Crate Training

[Dani]

Does anyone have some advice on crate training? I just got a 7 week old male mini and I'm not sure that I'm doing the right thing. I've been having him sleep in there during the day. He will sleep as long as the door is open. I carefully close it after he goes to sleep. I'm hoping that he will be comfortable in there so that I can get some sleep at night. I would like him to be crate trained until he is old enough to use the doggie door.
Should I allow him to cry a little bit? or alot?
When can I expect him to be able to go all night without having to potty?
We have a doggy door but he is too little to use it, when can I expect him to use it on his own? Right now, I take him outside to potty. He seems very smart and has an idea what I expect of him.
Any help would be appreciated.

[Penny's Aunt]

Congratulations on your new baby!

Is his crate large enough to have sleeping, eating & pooping areas? Keep his blanket only in the sleeping area. Lay several layers of paper on the pooping area. If he pees & poops only on the paper, you are closer to housebreaking.

Feed him in his crate, & have water available there, too, preferably in a heavy bowl that he can't tip over (like one of those heavy ceramic parrot bowls).

He's a baby alone in a whole strange new world, so expect him to cry. Don't go rushing in when he does, or HE will be training YOU. Put a warm water bottle under his blanket, & some stuffed animals to make it less lonely.

For housebreaking, see my post HOUSEBREAKING PUPS & DOGS.

Even if you have questions that sound silly, ASK! Some of the ones that sound silly are the most important. And don't forget: everyone here has gone through what you're going through, so WE KNOW EVERYTHING!

(heehee, do you think she believed it, guys?)

[WOTANSMUTTI]

Hi Dani,
Welcome to this excellent board. Yes, we've all been down the poop path and have survived to laugh on this zone (at least at most of it! ).

I have a blk/tan mini male named Wotan. When I got him it was so heart wrenching to leave him in his crate overnite- but there was nothing for it. Towel wrapped hot water bottle, stuffed toys and tons of towels to squirm into helped. I also left the fishtank lite on and tuned the TV to classical music.

When he was really tiny I could keep him in the kitchen with a babygate. This way he could get to his food and water anytime. The crate was left open as the bed.He had wee-wee pads on the floor and did well on those.

When Wo entered the "eat your kitchen" phase I started locking him in his crate while I was at work. I was always home by 2pm most days and made sure to keep this routine for about a year. When I'd get home I'd squeal his name loudly while letting him out,then we'd rushed out the door to the yard as fast as we could run!

Housebreaking and crate training seem to go paw in paw. Wotan never liked going to bed at nite in his crate-but we sleep upstairs and he couldn't follow. I'd tempt him with a pc of cheese and say, "In" and he go. He'd settle in a few minutes .

After about 11 months I trusted him enough to reconize we had a routine here. He got to sleep on the couch now and wasn't crated during the day. He never chewed-prob. passed that point during the time I crated him. Then, shortly,I trusted him all the way. Now he will howl loudly and wake us if he needs out during the nite!

Success story! Yay! It took me a year-but it was all logical steps.Wotan could prob. been trained much earlier,but I had to trust him.
I used the same techniques of praise and small steps to get him to learn his outside limits and to come when call. (Today I praised him for coming when he could have chased a chicken! )

Good luck with the pupster- http://dachsie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

[MaverickMom]

Sonja,

It's nice to hear a success story to remind me that hopefully there will be light at the end of the tunnel one day. I am still struggling with potty training and my two, especially Maverick. Sasha is doing a WHOLE lot better with hers and I've come to the conclusion that a good number of the accidents that I was blaming on Sasha were indeed Maverick's accidents instead of hers.

When we go out, Sasha will imediatly get her business done and then go play. Not my Maverick! *sigh* He has to smell of every plant, bush, flower, you name it in the yard! He takes FOREVER! And then sometimes when I think he's finished we come back in the house and he'll go somewhere in there, usually poop. I know what you're all gonna say....PATIENCE! And I know you're right. I'll hang in there, as always but its very discouraging. *sigh*


Sonya

[Dani]

Thank you everyone for responding to my letter. It appears that the main thing is to have a schedule and be consistant. Gunther is doing much better. I have put him in the kennel and he cries at night but he is crying less and less. I get up a couple of times to potty him and he is doing very well. He hasn't pottied in the kennel. In fact, he has started to go in and out of the doggie door. The doggie door is in my laundry room and I closed it off, left his kennel in there and went shopping for a couple of hours. There was no mess and he was outside when I got home. There is hope on the horizon!!! The main problem is in the morning when the grass is wet from the sprinklers coming on, he doesn't want to go on the wet grass. Thanks again and I'm sure I'll have more questions.

[WOTANSMUTTI]

Maverickmom!

Naming him Maverick what'd you expect?
He's just doing what's normal. Actually, little boys are harder to potty train than girls. I wonder if this extends to the canine childre, too?

Wotan, being male, has to check his territory and squirt every little thing taller than him (on 7 acres that takes a while).

I have an idea with the poop when you see it's his. Get your paper towel,pick it up and with him in tow go out to "his" doo-doo place and drop it there. Make sure he sees it. Also, while you're picking up the nasty little present- make low, unhappy noises about the whole thing. The idea is that if you get a section of the lawn smelling like "his" toilet,maybe he'll get the agenda!



[This message has been edited by WOTANSMUTTI (edited April 28, 2000).]

[Mark]

Hi Dani and welcome to the board.

Wo mentioned classical music . . . Masse likes Classical, Duck Butter seems to prefer Heavy Metal and Top Spin likes Pop. And they are all 3 are at ease with Oldies. That's what I needed . . . dogs who are music critics! http://dachsie.org/ubb/rolleyes.gif http://dachsie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

Mark

[Wienergal]

Welcome, Dani and Gunther! Just wanted to say we're glad to have you here and I hope that Gunther gets with the program soon so that he can assume his rightful sleeping place, in your bed! http://dachsie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

I never crated my two. I used the barricaded kitchen method with Peaches instead. It took a loooooooong time, but she's an unusually independent and stubborn girl. Though I've never tried it, I think Sonja's idea about creating a poopy area in the yard for Gunther sounds like a good one. With the wieners, you have to be very creative, as well as patient.

Mark, how do you know which music your dogs like best? Do they play air guitar, or dance...? http://dachsie.org/ubb/lol.gif

[Dani]

Thank you all for writing. Yes, I do agree on having one spot for potty. I've taken him to the same spot since I brought him home and it happens to be right off the patio from the doggie door. I know of a Chihuahua that was papertrained and then they were trying to get her to potty outside and she was so confused, she pooped EVERYWHERE. I decided not to do that with Gunther. He pottys in the same spot from day 1. I live in Phoenix so weather is not an issue for him. I did adjust the sprinkler on that spot so that it doesn't get so wet and I think it's helped. Last night was another victory, we had to leave from 6:00-9:00. I left his dinner and water in the laundry room with his kennel. When we got home, he had eaten and was asleep in his kennel. There were NO accidents so he went outside to do his business!!! Yeah!

You're right, Weinergal, he slept with us the first few days and I'm sure that is where he would prefer to be!! It was when he jumped off my high bed early in the morning that I decided to seek help. I have 4 children so I assume that when he is trained he will sleep with one of them. He loves my boys, sleeps on their backbacks and hats. Cute! I'm not sure what type of music he likes, I have him listening to my oldies (80's)! He still cries. What a baby.

[WOTANSMUTTI]

Dani!
Hi from me and Wotan. Great news on the progess. Remember, just when they have it they don't. Just like kids.
As far as the crying goes, Wotan howls for me when I leave for work, but that doesn't last long b/cause I know for a fact he passes out on the couch for the whole time I'm away. He also cries sadly when I'm cleaning the house upstairs and he can't get up the steps. Soooooo pathetic.

Dachsies are great manipulators. It comes with the breed http://dachsie.org/ubb/facelick.gif

[This message has been edited by WOTANSMUTTI (edited April 29, 2000).]

[MaverickMom]

Sonja,

Thanks for the tip about the pooping. I will try that! What have I got to lose?? LOL http://dachsie.org/ubb/smile.gif

Sonya

[Wienergal]

Whoa, Dani!!! You sure know how to make a (wiener)gal feel old!! Oldies...from the <h3><font color=red>'80s</h3></font>????????
http://dachsie.org/ubb/tongue.gif:
Child, oldies are from the '50s and '60s!! What you're listening to is just "middle-age-ies!!!" http://dachsie.org/ubb/lol.gif


[This message has been edited by Wienergal (edited May 03, 2000).]

[Penny's Aunt]

Oldies from the EIGHTIES? Now THAT's scary!