Crate Training?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
I have a 10wk old Papillon little girl. We got her about 3 weeks ago. My husband and I are trying to crate train her but it’s not going very well. Everytime she is put in the crate she starts howling, crying, whining and barking. She pulls at the cage door trying to get out. It is absolutely horrible. The behavior has not gotten any better over time. We tried to put her in at night to sleep but forget it. The noise is even louder. If we want any sleep at all, she has to come into bed with us. She passes right out then. Yet, the other night she decided to wake up and pee in the bed!! Gross! When she has been in bed with us my husband typically gets up once or twice to take her out in the middle of the night. He just didn’t happen to wake up in time when she peed in bed. Does anyone have any advice. We go to the vet with her tonight so I will be talking to him about it as well. I am at a loss. She is so miserable in the crate! Any help?
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Right now, she’s got you trained….She knows that if she throws a fit, you’ll let her out of the crate.
Take her outside to go potty, then put her in the crate. If she starts crying immediately, or after 1 hour, IGNORE her. If she’s crying after 3 hours, bring her outside to go potty, then immediately put her back in the crate so she doesn’t think it’s playtime.
The rule of thumb to use for her holding it is # of Months, +1, so right now at 2 1/2 months, she should be able to make it up to 3 1/2 hours.
If she cries at any other time, ignore her and by ignore, I mean do not acknowledge her at all – Don’t talk to her, yell at her, tell her it’s OK, etc. Completely Ignore her.
You are giving her praise for crying in the cage. Tough it out and let her whine. If you continue to take her out when she cries, she will always do it. She has you outsmarted. Close your bedroom door, put the crate further away or something, but don’t reward her for unacceptable behavior. We got our new pup 3 weeks ago, as well. After the first 3 nights….quiet as a church mouse until about 6 a. m.
Crate training is one of those things you just have to do. almost every dog will whine and cry and try to get out, but you have to go through the process.
Try working with the crate during the day . Put her in with a treat and some toys, close up then leave the room. Wait until she is quiet, then get her out. Keep increasing the time she has to be quiet.
You can also try putting the crate in the bedroom with you at night. It will be alot louder, but she will be closer and probably comforted by your presence.
I have a chihuahua pup, who is now 8 months old. When we got him at 6 weeks, I bought a baby play pen for 30.00 at Toys R Us. I put a bed in it, as well as a wee wee pad. I have him in that when I can’t watch him during the day, as well as at night. He likes it very much. When I tried the crate, he had a fit. Maybe you can give that a try? It has been a saving grace for me. I don’t feel guilty about leaving him in a crate and he has some space to play. It’s perfect for those little tiny type dogs. Now that he is 8 months, I don’t have to use the wee wee pad anymore at night- he’s able to go from 10- 7:30 without making a mistake in there. The other blessing, is that I can put him in there if we have people over and I’m afraid he’s going to get under foot or run outside. It’s worth the 30.00 to try it!
Don’t throw her in the crate, shut the door and walk away.
You have to make the crate a ‘fun’ place.
Feed her her breakfast/supper in her crate. Put her food in there, leave the door open and walk away. Let her decide when she wants to go in and eat.
Sit down by the crate, throw a treat in there, when she goes in to get it, tell her ‘good girl’ let her walk back out of the crate. Praise again. Repeat this many times. Use high value treats (cheese, chicken, hot dogs etc)
When she gets used to this, you can close the door (while you are still there) just for a second or two, if she is quiet, praise, open the door, let her out and make a big fuss over her.
You just have to ‘undo’ the way she has you trained and get her to come around to the way You want her trained.
Have you enrolled her in an obedience class (with a local training club)? You will learn lots!! Dog trainers are a wealth of information and are more then willing to help out with advice and support
It will probably take a while for her to understand that when she goes in, it doesn’t mean she will be locked up for hours.
Good Luck
Hang in there…
I’ll bet that you let her out while she is throwing her fit. People are very trainable this way. To train her, crate her for short periods during the day maybe 10-15 min at a time. Don’t let her out until she is quiet. Feed her in her crate so that the crate is very positive. Give her a stuffed kong toy while she is in the crate to give her something to do. Place her in the crate when she is tired so she knows where to go when she is tired. Crate train her during a weekend or when you don’t have to get up the next morning and be functional so that you can ignore the screaming , crying, tantrum that she has learned to do at night to get her way. This is kind of like the “Super Nanny bedtime technique for dogs”. The first couple of days are the hardest but once pup learns that you won’t give in to the tantrum, the rest is easy.
I have a 4 month old puppy that I started crate training as soon as we got her. There are a few things that we did that I feel made it successful (They worked for my two year old too and he hasn’r need a crate since he was 5 mos old!):
- Make the carte a good place for your pup, not a punishment. Toys give her something fun to do while she’s in there.
- Give her her meals in her crate, that way she associates it with something good. My girl knows when its food time and goes right to her crate and sits nicely and waits for her food.
- Put a peice of clothing or a blanket or pillow case or something that would smell like you (make sure you don’t want it back!) in the cage with her, that way she will smell you while she’s in there and it will provide some comfort.
- Don’t give in to her whines and cries, it only reinforces the bad behavior. I actually partically covered up my girl’s cage with an old sheet so she couldn’t see me while she was in there and I was in the same room. If she couldn’t see me she wouldn’t howl.
Good Luck!
The crate is supposed to be an area in which your puppy feels safe and secure, it seems to me that your puppy does not find the crate a safe place to be. Try to make it seem more safe and interesting.. maybe use a fluffy blanket and some treats and toys.
Good Luck.
I totally sympthasize. My Chinese Crested pup screamed all night EVERY night for 3 MONTHS (not to discourage you). The best thing you can do is to completely ignore her. Sure, you’ll lose a lot of sleep, but at least you won’t have urine sheets and she’ll be crate-trained in the end. Freezing a kong stuffed with wet dog food also helped to keep him entertained and wear him out, so you might try that.
Crate training does work best, but I have also confined the puppy to one room, where she can still see you, with papers or pee pads. Only take her out of the room if you have time to watch her. I have found complete training takes anywhere from 4 to 6 mos. Before that you will have some accidents, it is just a fact of living with a puppy. I have come to the firm fact that you cannot let any puppy have the run of the house. You will never potty train them!
I have crate trained quite a few dogs in the past. Every rescue that I foster I also crate train. I start with giving them their dinner in the crate. I don’t use the crate as a punishment, and I make sure they have a toy or two to keep them occupied in the crate. You may was to get a couple bully sticks for her to chew on and give her one when you put her in the crate, that is the only place she is allowed to have it. Same with the toys, if you find a toy that she is exceptionally fond of it becomes a crate only toy and the toy does not leave the crate until she is crate trained. When she starts whining don’t let her out as long as you know she does not have to do her business. One of my own dogs was not fond of the crate in the beginning and now he prefers to sleep in his crate even if I leave the door open for him to sleep on the bed he will still go back in his crate to sleep. Make sure you are consistent and it will come in time.
She does it because you let her out when she cries and barks. You have basically told her that if she makes a lot of noise, she’ll get to sleep in bed with you, so that’s why it has not gotten any better. She is getting the best of you. Get some ear plugs.