Many thanks, that's no problem at all we can do this every two hours. If the puppy is sleeping when we go down should we wake her to take her out? My breeder has advised the following which seems to be making area in the crate for accidents? Start as you mean to go on, have the crate in the room where it will remain. Get the crate ready before, cover half the area with newspaper and half for bedding, remove toys and leave a soft safe toy ideally the one I provide as this will have familiar smells to comfort. Put a cup full of water in the water bowl on the newspaper side at the back of the crate. Ensure the curtains/blinds are closed as early sun rise can disturb puppy. Put puppy to bed in the crate, be relaxed and causal, remove collar, place puppy in the crate, shut the door and walk away. Just like babies, no talking, no eye contact, ignore any barking or crying and try and sleep.
I do the half puppy pad half bed thing and it works well - lots of puppy walkers do it as we have a pup every year, too much lost sleep! I am on my fourth puppy. But I use a plastic bed as they can easily tell which is bed and which is not - and there is no seepage of wee into bedding. I don't leave them to cry 'tho, I can't bear the sound. I sit with them until they settle - this is only needed for a few days. It's only for a week or so until they don't need a night time wee. The first photo shows Mollie and the second Kara. I gave Mollie less room overnight and she was dryer sooner.
For Charlie, my older boy now, I had a sheet of non slip bathroom lino that had been left over from doing a bathroom, and I stood his pen on that. Very convenient, because if you make sure the edges are outside of the pen, then there are no 'chewable' bits and plus I could put the pen on carpet this way if I had to do so. The rest of the kitchen I left as tiles and they were quite slippery. He had cruciate problems and then non-slip floors became absolutely essential. I gave up all idea of leaving my beautiful white italian floor tiles uncovered and bought two very large polyproperlane mats that look like seagrass from a company called 'unnatural flooring'. It's not as perfectly non slip as I'd like, although ok. My new puppy was on proper non slip flooring - the rubber safety stuff used by builders and in laboratories. I bought a large square for her play area, and had a child's non slip play mat in the kitchen as well. The polyproperlane fake seagrass was fine for a puppy - you can mop it with dilute bleach!
Well....I think that's rubbish advice. So she would leave a new born human baby to 'cry it out' too? Well, ok. I suppose everyone has different ways of doing things.
You do this in a pen. I do that too. Not a crate. I think there is a difference particularly as you say in the way the bed is far away from the toilet area, and the distinction between the two. Anyone who actually wants to use a small crate to help toilet training is on a hiding to nothing allowing the crate to be used as a toilet.
We purchased a craft 42inch crate as advised by our breeder so would this work? We also have a large area for her to walk around in the kitchen which is penned off.
Yes, agreed. Other puppy walkers use a large crate with a plastic bed one end and puppy pad/newspaper the other. Mollie's pen now looks like this now she's dry overnight - just like a large crate -
I do the half newspaper/puppy pad half bed thing with a plastic bed - as in the photos. During the day there is no pad/newspaper as I don't leave them at all during the day until they are a bit older. I have done it with a large pen, a smaller pen and a pretty small, crate sized pen. All set ups have worked well.
So, take a step back and think about the question: why put a puppy in a crate? One answer is to keep the puppy safe (and your house safe) when you can't supervise the puppy. For this purpose, you actually want the crate to be a big as possible, so your puppy isn't cramped up, and has room to stretch growing and delicate joints and limbs. The other answer is to confine the puppy in a space that he thinks is his 'den' (which to a small pup means his bed) so he is reluctant to wee or poo in his den and so learns to 'hold on'. For this purpose, you want the space to be as small as possible, so your puppy definitely thinks of his crate as his den, and doesn't pee and poo in it. If you muddle up these two things, it might be fine but it might not. Over the years on the forum it really seems to me that the people who run into toilet training troubles are the ones that end up (for whatever reason) with a puppy that pees or poos in a crate. This means you have damaged the instinct they have to 'keep the den clean' and then you are in for an uphill battle. The dog's instinct to 'keep the den clean' is the reason we can toilet train them at all. There are lots of animals that lack this instinct and are consequently impossible to toilet train. So, I'd say choose your strategy and then stick to it. But don't muddle up the two things. Either: give your puppy a large space (and I'd say a 42 in crate is no way large enough) so he can move away from his bed (his den) to pee and poo; OR use a small crate and do everything you can to not have a puppy pee and poo in it.
I believe that will be similar to ours but with a top on it. So should we be putting paper actually in the crate with the door closed? Again we have read this is a big no no in there own crate. We were also advised to by the Vetbed which we have in place ready.
This is Betsy's 'long term pen' - she could wee and poo in this, far away from her bed (she never actually has though). pen by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr This is Betsy's great dane sized crate, she used this after she was reliably toilet trained. betsy crate by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr This is a crate used for toilet training, and is too small for a puppy to think about having a wee or a poo in it. floor cuddles by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
Thank you we were advised by the breeder that a 42 inch crate would be correct? Obviously we can get another one if and when needed, we do have a large play area outside of this crate with a baby gate. May I ask where you purchased your non slip Matt?
Two from here: http://www.slip-not.co.uk/productde...ot-Penny-Pattern-Heavy-Duty-Rolls-Cut-Lengths 1m width for the pen, 2m width for a play area. And the child's play mat (not washable) from Amazon - it doesn't seem to be in stock now, but there are plenty that are similar. The child's play mat is by far the best for non slip - the rubber flooring isn't perfect for wet paws, although it's ok, better than tiles and of course has the advantage I can mop it - I still use the play mat now for training that might involve the puppy twisting or turning quickly.
