Pets - Infowire

Crate training is known to be the most efficient method for puppy house training. You will need a crate when crate training your puppy. You can’t keep an eye on your puppy all the time, so you need to confine her activity to an alloted space for a short period of time. Your puppy should remain in her crate all the time, unless she’s eating, playing, or when you are taking her for a potty break outside.

The crate is like your puppy’s den, a place where your puppy feels safe and at ease; this will be the space for her to enjoy her time sleeping, napping or simply being alone. Based on dogs’ natural dislike of soiling their sleeping area, your puppy will not want to soil her own resting quarters, so she will hold her pee and poop until she’s let out of the crate.

How to pick a crate?

It is necessary to select the right size of crate for your puppy. If the crate is oversized, it gives your puppy space to sleep at one corner, and do her business at the other corner. This then beats the entire purpose of crate training your puppy, and will delay the house training for several weeks!

With regard to selecting a crate, choose one that has enough space for your puppy to easily stand up, turn around and lie down. No worries though, there’s no need to keep buying new crates when your puppy gets bigger. You’ll be able to save money if you buy a crate that can last till your puppy grows up.

Get a large wire crate (for adult dog size), then block off some of its inside space with dividers when your dog is still a puppy. Boards or wire grilles serve well as dividers. When your puppy grows and requires more space to move around, you can enlarge the space by adjusting the dividers. If you prefer to build the crate yourself, that’s a good idea, too. You can later replace it with a larger model when your puppy gets bigger.

Making the crate inviting

You can make the crate a welcoming and inviting place for your puppy to go. It’s a good idea to lay a couple of towels on the floor of the crate, not forgetting to put a chew and some toys inside the crate as well. The door should be always opened when your puppy is out of the crate, but must be firmly closed when she’s in the crate.

Remember: before your puppy is fully house broken, you wouldn’t want to give her total freedom in the house to avoid soiling incidence. If you let her wander freely in the house before she’s fully house broken, you’re like ‘approving’ her to do her business anywhere she wants to. And each time she does this, the risk of soiling incidence will increase.

Where to place the crate?

When you are crate training your puppy, have the crate nearby. The most suitable place to put the crate is where the family members gather, for example the kitchen. Keeping your crate puppy close to you not only makes your puppy house breaking process easier, since you can keep a close watch on your puppy’s movement, but also helps build the bond between you and your puppy. Being new to the environment, it’s important that you make your puppy feel that she’s not alone, and that she’s now a part of your family.