Crate Training 101

[newpugmomma]

Rebbie seems comfortable with his crate. He will go sniffing around in there hoping to find a hidden kibble. I have yet to get him to go in command. I have said "crate" and put his food or a treat in there. However, I can't say the word and he go in. How do I get him to do that? Also, when I do get him in it is because I have thrown his kong in teh back...but he slooooowwwly goes in cause he knows I am closing the door. He does fine with his kong/food but as soon as he finishes, he is scratching, crying, yelping to get out. He doesn't do it constantly if I leave him in there for a while. Does this mean I have rushed it and that he is not comfortable with it? I think he just doesn't like being away from me. I want him to be able to go in there and be comfortable.

[ont_gyrl]

We are gonna crate train........and Im sure i will have about 1000 questions about it, so i hope you ladies are ready, lol

[topaztrekker]

Good evening,

I'm crate training, Molly, my 2 and 1/2 month old pug. I only put her in there when I'm at work for about 4 hours. My question is, should I put her in there at night? From reading this post it seems most people are also having their pug sleep in the crate. Currently, she is sleeping with me and my husband on our bed. Should we not do this? I like having her there.

Thank you,
Sarah, Molly and AD

[Wonka & Nilla]

My question is, should I put her in there at night? From reading this post it seems most people are also having their pug sleep in the crate. Currently, she is sleeping with me and my husband on our bed. Should we not do this? I like having her there.

In my opinion, if you and your husband like having her on the bed then there is no reason not to let her stay. It's good that she understands the crate is a safe place and that she is comfortable spending some time in it during the day, but there is no reason that she needs to sleep in it overnight if you don't want her to do so.

[CSollers]

Good evening,

I'm crate training, Molly, my 2 and 1/2 month old pug. I only put her in there when I'm at work for about 4 hours. My question is, should I put her in there at night? From reading this post it seems most people are also having their pug sleep in the crate. Currently, she is sleeping with me and my husband on our bed. Should we not do this? I like having her there.

Thank you,
Sarah, Molly and AD

If you like to have her sleeping with you, by all means do so! I couldn't sleep without the stereo snores of our Pugs.

[rachzilla]

Hello! I had my first little pug, Bertie (10wks) on thursday and I just found this thread and think I have messed up with him already!

in my ignorance I didnt realise how small pug puppies were and went ahead and ordered a medium crate to keep him in at night.
This stays in the dining room as he isnt allowed to stay in my room.
Basically first night we had him he refused to eat tea, drank a fair bit, refused to use a puppy pad and in the end I had to put him in the crate for the night. Since then we get up in the morning and he will have messed on his blanket, stepped in it and spread it everywhere (or this morning poo in one place and then hide the other bit underneath the blanket).

He has a pretty thick dog blanket in the bottom of the crate (it actually covers the entire base) and a fleecey dog blanket on top. I was keeping a puppy pad at the far end of the crate in the hopes of him wanting to go on the pad and not mess, but if anything he refused to go at all in the crate overnight.
I mistakenly didn't read into crate training, just thought it was a fairly simple get him used to going in at night and when we are out. Never put food bowls inside to get him comfortable, would just make a fuss of him and put him in at night, just put it down to him being alone and hating not having the attention.
After talking to a friend she recommended taking the puppy pads out so he isnt encouraged to go in his bed at night.
We are trying to get him to go outside in the garden rather than use the pads now, but we are finding he just refuses to go outside, very stubborn pug. 2 days of consistently taking him out to try and get him to perform and we have so far managed to make him poop once outside.

I am starting to panic a bit now, I know its early days but I go back to work on wednesday and he is gonna be staying with the MIL who wont really play, and may just try and keep him in the crate and he will just not be a happy boy, luckily the bf is home all day thurs with him. Dreading to get up and seeing the state he will have made of it!

Anyway, after going off on a complete tangent there (I just really want whats best for him, am a nervous mummy!) have I basically screwed everything up, given him the wrong impression of the crate, just generally not done it right? Is it too late to try and correct everything or have I just made my own bed now? Scrubbed out the cage with some pet spray earlier, think it was a citronella based so am hoping he wont want to go in the crate tonight now. We go down around 2am to try and get him to perform but he wont, as soon as we leave he will go in the crate all over his bedding....

Any suggestions would be a great help! x

[Chuckles]

We got our puppy 4 days ago and introduced him to the crate right away, started with putting treats in and he will go in by himself to grab his toys or play for a bit, but through out the night he doesn't sleep well, I have to pet him to sleep then quietly shut the door, wakes up a few times to pee, but its almost impossible to get him to settle down and go back to sleep. When he needs to pee I take him out and carry him right outside, so I don't think he thinks its play time. Even when I shut the dog he'll whine and cry non stop and it breaks my heart! Please help!

[topaztrekker]

When he needs to pee I take him out and carry him right outside, so I don't think he thinks its play time.

Molly needed to be taken out during the night as well. At 5 and 1/2 months, she now sleeps through the night. I think as they get older, they are able to held it longer.

In fact now she gives me dirty looks when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

Good luck.
Sarah & Molly

[pugabella]

Hi! I'm new to the forum but thought maybe I would just give a couple suggestions that works for me and my 8 week old girl pug. I put her water dish up at 8pm everynight and feed her for the third time that day around 5pm and then that's it, it goes away too. Then I take her out about 10-10:30pm and I stay there still she poops and pees. I give treats, I think it's a must with the pug breed as they are more difficult to potty train. She sleeps from 10:30-11pm till 5:30am I take her out and make sure she poops and pees, both! then she goes back to her crate till around 7am. She hasn't had any accidents in her crate at night so I hope my suggestions might help you. I guess I should of read the dates on the last posts...lol...well useful info for someone else I guess.

[NikkiG127]

This is all great advice. I just have a few questions. We have only had our puppy 3 days now, but can already tell that crating her is going to be an issue. The breeder we got her from claimed she was accustomed to being in a crate, however from the way she acts, you'd think she'd never even seen one. We say "kennel" and give her a treat after she walks in then we close the door. She has no problem walking in and out of the kennel when the door is open. She just doesn't like to stay in there. She barks/whines/howls/cries all night long. When I say "all night long" I am not exaggerating. We put her in there around 10 and she is still whining and crying at 3 or 4am. She sometimes takes 5-10 minute breaks between whining sessions but for the most part, it's constant. She's a great puppy outside of the crate. She listens well. She's already playing fetch. She knows when it's play time and when to just relax. She and our cat are adjusting to each other at the expected level. I just have some crate questions:

1) Do we yell "no" at her when she is barking/whining at night? We've only had her two nights. One night we tried completely ignoring her, the next night we tried yelling "NO". Both seemed to have the same effect - more whining and no sleep for anyone.
2) Do we keep her water in her kennel at night?
3) The breeder she was with allowed her to eliminate on newspapers in her kennel. We don't want this. We are trying to teach her that it's ok to go outside. We try taking the newspaper outside to help with this. So, my questions is, do you think that letting her go in her kennel confused her and she doesn't know she is supposed to sleep in there now? Once she learns to go outside, will this help her sleep better in the kennel?
4) How do we partition off part of the kennel. She is tiny, so she has plenty of room right now. It's the appropriate size for a full grown pug.
5) Regarding helping her go potty outside, I can't walk away when I'm out there or she'll follow me. I can't sit down or she'll think it's play time. So, I just have to stand there. How do I convince her that we're out there for her to use the bathroom and nothing else?