Puppy Crate Training – Nine Steps To Success

If you are going to be bringing a puppy home that hasn’t been house trained, you can use this step-by-step guide. If you follow the nine steps described here, you will be successful in house training your puppy. In order to be successful, you must be consistent and persistent.

1.The right size of dog crate is vital. Make sure you get one before your puppy arrives. This means it should be big enough so your puppy can turn around in it and lay down in it but not much bigger than that. A puppy’s instinct is to never soil his nest and the crate will act as his nest. However, if it’s large enough so he can sleep in one corner and poo in the other, he probably will!

2. Make sure you are free for at least the first couple of days, so that you can stay with your puppy. He’s going to require taking out a lot to begin with – from every thirty to sixty minutes.

3. You may want to limit the puppy’s access to certain areas of the house until he is housebroken.

4. There are certain times when he is very likely to need to go outside, so take him out at these times: when he awakens in morning, when he wakes up from a nap, after he’s been exercising (for example, playing hard), after each meal or drink and before he goes to sleep at night.

5. When he arrives you are going to need to take him outside every thirty to sixty minutes, until you start to recognise the signs that he wants to poo or pee. The sign may be sniffing, circling or backing up.

6. Once you see the signal that he wants to relieve himself, you need to take him outside at once and wait until he does his business.

7. When he does his business, immediately give him lots of praise and attention.

8. If you can’t keep an eye on him for a while you can leave him in his crate for an hour. But you must firstly lead him to be content to remain in his crate. In order to do that you need to develop a positive association with the crate for him. Give him some small treats near the crate and tempt him inside gradually. Once he’s been in a few times, shut the door very briefly and then open again. Gradually increase the time with the door shut. You can also put an interactive toy or a dispensing toy in the crate to keep him occupied.

9. He is likely to have an accident in the house at some point. It’s pointless shouting at him. Just ignore him and clean it up. Wipe the area carefully with hot biological washing liquid or with an enzymatic cleaner. If you don’t, your puppy will still smell it and be tempted to do his business there again.

For more information about puppy crate training and house training your puppy, visit my Training Puppy Tips website.

Tags: house training a puppy, puppy crate training, puppy training tips, training puppy tips