long run. Once your puppy is crate trained, it’ll be much easier to housebreak. And they’ll have a safe place to stay when they’re not supervised.

Here are important things to consider when crate training your puppy

1. The crate itself

Picking a crate can be challenging, but you must choose the right size for your dog so it has the right amount of space. For instance, if you are looking at Weimaraner puppies in Pa, you should research what size they grow to, and therefore the optimal crate size for them. My crate has an end piece I can take out if I want more space and another divider piece inside that I can use to make the container smaller. Make sure there are no sharp edges your dog could get hurt on; it doesn’t have to be pretty, just functional.

2 . The crate training process

Crate training is essential, so you don’t come home one day and find a potty accident or chewed-up shoe…or worse, a chewed-up shoe with a potty accident. This…is a bad thing!

3 . Day crate training

On the first day, it’s all about being crate positive, so always take your puppy out of his chest for a good walk, not just to go outside and use the bathroom. If your box is in your bedroom at night crate training, your puppy is already one or two steps ahead of you in the night potty training game. Don’t crate your puppy before you go to bed, but crate them if they wake up in the middle of the night and need to be taken outside for whatever reason (in my case, it’s because she’s still a little too young to hold it all night). Don’t crate your puppy right before bed because once you create them, they need to stay there for at least four hours. If you make them, they will have more time to go potty during the night and wake up everyone which is not ideal, so crate train your puppy by always taking him out of his box to go potty right before you crate them for the night.

4 . Night crate training

This is one of the most critical stages in crate training because it’s when they truly learn that their crate means business and they sleep through all of your distractions (unless you happen to have a puppy like mine who cries and whines every time she is crate trained).

Night crate training is always the same routine; my puppy wakes up, I crate her right away, then go back to bed. Some people have told me they let their puppies cry it out during the night, but my puppy is brilliant and knows she can whine and cry all she wants, but if she complains too much, mommy gets up, and it’s a bad thing.

The crate should be left open for the first week of crate training because you want your puppy to have the option to go inside on their own if they need or want to. I crate my puppy from whenever she wakes up until 9-10 am; during the daytime, crate training is essential and should be done as often as possible. Every time I crate my puppy, we train her; we do not just crate-train her at night because then she will wait until bedtime to go potty, which is bad considering you don’t want to crate your puppy right before bed.

5 . Crate training tips

When crate training your puppy, crate them in short crate sessions, at most 15-20 minutes at a time. When you crate your puppy, make sure they have toys to play with or chew on and take whatever toy they are chewing out of the crate first. If your dog is small enough, keep treats by the box so he can go inside and find one once their box is trained.

6 . Crate training tricks

Before crate training my puppy, I put the box in my bedroom and closed it off with a baby gate. Then, once crate trained, I took down the baby gate so she could sleep through the night without waking me up to take her outside multiple times. Don’t cover your puppy’s crate unless they have anxiety issues; they need to see what is happening around them at all times. If crate training your puppy, ensure you always crate them for short crate sessions and always end with a fun reward, whether it be a walk, playtime, or treat.

7 . When crate training your puppy

You can not train your puppy too early, but you can prepare your puppy too late. Most dogs will not have accidents in their crate if crate trained early enough. Still, most will have crate training accidents after being appropriately prepared for weeks or months if you are adopting an older dog who has not been taught before taking them outside every hour on the hour so they can be housebroken appropriately by using a box or pen.

8 . How often should I crate my puppy?

Every time you train your puppy, crate training is always good for them, even when they are already trained by older age. If you crate train your dog every time he goes in his crate, he will soon start to love it because it means family time. When crate training your puppy, crate them every time you walk away from them; crate training them before they can be trained to do bad things.

I hope you enjoyed learning how crate training a puppy tips for your eight-week-old puppy, and I hope you learned something new today! If so, you can share this with friends or family on social networks like Twitter, Instagram, & Facebook.

Best of luck crate training your new puppy!

Image Source: Freepik