Puppies are known for crying the first few nights. I have never had much luck with the old clock or radio tricks. After enough puppies I eventually found something that worked. What I do is lay down by the crate like I was going to sleep there. Usually a puppy may fuss a little, but then settle down and go to sleep. Once it is asleep, you can get up and go to bed.
It might also help to start off leaving the door open and tossing a treat or toy in there. When the puppy goes in to retrieve it and comes back out, praise the puppy and play with him.
Leave the crate door open while your at home toss in a toy and encourage the puppy to go in an get it. When he does, praise the puppy and give him a treat.
You can't start from the middle of the Crate training process and just lock the puppy in a crate and expect him to like it.
There is a correct way and about at least a dozen wrong ways to crate train a puppy.
It'll take several weeks to even a month or more.
I knew I had succeeded when I was in the kitchen fixing dinner and I looked over to the crate and my puppy had gone in there on her own accord and fallen to sleep with her favorite stuffed carrot.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Yep can be, it depends on how you handle it as too how long it may last.
Make sure your not over using the crate as a pup should only do short & often times with the door closed to start with & when they are OK with that I slowly increase the time.
Make sure the pup is getting enough exercise so it's not feeling all pent up & in need of blowing off some steam when you try & crate them.
At first all I do is feed the pup in the crate & have then sleep in the crate beside my bed with the door open. As soon as they except it as their bed I close the door on them at night but only last thing before I go to sleep & I get up around 2am to toilet them & then let them out at between 5 & 6 am in the morning & put them straight out to toilet & have a play before the day heats up. Around 3 months they can do a whole night without a toilet brake from 11pm to 5 am & I have them doing an hour or 2 max in the crate once a day. I let them have last drink around 10 pm though so their bladders are empty, give then plenty of time to toilet when I take them out at 11pm & put the water back down at 5am the next morning.
I strongly believe crates are being over used too as they are not suitable to house a dog in all day while your a work/school & then all night as well. My dogs are never crated for more than 3 hrs of a day & that's only when I go into town etc so isn't everyday & then crated at nights or when needed for illness or injuries. They are great to use when traveling also.
Yes, they pretty much all do it. No way to know how long its going to last with your puppy – all of them are individuals. If you go about crate training correctly, it shouldn't last long. My last 2 puppies stopped whining at night by the 3rd or 4th night, and there was progressively less each night.
Um yeah
You must log in to post a comment.