Puppy Crate Training – A Nine Step Guide
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. Consistency and persistency are vital in this process.
1.The right size of dog crate is vital. Make sure you get one before your puppy arrives. This means it should be large enough so your puppy can lie down in it and turn around in it but not much larger than that. This will become your puppy’s nest and his natural instinct is to never soil it. If the crate is too large, he may soil it away from his usual sleeping position. You have been warned!
2. Make sure you are available for at least the first couple of days, so that you can remain with your puppy. He’s going to need taking outside 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 house trained.
4. There are certain times when he will predictably require taking outside, so take him out at these times: when he gets up in morning, when he wakes up from a nap, after he’s been exercising (for example, playing hard), after eating or drinking and before he retiring to bed 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 signals that he wants to poo or pee. The signal may be sniffing, circling or backing up.
6. Once you see the signal that he wants to relieve himself, you should take him outside as fast as you can and wait until he does his business.
7. When he does his business, immediately give him lots of praise and attention.
8. If you need to attend to other matters, you could leave the puppy in his crate for up to an hour. You should always do this if you cannot pay full attention, at least until he is well house trained. Firstly, however, your puppy must be content to stay in the dog crate. To do that give him small treats while he is next to the crate and gradually lure him inside with them. 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. If he does his business in the house, just ignore him when he does it but be sure to clean it up and clean the area thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaner or hot biological washing powder solution. 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.
