[jdesk52]

Hi yall!
I have a couple of questions, I just got a new 9-week old puppy last week and was wondering about a crate training schedule. Right now, I'm trying to put Ellie girl into the crate for a couple of hours at a time while I work in the same room to ensure that 1.) she calms down 2.) she sleeps 3.) to get her used to the crate itself. She usually falls asleep relatively quickly which is nice but I want to get her to the point where she really wants to use her crate as a place to fall asleep. Therein lies my first question, how much should I stick to a routine of walk/bathroom, play, eat, bathroom, crate? Then my follow up question is that I have a bed in the same penned off area, should I take out the bed as a way to ensure she uses the crate then reintroduce the bed once she's a bit older? Thanks! This site has helped me alot!

 

[jdesk52]

Just as a follow up, of course that routine of: walk/bathroom, play, eat, bathroom, crate happens 3-4 per day

 

[Gabica]

i would stick to the routine. always feed in the crate except when handfeed, for training purposes. so both your hand and the crate are associated with food. no worry about liking the crate at this point, it will come with time and routine, just make sure that every time she goes in the crate it is very positive. (so even if she was just doing sharkie before going into the crate, once in there, there should be only a good girl comment, lol that is sometimes hard when your finger still feels about to fall off from your hand...)
i have never had a penned off area, it has been just the crate and doggy beds outside once a bit older.

 

[chickenpeppers]

From the very beginning, I had my V in the crate. As one online trainer said, everything good happens in the crate. Treats, food and Kongs and chew toys. It took my V about 13 days before he remained quiet for the night. It would have been sooner but we traveled to a few days when when picked him up so the first 3-4 days were freebies. So I really think that around 10 days, it can be done...crate trained that is. This has been my experience. We always hand fed him for the first few weeks. Then the remainder went into the bowl, always inside the crate.

I also practice with the dog trainer said. Structure, structure, structure...and routine. So every night, I take my V out at 12 midnight for the midnight pee. BTW, the water bowl gets picked up at 7pm, every night. And every morning, my fiance takes him out at 6am. This is the routine and structure that works for us. I am a night person so staying up until 12 is easy for me. On the contrary, my fiance is a morning person and she can take our V out to go pee in the morning. If you are single or having matching sleeping patterns as your spouse, you might need to get up at 6am yourself. They sleep a lot as pups so having a crate next to my desk was biggie. But we have 3 crates, although one is retired until we get our female V. The retired or semi-retired crate is in a room with AC and a baby cam. That gave us a peace of mind on how the pup was doing and his sleeping habits. We kept the room at about 75 degrees. So it felt perfect actually. Additionally, I played 10-hour dog music on my PC so that there was background noise (along with the AC) that the pup could listen to as they barked and slept the night away. Of course they hate the crate initially, but my V now automatically goes into the crate when he sees I have treats in my hand. He's now 4 1/2 months and he's in the adolescent phase. So the basic commands that he knew since he was a pup, he's now blowing off. So we're in the next phase of training starting this weekend. We'll be using a vibrate e collar to help he comply. He's great when he sees the treat bag but once it's gone, he gives me the finger and won't sit it as much or recall.

I would suggest to have him sleep/nap/chill in the crate whenever you're not training, playing or supervising your V. It just makes it safer for your V and helps him with sep anxiety as well. Like when you need to go to the restroom or get a drink from the kitchen. I believe it helps build trust that you are coming back.