How To Crate Train Your Puppy - It's Easy When You Know How!

House training a new puppy can cause a lot of frustration and disappointment with the newfound friend! Here are a few tips that can help with the training and make your new puppy and yourself a little happier in the homecoming...

Coming home

You bring your puppy home for the first time to surprise your wife and kids. You carry little ball of fur to the house, set it down and the kids and wife get really excited! Then the puppy gets excited to! The problem is the puppy gets so excited she starts piddling all over the floor, the kids, and the wife... not a good thing for the first encounters!

So what went wrong? Nothing really, if you had a bladder the size of a thimble you probably piddle when you get excited to! My recommendation would be this: before you bring the puppy into the house, take a puppy to where she is expected to do her business in the first place. Let her sniff around but don't play with her... this is a place for business not play, she has to learn that this part of the lawn is hers and for a potty breaks only!

When she finds a spot that seems suitable to her and starts to relieve herself, repeat the words or the phrase you want her to associate with going out for a potty break: "Go Pee" or "Potty Time" or whatever phrase you feel most comfortable with. Its best that you make it a short and easily recognizable, using the same inflection every time so that she can easily memorize the phrase and it's meaning.

When she's done, THAT is when you make a big fuss over her, shower her with affection, even give her a little treat in you have one. In general just make her feel that she did the right thing!

Now when you take the puppy in the house she’ll be less likely to piddle all over everyone and everything! From here on, the first meeting will be a lot more enjoyable!

A House Within A Home - Crate Training And Its Advantages

Some people see crate training as being inhumane however it is actually comforting for a puppy or dog to have their own private space that they can go to, that they can call their own. This is why crate training is a wise thing to do!

A "crate" in the sense that I'm using it here is actually any container, box or area that is closed off from the rest of the room -- that keeps the puppy segregated and still allows her to feel a part of the "action" and thereby feeling a part of the family. So the kitchen, Den or Living room would be a great place for this.

The idea of using crate training as a housebreaking aid is based on the fact that dogs, no matter how old, resist using the place they sleep, as a bathroom. Therefore, the size of the crate or area is very important. It has to give the puppy enough room to stand up, stretch, turn around and generally get comfortable while not being so big as to allow the puppy to use one part of it as a bathroom while sleeping in the other part.

This can be a accomplished by using a large crate or area, something the dog will grow into, and using something to block off a portion of it that the puppy can use and then slowly enlarging the area until such time as he removed the partition altogether when the dog is fully grown. Another method is to simply purchase a smaller, cheaper crate and when she grows out it, purchase a larger cheaper crate. Keep doing this until the dog is fully grown when you buy a large permanent crate for the dog to use.

Make the crate or area comfortable for the dog and providing pads or towels -- something soft for her to lie on, as well as a chew toy or some other such toy to keep it occupied.

Keep the door invitingly open to the crate at all times except of course when the puppy is inside sleeping or not under your direct supervision. This is done so that the dog will see the crate as an inviting and non-threatening area. Eventually it will wander in and lay down when it has to sleep and be left alone.

Never let the puppy out of its crate to wander aimlessly around the house while not under your supervision! This will invite the puppy to use the house for its bathroom and only reinforce the negative habits that you are trying to break.