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Posts Tagged ‘crate training a puppy’

There are some quick tips for housebreaking a puppy that will be very easy to accomplish if you are patient and committed to the task. When you get your puppy and begin to plan a housebreaking strategy, it will be important to remember that your puppy is a baby and will not understand the rules of the house immediately.

Yelling and rubbing a puppy’s nose in their mess does not work when you want to housebreak your puppy. This method often scare and confuses the puppy because everywhere they sniff, they smell mess so they don’t know where the right place to go to do their business is. Following these simple steps are going to give you much more success when you are training your puppy.

While some people prefer to use newspaper training for their puppy, it is often more effective if you just start training your dog to go outside from the start. Most people have a difficult time training their puppy to go outside after it has “learned” to go on a newspaper in the home. In addition, if any newspaper is every left on the floor by accident it will likely become a potty.

Take your dog outside first thing in the morning, right after they eat or drink, and last thing at night. By developing this habit, they will learn much more easily to wait until morning to go potty. Additionally, don’t feed your dog two hours before bedtime. If you feed your dog snacks right before bedtime, you will probably have a mess to clean up in the morning.

When your puppy begins to turn in circles or sniff around, it wants to go outside. Put the puppy out side while saying. “It’s time to go potty”. Whenever you put your puppy out to go potty you should have a phrase that you use to reinforce the action. This will help when the dog is older and you are visiting a strange house. When you say “It’s time to go potty”, your dog will be ready to go potty.

There will be accidents and messes. The tip here is to keep from reacting negatively. Ignore your dog and clean the mess as quickly as possible. Be sure to spray the area with deodorizer so there is no potty scent. When puppy goes outside to do their business praise them, when they have an accident inside, ignore them. The puppy will learn very quickly to do their business outside to get attention.

Another great tip is about using cues. Dogs are great at responding to sounds. If you have fed your dog canned food, you know how they will show up the minute the can opener starts. Using this technique got teaching your puppy to go potty is very easy. Set a timer or bell for 45 minutes to an hour. When the bell goes off put your puppy out to go potty. If you are consistent, in a very short time, you dog will go outside when a bell goes off.

If you are consistent with this method you will find that when they hear a bell, they will expect to go outside. Another twist on this is to use a little silver bell. If you tie it by the door, when your dog needs to go outside, it will ring the bell. This is a very easy and time saving “trick” to teach a dog. Creating habits is one of the great tips for housebreaking a puppy quickly and easily.

kennel training a puppy makes all the other steps in dog’s training go so much smoother, the same way a solid foundation makes for a superior wall.

Establishing you as the Alpha member of his “pack” is one very good reason for starting your puppy in a crate when he is very young.

Another reason for crate training is that dogs expect predictability.

To be able to predict what is going to happen in any given situation makes it happy, and more apt to be the best-behaved dog it can possibly be.

A firm crate is the very basis of good puppy training. A wire crate with a lock is the best kind.  Make sure it is large enough for it to stand up and turn around. But not so large that it can roam and wander around. A too-large crate will inhibit house breaking.

A crate that is just the right size will be seen as his “nest”, where puppies never “go potty”. They will learn to hold it if you don’t turn it into a prison.

Never leave a dog under 8 weeks old, longer than one hour in his/her crate. He/She will soil it, after struggling and suffering as long as he can.

Put a nice pad in there with a bone. Start by placing a tasty treat in there, they will go in and get it. Do this several times without closing the door, let him/her come in and out freely for about an hour.Praise it highly each time s/he goes in; make it all very pleasant.

Once its attention is on its treat, close the door. Praise it quietly, “What a good boy/girl, it’s ok, such a good boy/girl!” In 10 or 20 seconds, no longer, let him/her out without a word, no praise, just a pat. Do this for increasingly longer intervals, without giving him/her a chance to get upset. This can be done a number of times the very first day.

Make sure every training session ends on a happy note; this is essential.

Once it sees the crate is his/her own private territory, he/she will go in there on its own, expecting treats as well as your attention.When he/she does, say, “Wanna crate?” with a happy face while getting its treats. Start leaving the room while he/she is in there for 2 minutes and onward, gradually. When you come back, don’t make a fuss, just walk over and open the crate. In about3 days he/she will be officially crate-trained, ready to be left on its own for an hour, no longer at first. Leave it gradually for longer intervals, slowly and carefully.

  Why do I want a crate for my puppy? The best reason is because they love it.

They feel quite safe and secure in there.

When you leave a puppy alone, |it[he/she] always suffer from separation anxiety to a certain extent. This may lead ithim to any behavior that brings him/her comfort such as chewing, digging, or when it is severe, voiding his/her bowels.

When placed in a crate, he/she feels safe because nothing can get to him/her, nothing can harm him/her. He/She will sleep and chew and wait for you to return. When leaving it overnight at the vet, if your dog is not crate trained it will cry the entire time, feeling lost and abandoned.

When your dog is crate trained, it will be confident that you will return, you always do. The vet’s office will be strange to him/her and will cause it some anxiety, but nothing like the sheer terror it will feel without having experienced being locked in.

While crate training your puppy, do not make a prison of its crate. Do not use it as punishment. Do not leave him/her there for more than 2 hours, just time for a long puppy nap and some chew time.    Then, he/she may cry. Do not remove him/her while he is crying. This will only make it think he has to cry to get out. No matter what, make sure it is being good when you open the door. He/She will learn he/she that crying won’t get him/herout. Don’t make a fuss when you are letting it out, simply open the door and take him/her out to potty. When it potties, praise him/her to high heaven! Dogs naturally do not go where they nest, but sometimes it happens.   Don’t scold, just clean it out with a bland face. The lesson will have been learnt.If possible, try to clean it while he/she is outside so it returns to a clean crate.

crate training a dog is critical for a dog’s well-being.