I just brought my 8 week old GSD home 4 days ago.
I let him sleep next to my bed and did the every couple hours pee break. Same thing the next night. Spoke with previous puppy owners about crate training a young pup and my head is spinning with conflicting info.As my sleep derprivation has increased, my concern that I will forever traumatize the pup has gone way down.
My pup will howl like a banshee but my biggest concern is that he gets frantic and bites, flips and rolls in the cage. I take the collar off so he can't get caught on anything, give a hard chew toy. Should I still let him cry it out? I only lasted 2 hours last night.
It has been many years since I've had a pup and lets just say I want to be a better trainer and owner for my dog.
Thanks for your patience and info. I have ordered the video, not here yet!
Marie

Have not had a puppy in several years either,but do have a couple of ideas. I have never heard of this type of behaviour,rolling around in a crate.I would try a soffter chew toy.Maybe latex or something furry with a sgueaky. Does he get plenty of exersize? I use rescue remedy to help calm my dogs. But it may not be safe for young puppies. You can find it at the health food stores.

Marie, have you introduced the pup to the crate gradually? All new pups in my house get a couple of days introduction to their crate, I put them in for 10 minutes with a toy (usually after a play session so they're tired), while I'm in the room with them, praising them when they're quiet, and letting them out ONLY if there's no screeching <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> . We do this routine several times throughout the day, with me walking out of the room for a few minutes after a while, and they eventually settle into the crate with few problems. If he acts up at night, stick your fingers in the crate to let him know you're there and tell him quiet. And I always use a command when crating them (like "kennel up!"), to teach them to hightail it in there if needed. This stage won't last long (hopefully, lol) so enjoy his puppyhood while you can.

Hi Marie, I just got my new pup a few weeks ago, so I am very empathetic!! LOL

My guy screamed at first, but I just tuned him out completely and PAID NO ATTENTION to him, not even looking at him, if he made any noise. I also made sure that when I took him out it was during a quiet time, and I put raw beef marrow bones in his crate during the day between play and outside and feeding times. This way he way very happy to get back inside. I also threw my jeans on the floor next to his crate at night, this may or may not have helped, but I felt it did :-))
Needless to say now he is much quieter!! He sleeps through the night quite content, and when he stirs in the am I know it's because he needs to go and relive himself. He does a midnight to 7 am stretch nightly w/ no problems, and has been doing this since right after I took him home.
However, you MUST make sure you remove water after 6 or 7 pm, or he won't be able to last all night. It is absolutely essential for house breaking, and won't harm him in the least as long as he has fresh water all day long.
Remember he is a baby, and soon this will pass and you will have a teenage dog!!
Good Luck! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I've had several pups over the past four years. Some of the things that have worked wonderful for me is always giving a treat when they go into the crate, I now have dogs that fly into that crate with excitment. I have had a couple (both males) that would do the same screaming and fussing, what worked perfectly everytime was I just took a light weight sheet or blank and covered the crate - worked like a charm! They immediately quited down and I only had to do it a couple of times. With the last pup, I only had to over the back part of the crate and just leave the door uncovered. For some reason that calms them down. Be careful not to let the cover get too close to the holes, they will pull it through and it can be quite a p.i.t.a to get it back out <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Last night was a much better night. I partially covered the crate. The pup has had some gradual introduction to the crate. Actually had some nap time with the door open. Gave some treats before entry. Tucker cried for about a half an hour with no chewing or rolling. That's compared to 2 straight hours of frenzy the night before. Bedtime was 10:00. Woke up to him crying at 3:15am. Did a pee break,praised and returned to crate with a couple kibbles.
He did some mild whining for about 15 min. then quiet till boyfriend up at 5 am.
Thanks so much for support and advice. I needed that to stay firm and confident that I'm training him the best way at home. Will be doing puppy classes soon.
Marie

Well, when we got our pup about 1.5 months ago, every night it wasa night-mare (sp)
2 hours of sleep, and 6 hours of barking, crying, whinning, etc, etc, etc....
Finally, I placed crate in my truck, and put my puppy in there overnight. Before putting him there, I made sure he did his "business". At 6 am I took him out, and guess what: the crate was dry, no accidents, 4 nights like that, and now he sleeps almost all night.
Worked for us

Hi Marie, there is an excellent book called, The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete. It has all the answer to any questions you might have about your puppy. I followed it with my first pup and he was crate trained in 3 days and loved it.

Hang in there! Both my pups started out like little monsters in their crates. But they love it now (6 months). The crate training is so worth it. I was very skeptical at first. But now I'm a believer.

Three things - first of all, the crate should be fun. A stuffed kong helps a lot. The crate shouldn't be boring or uncomfortable.

Lots of exercise. If the crate is the only place the tike can sleep, then exercise the snot out of him and then he will appreciate the crate a lot more. Soft blanky - if he gets a good sleep, he'll value it.

Finally, feed in the crate (for a little while). Don't need to lock him in there to feed. Just so he gets used to going in my himself.

Trust me, (s)he'll warm up to it. There's a video of my pups and their crates posted here:

http://www.chautown.com
click on "Juen-Sak Hueng-Bo Activities Video Page"
Its currently the bottom video on that page.

You can see that with a little persistence, they completely overcome the fear of being locked up.

Best Wishes,
David Chau