Puppy Training Question

walk213

walk213

Active member
We finally have Ms. Echo our new lab home (she is 8 weeks old)! It has been 13 years since we had a puppy. Night 1 was interesting. Tried to crate her in the bedroom, she barked and screamed for 50 minutes. Wife brought her into bed. She went out twice to pee during the night. I consulted with 2 breeder/trainers and they said to put the crate far away from our bedroom and cover it (we added a sound machine). We put her down at 11:30 pm and woke up at 4:30 am. She was barking when we got up and she had pooped in the crate.

Any advice/thoughts about crate training? Perhaps we need to do shorter intervals? 11 pm, 3 am, 5 am? Her last water was at 7 pm.

I have worked with getting her used to the crate with food and praise. Perhaps we need to shorten the crate (Ruff Tuff Medium)?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
Our dogs have to learn confinement. It will be a part of their life from puppy to the grave. It does take patience from us and wise application. You didn't say how old the pup is, but a 7-10 week old pup doesn't have great control of the output yet and you have to plan accordingly. Time your feedings so that pup is cleaned out by bedtime. You should plan on an outing in the middle of the night to forego disasters. Having 2 boxes is nice as if you do have a mistake, you just throw that one outside and go to the clean one. It will take 2-5 weeks for pup to get the knack and get past this hurdle. Remember this with all of your training, most of it will take care of itself in time. Patience!
 
Echo is 8 weeks old. Thank you for the advice. We do have 2 crates and we're ready to get up in the middle of the night for a potty run. We're taking her out every 3 hours or so. I have been putting small amounts of her food in the crate in order to make it a comfortable environment. As soon as the crate door closes, she cries/barks. We dont' respond to that barking. We will find a schedule. Again, thank you for the advice.
 
Remember the basics, when they wake up they have to go out, when they eat they have to go out. I'd forego feeding at night, it leads to the inevitable problem of having to go after they eat and you have no control of when they eat if you leave food with them constantly.
 
Puppies that young have incredibally high metabolism and actually need to pee every hour or two. I tend to crate train by convincing the pup that it wanted to kennel anyway. If pup thinks you are going to the dog park, etc they are all in. Whereby, as of now the pup is associating the crate with her separation from you, and as a hindrance to bodily functions. When I get a new pup, I am just resigned to the fact that I will clean up some messes. I let the pup sleep where she wants.( If you have limits about being in bed,ect obviously that has to be enforced). We let her sleep in bed so we know when she wakes up and know she wants to go out. Once the pup has control of it's functions, it will be much easier to do your crate training. Also, obviously, you don't want a good dog to think that laying in her own mess is normal, or OK. Any good dog will mess in a spot where they don't have to deal with it again. My dogs run to the adjoining National Forest as-soon-as I open the gate.
 
I would put a devider in the crate. Give pup room enough to turn around but not much more. Keep the crate next to your bed so you can get him outside as soon as he wakes up. All pups are different but you may only get an hour or two of sleep between trips outside. I feed pups 3 feedings and a bedtime snack, most pups will poop within 10 minutes of eating. Limit water before bed. It will get easier.
PS I have a 12 week old..... Hang in there it gets fun.
 
This!!!!

Gatzby said:
I would put a divider in the crate. Give pup room enough to turn around but not much more. Keep the crate next to your bed so you can get him outside as soon as he wakes up. All pups are different but you may only get an hour or two of sleep between trips outside. I feed pups 3 feedings and a bedtime snack, most pups will poop within 10 minutes of eating. Limit water before bed. It will get easier.
PS I have a 12 week old..... Hang in there it gets fun.
Click to expand...

This above is pretty much what I was going to write. I can only add that in my experience crate training being the goal when starting from day 1 it is much easier to accomplish than starting any day after that. Congrats and good luck with the pup!!!
 
Last edited:
I leave the crates open at night, once the dogs are accustomed to using them. Reason being I want my dogs to patrol the house, as neccessary. Even though I live in a no crime area, we feel more secure knowing they are on the lookout. Never had a two-legged intruder, but one night a coyote was sizing-up the chicken coupe. On a separate occasion, my male adult dog lost his mind in the middle of the night, I hit the floor, gun in-hand, only to find a mountain lion standing on my rock wall, ready to jump the fence, into the dog run. I am certain she was hunting, dogs, that is. Could have easily got away with shooting her, but I popped her in the ass with the pellet gun instead, haven't seen sign of her since.
 
Stick to your guns is my one piece of advice. It was hard listening to my 8 week old pup wheep in the kennel for what seemed like hours sometimes in the mid of night, but he is now a better dog for it. Took about a week or so until he didn't cry in there anymore. Had to sleep with the TV in my bedroom on during that time to phase out the loud crying from the kennel downstairs. In his room I kept a nightlight on with a radio on low to give him some sound. Gave him routine potty breaks throughout the night and up at 6am every morning. We did have to deal with the occasional mess in the kennel, but try shrinking the crate so he doesn't have so much free space to move about. They will learn quickly that they DO NOT enjoy being in their own mess. That solved that problem real quick. Once he turned 1 yr back in December he is now allowed to sleep where he pleases at night (non furniture) on our main level and doing very good with it. This is my own personal decision as I want him to patrol our home, however he has a foundation built knowing the kennel is simply a part of his life when we are not home. Good luck and enjoy the times with the little guy! Looking forward to the day I can bring home a 2nd!
 
This forum is truly a blessing. I appreciate everyone's sage advice. We have incorporated many of these techniques. We have had a couple of better nights in the kennel. 11:30pm pee, 2:30 am pee, 4:45 am pee/poop. 5:15 am poop after breakfast. She still cries....loudly when we leave her in the crate alone.

Interested to hear everyone's take on pheasant wings, dead birds and live birds. When do you do it? What is your approach?

We love Ms. Echo. I cannot wait to work with her in the field.
 
I start with clipped wing pigeons as soon as possible. The first time I would also tape the feet togather. With bold pups that could be 8-9 weeks. With a timid pup I would wait a few more weeks to allow them to develop better motor skills, a 12 week old is a dramatically different than an 8 week old. If pup has strong prey drive you can also incorporate gun fire. Start with a .209 primer at 100+ yards. While pup is running down a pigeon fire a shot away from the pup. Watch pup real close you will have to judge his reaction. Many will not even aknowledge the shot, some may glance in the direction, others may stop what they are doing and stare. If pup doesn't aknowledge the shot move 10 yards closer and try again and so on. If pup glances try again from same spot. If pup stops chasing wait a couple weeks and try again. Your goal is to shoot while standing over pup withe the .209. Then start over with a 20 ga then a 12 ga. This process make take a couple months. DO NOT RUSH when in doubt wait! Don't waste time banging pots and pans on purpose just let normal day to day noises happen and don't react to them. Use pheasant wings to teach hold, if you play fetch with them puppy will probably chew them up. Once FF and hold is done train with real birds fresh or frozen.
This is how I introduce birds and gunfire, it works very well. Remember it takes birds to make a bird dog!
 
Gatzby said:
I would put a devider in the crate. Give pup room enough to turn around but not much more. Keep the crate next to your bed so you can get him outside as soon as he wakes up. All pups are different but you may only get an hour or two of sleep between trips outside. I feed pups 3 feedings and a bedtime snack, most pups will poop within 10 minutes of eating. Limit water before bed. It will get easier.
PS I have a 12 week old..... Hang in there it gets fun.
Click to expand...

I used to tell folks this in my practice... It is good advice. I suggested a cardboard box just big enough for the pup to curl up. Put a towel in the bottom for accidents with another under the box and a plastic garbage bag under thatone just in case it bleeds through. Scotch it beside the bed so it won't fall over. When it wakes up it has to go ...no matter what time it is talk it out and stay with it watchfully ( there are coyotes and aerial predators capable of taking a pup. Nothing more boring that waiting in the cold so truy getting it to chase a ball and play or chasing you. It is hard to exercise when you need to pee or other! Once it's done back in the box it goes...until next time. If you think about it from the pup's perspective... it wakes up and is fretting because it knows it will be in its own excrement if it goes so it fusses. You then scramble up to take it out, so you grab it and your pants and race for the door. In that excitement it forgets that it woke to potty, so try the play fetch or chase so it gets reminded it has to go.

I had a Brittnay once from puppy hood until six months it did its business anywhere it happened to be. He was a card toting lunatic but that's another story, for another time. It was very frustrating trying to get him housebroken. The house was losing! Well he was too big for the box so I tied him at bedtime to my nightstand leg, with only enough leash so he could turn over... if he worked at it. He learned in less than a week to let me know and I would let him out. What a blessing to have read about this method and it worked well. Others have said to stick to your guns and that is also true. Dog training is all about being consistent with what the words mean. You are building a language between you and your pup so help him alll you can by being patient and consistent. Good luck!
 
Have two crates or move the crate around. Our strategy is to have the crate in our main activity area ... when ever it sleeps or gets nervous ... it will go to the crate that is her (his) safe area. Toys get returned and stored in the crate.

Sleeping ... Crate is in the basement at night to keep it quiet ...

Eventually go to one crate ...

Older dogs seem to remember the crate inside the house ... they like to go in there too ... must remember when it was available to them.

My older dogs sleep on a foam dog bed laid out next to my side of the bed... we quit using the crate for sleeping at about 9 months of age or so ... but still used if needed (ie hotel room) ... by then they will use it if offered. Usually won't lock them in ...


patience ... easier to type the word than live it with dogs day in and day out.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top