Crate training your puppy will aid in potty training and keep your house free from chewing and other destructive behaviors that adorable puppies exhibit.
Step 1
Crate training should begin as soon as you bring your puppy home. Once you’ve selected your puppy, you can select her crate. You’ll need to select the size and style that suits your needs. Puppies are more difficult to purchase crates for because of their impending growth. The crate should be large enough for your dog to stand, stretch and turn around comfortably, but not so big that the dog creates a space for sleeping and a space for eliminating waste within the same crate.
Step 2
Choose a special place in the house for the crate. Do not isolate your puppy from the family! A family room or den is more appropriate than a utility room or bedroom. (Although at night, you might want your puppy and her crate in your bedroom with you.)
Step 3
Entice your puppy into the crate with a treat or toy. If she is reluctant to go in the crate, you will need to pick her up and place her in it. Each time you do this, say the signal word/phrase you’ve created, for instance “crate time” or “kennel up”.
Step 4
Give her lots of praise once she’s inside and then walk away, but stay in the same room where she can see you.
Step 5
Ignore her whining and barking, which is almost inevitable. If you remove her from the crate because of whining and barking you’ve just patterned her to believe that this behavior will always result in her exiting the crate. (If after 5-10 minutes she is still whining or barking, you might want to give her a squirt of water with a spray bottle.)
Step 6
Once your puppy is calm, take her outside to play and (hopefully!) poop. Puppies need to be taken out about once an hour and need to be taught at this age that their crate is not their potty.
Step 7
Without leaving the house, return your puppy to the crate for lengthening periods of time, but never so long that she uses her crate as a potty because you’ve neglected to take her outside.
Step 8
Leave your puppy in the crate and go outside or to the garage where she can’t see you but where you can listen for her reaction. Once she feels comfortable in her crate, leave the house for lengthening periods, beginning as small as 30 minutes and working up to 4-6 hours.
Soon, your puppy’s crate will feel like a little bungalow that she has all to herself.
Collin Walker wrote thie article and it is being sponsored by pet-super-store.com an online pet shop featuring: dog doors and dog houses