Thursday, March 29, 2012

Crate Potty Training

Puppies can comprehend the same way we can, but it does take a bit of time and patience. When you potty train your puppy with a crate, at first the puppy wont understand why it's been put into the crate, the puppy might be scared, the puppy might not want to be inside the crate, and the puppy might have separation anxiety from being alone and bored. Do not force the puppy into the crate, you need to entice the puppy to go into the crate with treats or a tasty bone. The first few days of crate training is very rough because the puppy will bark a lot. The puppy will eventually get acclumated to the crate. You may expierence a few accidents inside the crate for the first four days. Try to remember to let the puppy out often to encourage the puppy to do its buisness outside. Either way, the puppy must stay inside the crate for at least one hour at a time, increasing the time by fifteen minuets, up to a half an hour, three hours max. (especially over night). It helps if you put your puppy on a schedule (potty time, play time, eat/drink time then back in the crate). When you let you puppy outside to go potty, go outside with the puppy and bring some treats with you, when you see the puppy go potty, give the puppy a treat when its done and say "good potty!" in a "Happy Tone" of voice, so the puppy knows it's doing the right thing. This process is repeated, if the puppy is barking in the crate, that is a sign that the puppy needs to go potty. It is tempting to let the puppy out of the crate every time the it barks, but the puppy needs to know it has to be quiet inside the crate, so you dont want to let the puppy out every time it barks or the puppy will be training you! You can gauge this by keeping a journal, and keeping record of times to let puppy out. Never allow your new puppy to run around inside your house just after opening your crate door.  Carry or leash walk your puppy outside to go potty each time in the designated potty area or area in which you want him to eliminate. The puppy has to learn that the crate is its little home until its potty trained. The puppy must be fed in the crate and it must sleep in the crate until it is trained to not go potty inside the crate. This will come in time, there will be accidents along the way. The crate training process takes 2-3 weeks and it is extremely effective if the process is done correctly. But don't forget that a puppy is just like an infant, there will be times where the puppy will be barking at four in the morning because it needs to go potty, letting it out right away is the best thing to do to ensure perfect crate training for your puppy. 

No comments:

Post a Comment