Hello everyone! As some of you know we have a new puppy in our family and she is great! She is almost four months old now and we are having to redirect her all the time. This morning I started watching the "Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet" DVD and have a few questions.

When Ed talks about crate training (which I am a supporter of) he states that you should keep the dog in the crate until they are calm and not acting silly or high strung to take them out for walks and exercise. Since I do not have the puppy DVD is this also the same practice we should follow for a 3 month old pup? I guess what I am trying to ask is it ok to practice this with young puppies.... keeping them isolated?

Another crate training question... She is getting better with bolting out the door and I am working on this every day. But what I am having a big issue with is getting her in without a struggle. Since Sunday when we got her she has wanted nothing to do with getting in. Even though she loves food, actually she is nuts for food I cannot even lure her in and if she does she'll only put her front paws in. As soon as I post this I am going to feed her this afternoon in the crate and see what that does.
Is there anything else I could be trying to make getting into the crate a positive experience? I understand that being outside the crate is much more exciting, but I really want to fix this issue the correct way.... she is a determined little lady to say the least.

Thanks for any input and help.

Within reason.

I would rather reward a pup for crying in the crate, than have them pee/poop becaues I waited an hour to take 'em out because they wouldn't stop squalling.

Ideally, after a few days you get a feel for their habits and patterns, and you can preempt the crying by getting to them before they have to go.

Remember, all dogs sleep a lot (15+ hours a day) and puppies even more.
If the dog is gonna sleep, it might as well do it in the crate.

Honestly, just pick her up and put her in there.
With puppies I just sort of let things happen to them without them thinking about it.
I always just put Danke in the crate, praised her for a good "kennel" and then tossed a treat in.
After a week or so, she was going in on her own.

I never let her think she had a choice in the matter, but neither did I allow it to be a big battle or force issue.

I just plopped her in there.
Do it while she's small, and she'll never have a chance to think about it.

I am getting a good idea of her schedule, the house braking is going very well.

I put her food in there this afternoon and she was real reluctant to get it. Then she would grab one bite and run out. She did this a few times before just staying in it to finish.

What I am doing now is while having to hold her back I wait till she is not fighting as much and then I reward her off to the side. She'll then become completely relaxed and then I close the door saying the command.

Thanks for letting me know that just putting her in there will not be problem. It seems like it was so long ago when I had to do this and I do not remember if any of our boys put up this kind of fight.

They say the memory is the first to go! But then again who are they again?

Rick,

One thing I did that worked well for Kaiser was when he came back in from outside and was time for him to go back into his crate - he always FOUND a treat or two waiting for him inside his crate.

This was easily accomplished, when I was outside my wife would place a dog cookie or piece or hot dog or something he liked inside the crate.

He would then come in and we would open the door and give him a nudge and sometimes he would see it and go right in. Other times we just had to put him in and then he would find it on his own.

Either way, going in was always a good thing as he would find tasty treats.

If you don't have someone to put/hide the treats in the crate when you are outside, just drop them in the crate as you walk away and take him outside.

 Quote: Peter Marek

Rick,

One thing I did that worked well for Kaiser was when he came back in from outside and was time for him to go back into his crate - he always FOUND a treat or two waiting from him inside his crate.

This was easily accomplished, when I was outside my wife would place a dog cookie or piece or hot dog or something he liked inside the crate.

He would then come in and we would open the door and give him a nudge and sometimes he would see it and go right in. Other times we just had to put him in and then he would find it on his own.

Either way, going in was always a good thing as he would find tasty treats.

If you don't have someone to put/hide the treats in the crate when you are outside, just drop them in the crate as you walk away and take him outside.

Whoa!

I had to log on to say that I just added this little gem to my
bag o' crate-training tricks!

That is a good idea as well.

My wife is away on a trip for the past four days... nice how she heads out of town during the first few days of hell they call crate training. LMAO

Wow! That is one cute puppy!

Crying in the crate will be extended if you take the pup out when he's crying.

You should wait until the pup is quiet before taking him out.

How long have you had the pup?

Also, you might want to start your own thread...

What is a thread? ;/

A new topic...