Would this spoil the crate training?

[dannyg1001]

Im using the crate training method to house break my dog. she is a 6 month old Papillon/Yorkie cross.

She is really coming along perfectly and there are no behaviour or training problems to report (for now).

I bought her a large crate... I went against advice I was given and got her a crate intended for large dogs. I just wanted her to have a bit more space. I realised she may have done her business in one side of the crate... but i got lucky i suppose. Since day one shes never once gone in the crate.

Now im at the stage where she has not had any accidents in the house for a while... and when I take her outside she goes pretty much immediately so I think she knows what she has to do.

For a while I would take her out every couple of hours... but now ive managed to make it every 4-5 hours. Longer walks, once in the morning, once at lunchtime, once when i get home from work and then one more in the evening before bed.

Im thinking I want to test her now... I am still not 100% comfortable giving her free reign in my house just yet... i have a large open loft so putting her in one room is not an option. Shes not mastered the stairs yet, but is curious I dont want her to hurt herself!

Im thinking if i get a large puppy pen outside the crate... so she can leave her crate as she wishes during the day and play with her toys and stuff. Is this a good idea? Im not there for some of the time so cant correct her if she 'goes'.

Is it too soon for this, could it set her house training back if shes not ready?

[Marty11]

I used a puppy play pen and put her crate with the door open in it. She had her food and water bowl and toys there too. In no time she stopped eliminating in that space. It just took some maturity. I will say that small breeds take way longer than large breeds to housetrain. I remembered that I actually put a sheet of plywood on it because my little boston learned how to use her toes to climb out of it. You can buy tops for them.

[dannyg1001]

i have a sneaky feeling she will be ok... I just worry that if she isnt, and im not there to correct her, then it might confuse her. She is doing really really well up until this point.

So you would recommend putting the food and water in the pen with her?

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by dannyg1001

...So you would recommend putting the food and water in the pen with her?

Where do you usually keep her water ?

[dannyg1001]

The waters in the crate but i dont put any food in there apart from the treats in the kong toy.

I suppose i meant is it a good idea to put food in the pen.... shes used to eating twice a day and not just eating whenever she feels like it... or is that better?

[Melinda]

try it for a couple hours at first, then add an hour each time....

[Longblades]

Im thinking if i get a large puppy pen outside the crate... so she can leave her crate as she wishes during the day and play with her toys and stuff. Is this a good idea? Im not there for some of the time so cant correct her if she 'goes'.

That's basically what we did anyway. We had a crate but the door was left open. The crate was in a pen for one puppy and in our gated kitchen for this puppy. I don't much like crates so small all the dog can do is stand up, turn around and lie down either. And I will not crate for longer than 3 hours, rarely 4. We did this from the beginning with 8 week old puppies. We had some puddles and piles on the floor but the floor was tile and cleaned up easily, the crate was kept clean. Ours were toilet trained in the usual amount of time, clean overnight at 4 and 4.5 months and never any mistakes after that or anywhere else in the house but the pen or kitchen. Water was always freely available in the pen or kitchen but anchored down so they couldn't spill it. We did have to be careful of toys that might be swallowed when they were little.

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by dannyg1001

The waters in the crate but i dont put any food in there apart from the treats in the kong toy.

I suppose i meant is it a good idea to put food in the pen.... shes used to eating twice a day and not just eating whenever she feels like it... or is that better?

Free-feeding My dogs are gluttons. I'm lucky to get away with my fingers intact.

I was worried that you weren't leaving water in the crate but didn't want to "J'accuse!"

[dannyg1001]

Heres a picture of the set up.... im still not 100% comfortable with locking up a dog but she seems happy. Does this look like an ok place for her while im at work? The large crate at the back has pillows and a blanket inside.

Sorry for the poor quality I took it on my phone.

[mona_b]

That setup looks great danny.

"IF" she makes a mistake, you really can't get upset with her.. And look at her,how can you.LOL

I never crated. The way I see it, before crating ever existed,people managed to housebreak their dogs.My parents included. And unfortunately, some people over crate. Just my

All my guys had free run when they were 5 1/2 months.

[dannyg1001]

She is well on her way to getting a free run! No accidents in the play pen so far!

She was sick yesterday morning though poor thing. She puked 3 times and was not herself... she's ok now though! I nearly took the day off work today but she was fine this morning playing fetch and running around like crazy!

[mona_b]

Yayyyy Casey.

I would stick with this plan for a bit. This setup is new, so it's the big test.

And if you are going to introduce her to the full run, do it slowly. Leave for about 15 mins then come back. I have posted somewhere on here how I did it. I will see if I can find it so I don't have to type it all out again.LOL. If I can't find it, I will type it out.

Awwww poor baby. Just keep an eye out on here.

[mona_b]

Here it is.

Originally Posted by mona_b

I slowly started leaving them alone for about 10-15mins. I would just walk outside. Then I came back in walked around to see if they got into. Then praised like crazy. I did this for a little over a week. Then I would walk out and stay a bit longer. 20-30 mins. Came in and did the same thing. Praised like crazy. Then again I left for a longer period, about 45mins. I did all this for about a month and a half. I'm sure you get the jest of it.

[dannyg1001]

Thanks !

I tried going into the basement, go on facebook for 10 mins and leave her upstairs but she just sits patiently at the top of the stairs waiting for me to come back!

If I take too long the little smarty pants starts throwing her toys down the stairs to get my attention ha ha.

[mona_b]

Your very welcome.

See with doing it that way, smarty pants knows you are still there. LOL What you need to do is actually "leave" the house. This is how the "testing" is done to see how she is when you are not at home.

[Melinda]

if you are training her to go outside, when you come back from being away and the playpen area is clean, after you praise her, take her outside and when she does her "duty" praise her again!