Crate Training A Puppy - Nine Steps To Success
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. You are going to need to be very consistent and persistent in order to be successful.
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 bigger than that. A puppy’s instinct is to never soil his nest and the crate will act as his nest. If he can sleep on one side of the crate and have enough room for a toilet area at the other side, he probably will. Don’t be surprised!
2. Make sure you are free for at least two days, so that you can stay with your puppy. He’s going to need taking out a lot to begin with – from every half an hour to every hour.
3. You may want to limit the puppy’s access to particular areas of the house until he is housebroken.
4. There are particular times when he will predictably need to go outside, so take him out at these times: when he wakes 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 goes to sleep at night.
5. When he arrives you are going to need to take him outside every half an hour to hour minutes, until you begin to recognise the signs that he needs to relieve himself. The sign may be sniffing, circling or backing up.
6. Once you see the signs that he wants to poo or pee, you should take him outside immediately 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. But first you need to get him happy to stay in his crate. The way to achieve this is through giving small tasty treats when he is next to the crate and then gradually tempting him inside with them. Once he’s been in a few times, shut the door very briefly and then open again. The time the door is left closed should be lengthened gradually. You should put a chew toy, a dispensing toy or an interactive toy in the crate with him to keep him amused.
9. If he does have an accident and makes a mess in the house, just ignore him when he does it but be sure to clean it up and clean the area 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.
