A friend of mine is getting a new puppy soon. They want to house train using a crate. Obviously you want your puppy to like his crate, and so you need to get them acclimated and make it positive. But how can you take even a few days to do that when you need to be able to put them in it, at least at night, right away?

How old will the puppy be when it comes home.

No water and food after 7pm.
Any space in the crate more then the pup needs to stretch out in should be filled with boxes or partitioned off with a piece of plywood.

Puppies don't like to sleep in their own mess but if they can go to one end of the crate, do their business and then go back to a clean area they will.

Take the pup out immediately before it's put in the crate.

Be prepared to go out in the middle of the night but don't let the pup out just because it's whining.

That can create a bad habit.

the puppy will be 8 weeks. I know you have to do all that stuff you said, but do you have to spend some number of days getting the pup used to the crate - throwing in treats with the door open, feeding them in there, then gradually having them in for only a small amount of time while increasing the time over time, etc.

Or can you just start putting them in there at nightc, and on a schedule during the day of naps, then out for a little while, then back in, etc for house training purposes - all without doing any training to get them to like the crate beforehand??

Am I making sense?? (I've read that if you just start using a crate at night and during the day without getting them happy with it for a week beforehand, then they'll hate it and you'll have whining and crying all the time forever!)

I've always put mine in from the get go.

Getting them to like it is a matter of a little work but the overnight crying and whining is more about the loss of their mom and litter mates then it is about the crate.

It also helps if you put a blanket over the crate BUT if you do this put a piece of plywood on top the crate that is a couple inches larger then the crate or the pup can possibly pup the blanket through the crate.

I also like to put on of my not washed t-shirts in with the pup to get it used to my scent.

I think it's a great question, Lori, and like you I've always wondered about the contradictions of taking your time to get the pup to love the crate versus the necessity of crating the pup at night from the get-go.

In my experience with the pups of that age that I've brought home, I've found a couple of tricks that have worked. First, I make sure the crate is in my bedroom with me so the pup doesn't feel so completely alone and can hear my voice. I may leave a night light on or a light in a distant room, just enough so it's not completely pitch black and the pup can see a little bit. With my last pup, who I remember being a little more upset than others, I actually got down and laid on the floor in front of the crate and put my fingers through the wire of the front door (it was a plastic crate). Sniffing and licking my fingers seemed to soothe him, and he would soon fall asleep.

Of course, at this age, we are going outside a couple times a night, too, which gives the pup a break from the crate and lets him know he's not going to be in there permanently. It seemed like each time we came back in, he settled down a little quicker.

Then during the daytime, we would play crate games periodically throughout the day, and over the course of several days, the nighttime crating was going much easier.

If your friend is really lucky, the breeder they are getting the pup from has already introduced the litter to a crate, so it won't be a totally new and unexpected experience for the pup.

I think the bottom line is a new puppy is going to mean a lot of sleep deprivation for at least the first few weeks, maybe a lot longer!

 Quote: Bob Scott

I've always put mine in from the get go.

Getting them to like it is a matter of a little work but the overnight crying and whining is more about the loss of their mom and litter mates then it is about the crate.

It also helps if you put a blanket over the crate BUT if you do this put a piece of plywood on top the crate that is a couple inches larger then the crate or the pup can possibly pup the blanket through the crate.

I also like to put on of my not washed t-shirts in with the pup to get it used to my scent.

So Bob, do you use the crate a lot from day one? For instance, there are many house training 'schedules' out there, like the Monks of New Skete's schedule, that goes something like this:

6:30 am get the pup up, take them out, play, feed breakfast
7:30/8 back in crate
Midmorning out of crate for potty break, walk/play, train, back in crate
12:30 out for potty, lunch, play, train
1:30/2 back in crate
5:00pm out for potty and dinner, pup stays in kitchen with you while you fix dinner
7:00pm back in crate
10:00 out for potty, back in crate for the night

THese schedules by them and others say there is a lot of crate time until the puppy can hold it longer to be with you more without accidents so they learn quickly and bladders mature quickly.

Agree? or you think that's too much crate time? Obviously these schedules are a rough idea and can be altered, but still keeping lots of crate time.

Yes,from day one.

"For me" I take a new pup out every 20-30 mins. Doesn't matter if they need to or not.

I stay out with them a good 15 mins, no playing but just walking around the yard.

One huge advantage is that I've been retired for the past 13-14 yrs so it's easy for me.

Even when I was still working I often worked 2nd or 3rd shift so coming home at 2-3 in the morning was a big help.

If I can't watch the dog in the house then it's back in the crate but still never more then and hour during the day and it's back out every time the dog is taken out of the crate.

If there isn't a lot of home time then I don't really know of any good options for letting the dog out.

My present dog Trooper, is the first dog I teathered to me and that worked great.

Before I teatherd him to me I just let him drag the leash around in the house BUT still kept a close eye in him.

Hopefully others will offer more info on time spent in crate for a new puppy.

I recall potty training a lot of pups and I do remember getting up a couple of times a night.

Puppies sleep most of 24 hours. The schedule above is pretty much what I did with all my pups. I also added another potty around 1am or so & I was usally up by 5:30 -6am. No food or water after 6:30pm.

My dog always sleep in my room at night & young pups in crates next to my bed so they can see & hear me during the night & I can check on them.

Pups during day naps are in the same room as me or near by. I want them used to & part of normal family functions & sounds. I usually have a Kong in their crate so they have a toy that I feel is safe that they can't chew up. I do not put soft toys or blankets, beds etc in with pups. Too easy to chew & ingest.

I will also add that my PUps were out with me a bit more than the above schedule often in the kitchen with me.. or outside in the yard....but it is pretty close to what I have done.

When we had Lundy (before we had to return him a few weeks ago for the guarding issue), he did not sleep very much. Many of the times I walked by his crate he was awake, and after an hour and a half he'd start whining and want out, then he'd be awake for 2 hours or more and it was really hard to keep him from having accidents if he wasn't in the crate! Then I'd feel guilty for keeping him in the crate if he wasn't sleeping, so I'd spend a lot of time just watching him in the kitchen so he didn't have accidents - it was hard being isolated in the kitchen all the time. So my friend, after watching that, is now asking if I did it right! or if I should have let him stay in the crate even though he didn't want to be in there - he had chew things, bones, etc. but he didn't chew on them.

I find the crate guilt provoking because I WANT to use it, but if the pup isn't on board, then I feel bad and think I shouldn't make them in there as much as that schedule. This is what brought up the question on whether you need to spend a bunch of time coaxing them into liking it before actually using it - which I don't see how you can realistically do, especically at night.

Sometimes there has to be a bit of tough love. I would leave the pup in there. He is still resting & Will sleep on & off. Take him out & thether or watch carefully. A very light puppy short drag line in the house helps. But you need to be watching closely. You will get to know how often you'll needs go out to potty within a week. Some can go longer than others.

Some pups do better in a covered crate & some in a quiet room. Sometimes you have to try different things
To see what works for each pup.

I wonder if some of the pups not relaxing in the crate may have to do with his high need to feel he had to guard. Many dogs that resource guard food & toys feel the need to crate guard to some degree also.

I have to say ....I never had any problems with any of my dogs with crates. I do know that they had been created by their breeders to ship. One was a LB dog & I know had been crated before shipping..2 of the others I met the breeder 1/2 way driving to pick up the pups. .
My pups also spent a lot of time with me crated in my truck. They pretty much went almost everywhere with me. I wanted to be ad to pop them out to introduce them constantly to new things. So to them a crate also meant fun times. But i was rsising working dogs & wanted them exposed to everything.