Crate Training Your New Puppy

Crate Training Your Dog

A new puppy in the house can be a wonderful experience for everyone. Unfortunately your puppy did not arrive house trained. Just as we need a place to call our own you new puppy does as well. Crate training is a solution to several problems. It offers your pet it's own sanctuary, provides protection from the hazards of your home, it is a useful tool to house train a puppy, and finally it protects your house from the hazards of a teething puppy.

Concepts:

There are a few concepts that should be understood to make the training process go more smoothly.

In all aspects of training consistency is the key. Your puppy will learn quickly by repetition.
Your puppy will respond much faster to positive reinforcement than negative reinforcement. Our effort is to create situations that we can elicit good behavior followed by exuberant praise.
Know when a puppy is most likely going to eliminate and take advantage of proper timing. There a three times when you can count on a puppy going to the bathroom.

After they wake up
After they play
After they eat.

Always take your puppy out to eliminate just before putting it in the crate.

By knowing these concepts and applying them to you training you will drastically speed the training of you pet.

Training Techniques

Introduce your puppy to the crate early in it's life. Since puppies are social creatures keep the create in an area where your family spends a lot of time. Motivate your puppy to enter the crate voluntarily by placing a few toys or food in the crate.

The first confinement session should occur after a session of play. By taking advantage of your puppy's need for rest you will lesion the impact of being separated from the family. Expect the first few times your puppy may cry and whine. It is very important that you do not reward this behavior by letting it out or by consoling the puppy. In fact any attention weather negative or positive will likely reinforce the behavior for the next time. It is best to ignore the crying until it stops THEN release it from the crate (thus rewarding the good behavior). If the crying does not subside on its own try leaving a TV or radio on near the crate to offer a distraction. If excessive barking is a problem a correction may be in order. It is important that when using correction, avoid being seen by your puppy so it does not associate the correction with your presence. Correction will only be effective if the puppy associates the distraction with the undesirable act. Any of the following may be tried to interrupt a barking puppy:

Place a few pennies or stones in a soda can and shake it creating a startling noise
A squirt from a water gun

In these situations you puppy will learn to associate barking with an undesirable consequence.

Any time you are not directly interacting with your puppy keep it in the crate. This will help prevent unwanted accidents and to create situations of good behavior that can then be rewarded. When you first take your puppy out of the crate take it outside to eliminate before you play with it. Reward the puppy if it eliminates in the appropriate area. After your puppy has "done it's business" have a play session with it. Your puppy will soon recognize that its "business" first then play.

If your puppy should have an accident in the house it is useless to scold it once that act is over. Your puppy may appear to understand why you are mad - but it doesn't. It will understand you are mad, by the tone of your voice, but it will not make the distinction between going to the bathroom and going to the bathroom in the house. If you should catch your puppy in the act, give a light correction "No" and take it outside immediately offer praise. Hash corrections or rubbing your puppy's nose in an accident will only teach your puppy to be afraid of you.

Remember:

Consistency and repetition are the key.
Only reward behavior you want repeated.
Corrections should only be made when caught in the act.

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