How long did it take you to crate train your puppy? (lab, breeder)

[Poised]

I'm just curious, I know every dog is different etc etc.

I've had my puppy, Fufu, for almost two weeks now. At first, she only whined 5-10minutes and woke up every 2-3hours to pee. Now she only wakes up twice a night, but whines for 30minutes it seems (15-30, I suppose).

Fufu hates to be alone. Even when I leave her leashed in the living room for a few minutes, she whines when she realizes we're gone.

So, how long did it take for your puppy to sit in crate without whining? And tips to make the adjustment easier?

(fyi, she slept in a crate at the shelter... just with her brothers. Would letting her sleep on her stuffed animal pig help her sleep? She sleeps on it outside her crate all the time, including chewing bones on it.)

[GCPA]

We didn't have this problem but I think I read somewhere.....put something in the crate that has your scent on it.......old tshirt that has been worn alot but not yet washed or something along those lines. Suppose to comfort them.

[jimboburnsy]

We kept the crate in our room for a while; I think it was the first four months - being able to hear us breathing is what I think kept the puppy asleep and/or calm. Every puppy is different so you are going to have to find what works for you, but I know that sleeping in close quarters has worked fairly well for at least one. Also, simply logging a lot of hours in the crate over a long period of time eventually gets the idea into the dog's head that when the door closes it will eventually open again.

The problem with getting advice from people with adult dogs about puppy crate training is that they forget what it was like. It's the same way with parenting - you simply don't remember how taxing those first few months of a child's life are once some time has passed.

A couple of tricks that have worked for me -

Wire crates - sometimes the puppy needs to be able to see what is around him to be comfortable.

Training positive associations with the crate - feeding and watering exclusively in the crate didn't work profoundly well for me, however, getting the puppy to associate the relief of sleep with the crate did. When you see your puppy running out of gas and trying to take a nap, don't let him fall out wherever he wants; gently usher him to the crate and encourage him to bed down in there. If he tries to lay down, keep picking him back up. My dog got the idea pretty quickly that he could either go through a long process and eventually wind up in the crate or just go straight to the crate when he was sleepy.

Adressing "crate panic" - This may not work for every dog but my dog got the basic idea after one session (I should note that this would be heartwrenching to many). Essentially, the dog was crated and I stood across the room with my back to him and allowed him to panic. After what seemed like a long while he stopped and I immediately turned to face him, praised him and slowly walked towards him. Confused, he went back to wailing and I immediately did an about face and returned to my original position. When he settled down I responded by slowly approaching while praising again. He resumed his complaint and I again turned my back on him. I'm not sure how long it took or how many repetitions it required, but about 30 minutes into this drill I clearly saw him "get it" - his posture changed, something in his eyes changed and he adopted the "good boy seated position" and allowed me to slowly approach while praising all the way to the crate. When I reached for the latch he started wailing again and I had to go all the way back across the room, but he composed himself quickly because he understood what we were doing. This time I got all the way to him and let him out of the crate to a hero's welcome. Things started getting a lot better after that. We had laid the foundation that "quiet & well-behaved = good" and frequently recreated the scenario to reinforce a nice, quiet dog in the crate. He wasn't perfect immediately and there are no quick fixes. Everything takes a lot of work.

Enjoy your time with your puppy and spend a lot of time and energy on him now - it will pay dividends.

[Hopes]

Our Lab sounded like a multiple-dog kennel the first night we had him home.

The crate was in the kitchen on the first floor. Our bedroom was on the second floor.

I knew that he missed his litter mates. It must be super scary to suddenly be sleeping alone.

So his second night home, we moved his crate to our bedroom and put it next to our bed. Then he slept like an angel and didn't make a sound.

[jimboburnsy]

one thing I had forgotten about...

I slept on the floor with my puppy for three weeks or so until he could hold his water a little better. I did that because it was the best way for me to get some sleep - he was terrible.

[Hopes]

Yeah, they do need to get up every few hours in the middle of the night for the first month or so.

Once we moved his crate to our bedroom, the only time he made a sound was when he needed to go outside.

But I was able to wake up easily without sleeping on the floor because having children makes me a light sleeper.

Also, don't play with your puppy in the middle of the night. Put it back in the crate as soon as it's done. If you play with it, it won't go back to sleep and will get its nights and days mixed up.

[Dashdog]

I have been lucky with puppies and crate training. Jazz was 12 weeks and at night did not whine at all unless she had to go pee,. She did fuss abit when I crated her during the day when I was around and she could see me as she wanted to be with me but by ignoring her she soon stopped that behavior and she loved her crate her whole life as it was her safe place. When she saw me getting ready to go out she would go get in her crate even when we got to the point that I took the door off it.

Chaos at 13 weeks got shoved in the crate when I flew her from Texas to California so there was no time to do a proper crate introduction and she was fine and when I put her in the wire crate she will whine for a minute of two then settle down and in the plastic crate in my room at night she settles right down and I have only had her 12 days.

Even my dogs I got as adults crate trained fast the most difficult was Dash as he would pant hard and drool big time because the crate made him anxious but I soon learned he did much better in a wire crate but then again even he did not bark or whine. some dogs take right to it others it takes awhile but the big thing is you do not give in and let them out when they do whine or bark unless you are certain it is a I have to pee whine or else they do learn that barking will get them out .

[andthentherewere3]

Originally Posted by Poised

Now she only wakes up twice a night, but whines for 30minutes it seems (15-30, I suppose).

She is probably whining because she has to go to the bathroom, she is still pretty young. Some puppies still have to go once or twice during the night at that age. Rather than let her cry for 15-30 minutes, just go ahead and take her out. By the time my puppies were a few weeks old they were sleeping through the night, but I know I was lucky, lucky, lucky, that is not the norm.

Originally Posted by Poised

Fufu hates to be alone. Even when I leave her leashed in the living room for a few minutes, she whines when she realizes we're gone.

That's pretty normal, too. Dogs want to be with their "pack". With my puppies I would just bring them with me leashed all over the house until they were toilet-trained. Or, I would put them in a fenced-off uncarpeted room, such as the kitchen. If I was leaving the house, into the crate they would go, but I was always back home within an hour or two, when they were really young.

Originally Posted by Poised

(fyi, she slept in a crate at the shelter... just with her brothers. Would letting her sleep on her stuffed animal pig help her sleep? She sleeps on it outside her crate all the time, including chewing bones on it.)

Our puppies did sleep with a stuffed animal, in fact our last breeder sent one home with us. The litter slept with a bunch of stuffed animals, and it had their scent on it. Just make sure it doesn't have any buttons/eyes that the puppy could chew off.

Originally Posted by Poised

So, how long did it take for your puppy to sit in crate without whining? And tips to make the adjustment easier?

With two of my three puppies, it was pretty quick. At night they didn't whine or cry at all after the first night or two. During the days, I just put them in the crate occasionally while I ran errands, they were never crated for hours at a time during the day. I would leave them toys to play with. They adapted quickly. One of our three puppies never did take to the crate though, and I started him at 8 weeks. He would cry/whine/pee etc., even though his first crate was small. He didn't mind laying in his pee. Just make sure the crate isn't too large, or you could run into that problem. He was about 4 months old when we gave up on using a crate for him. Fortunately, he wasn't a chewer, and was well-behaved indoors. But as you said, all dogs are different. Good luck!

[Niftybergin]

I got Bandit when he was 6 months old, and he was pretty well house-broken by then. Initially, I used two crates: one for the bedroom and one for the living room. At night, I'd go to bed with him on the bed, then around 2:30 he'd wake me up for a potty break. When we came back in, he was crated the rest of the night. Then he'd come out of the crate in the morning when I woke up, and go back into the (living room) crate when I left for work. I'd come home for lunch for a pee-break, and initially he'd go back into the crate for the afternoon, but as he got older, he started having half-days in the crate and half-days out of the crate. By the time he was about 11 months old, he was rarely locked in his crate...although it was always up and open and he used it as his hang-out spot. (He still does. My dog LOVES a den and will make one out of any cave-like space he can find, whether it's his kennel or under a piece of furniture.)

I think the biggest thing that helped us is that we had -- and still have -- a very regimented schedule. It's just the two of us, so it's easy for him to keep track of that schedule.

[Poised]

Originally Posted by andthentherewere3

She is probably whining because she has to go to the bathroom, she is still pretty young. Some puppies still have to go once or twice during the night at that age. Rather than let her cry for 15-30 minutes, just go ahead and take her out. By the time my puppies were a few weeks old they were sleeping through the night, but I know I was lucky, lucky, lucky, that is not the norm.

Oh, I do take her out. Maybe I should have clarified. I take her out when she needs, then put her back after she goes potty. She whines after I put her back for 15-30minutes (same for 5-10minutes previously, it was after she went to the bathroom).

She also use to sleep with a turtle stuffed animal, but she always ended up pushing it under the bars. We were thinking of removing the divider and letting her have the whole crate to sleep in along with her pig.

We're not worried about her potty training. In the 2 weeks we've had her, she's only had accidents when we weren't watching her early on (our fault, I know). She always whines and barks (or goes to door, when possible) when she wants to go out.


Thanks for advice everyone! Going to try the pig method and if that doesn't work, try putting her in my room (she sleeps in kitchen).