Problem with puppy crate training

1036 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by waltw, Apr 1, 2009

JustAnotheRunner

Discussion Starter · Mar 31, 2009

First off, thanks everyone for contibuting to this site.This forum has a lot of good information and links. A week ago I adopted my puppy from Humane Society. He is a 4 month Collie/Shepherd mix. I have been doing a lot of research and I have seen some clashes in common training themes. The biggest one I wanted to mention and perhaps get some feedback.

I read a lot of sites which talk about crate training, they put HUGE emphasis on making the crate a positive place, it's not a punishment, slowly get them comfortable, a lot of rewards, and soon they will love the privacy and escape of the crate.

Now, thats great and all, but when you combine that with potty training, it's simply not possible, is it?

The bottom line is that we can't wait for the dog to love his crate. (We tried) He goes to the bathroom in the house at a moment's notice. We are making great steps towards getting him to wait to go outside, and keeping him in the crate is the greatest asset, because it forces him to hold his bladder. We go straight from the crate to outside and it eliminates accidents.

Right now, almost a week after I brought him home, he is going outside at regular times, doing his business, and then when hes inside he gets put in his crate if we aren't training him. He doesn't hate his crate, but he avoids it like the plague. We either trick him by putting treats in the back corner, or we pick him up and drop him inside.

Thoughts?

Save

1 - 2 of 6 Posts

JustAnotheRunner

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 1, 2009 (Edited)

Thracian - I guess I didn't want to get too wordy in my original post, we do have him out to play and hangout too. But you bring up the point that we are probably too worried about the pee and we should try to have him out of the crate more often.

The next problem I see in the future is how excited he gets when we play with him. At first he is fine, fetchs, chews on his toys, plays tug of war... but then he doesn't even care about his toys anymore and he starts nipping our hands and clothes. A lot of the guides say you should yelp, and/or leave the room so he knows he loses his playmate and learns bite inhibiting. Well, If I leave the room he is going to go to the bathroom, so after a couple bites and me yelping and turning, I just end up ending playtime and puting him back in the cage. I am up for suggestions here, I always try to place the toy in his mouth, yelp and turn away when he bites us, and i also try spraying his leash with bitter apple when he starts chewing on that. (although this probably should be avoided, i noticed the best reaction I get from him is when I yell in a very angry low voice "NO!", should I avoid this? it gets him to stop and look at me)

Marsh Muppet - Thanks for the link, I guess that video is just a teaser trailer for the actual dvd. Is there any quick tips or suggest you picked up that you might want to share?

See less See more

Save

1 - 2 of 6 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month