The crate finally arrived today and I'm torn on where to put it. We have a 3 level house, our bedrooms are on the top level kitchen and livingroom are on the middle and a bedroom(that has been turned into a playroom) on the bottom level which leads to the backyard. I plan on starting out with spending the majority of our time in the playroom while pup gets the hang of housetraining, that way she has quick convenient access to the backyard. Should I put her crate in the room closest to the "toilet"? Is it unrealistic to carry her down 2 flights of stairs in the middle of the night?
Re: Where to put the crate? I see why you are pondering the pros and cons of the various options If you have her in your bedroom she will be more settled. You have to walk down the stairs anyway so it's not a big deal to carry a little puppy as well. However she will get big and heavy pretty quickly. At that point you could get her to walk slowly down the stairs herself but that will increase the risk of an accident in transit. Plus she might just want to run down the stairs (not so good for her legs). What I would do is have her in the crate in your bedroom for the first few nights, just while she is working out that you are her new family and this strange new place is home. After a few nights, once she's feeling 'at home' put the crate in the playroom. You can set your alarm to go down to her and wake her up for a wee during the night. Keep that arrangement until she is pretty reliable at holding on. Then you can move the crate to the living room if you want to. Hope that helps a bit I'm sure that other people will also have suggestions
Re: Where to put the crate? I would go with Rachaels suggestion here. seems to have worked well for others. Do you have a way to also baby gate your kitchen. I always seem to be in my kitchen. With Mrs yougonnafeedme
Re: Where to put the crate? I live in a 3 floor house too but fortunately have a spare bedroom on the ground floor too so we were able to sleep there with him for the first 4 nights before we transitioned him to another ground floor room on night 5. We then started sleeping upstairs on the 3rd floor and set the alarm every night to get him up for a wee. I realised that once he started sleeping better I would never hear him up there. So I bought a cheap baby monitor from e-bay so I could hear him at night. He's 12 weeks now and is sleeping through from 10.30 ish till 6.00am but I can now hear him clearly enough in the morning. Just a thought. Good luck. Jan
Re: Where to put the crate? Riley was in his crate in the kitchen and I slept downstairs the first couple of nights but we were lucky and he settled well. Then we moved his crate to the utility as it took up a lot of room. We put (and still have) baby gates on the kitchen and his bed gets moved into there each night.
Re: Where to put the crate? Thank you all! Love the advice on baby gates and baby monitor. I have extra video monitors and baby gates so I plan on using them to my advantage. I co-sleep with my youngest so I plan to wake up every few hours to get pup out but definitely see ourselves having her sleep next to my bed for the first few nights and then moving her to the kitchen like you recommended Rachael. Thanks again! This is all so overwhelming so I appreciate the advice
Re: Where to put the crate? I put my pup in a cardboard box by my bed for the first few nights, had the crate downstairs in utility room and gradually got him used to it.
Re: Where to put the crate? [quote author=Stacia link=topic=5706.msg73232#msg73232 date=1399147188] I put my pup in a cardboard box by my bed for the first few nights, had the crate downstairs in utility room and gradually got him used to it. [/quote] I was contemplating using a laundry basket the crate is huuuuge!
Re: Where to put the crate? When we went to look at our puppy (3 years ago ) the litter of 8 was brought out in a laundry basket. Cuteness overload!!!
Re: Where to put the crate? I'm a crazy dog lady so this suggestion may seem nutty, but I have crates all over my house, and I move dogs accordingly. Puppies sleep in the bedroom with me and get carried downstairs to potty, with strategically placed puppy pads in case of an accident en route. During the day they are crated downstairs with me when i can't supervise. I use disposable underpads for humans from the medical supply store, because the ones marketed for puppies often are impregnanted with a scent to encourage them to go. I don't want to encourage my pups to use pads; they're just a back-up, so I don't use those.
Re: Where to put the crate? We also have a house where it isn't easy to hear what is going on downstairs from the bedrooms so we kept the crate downstairs and Bess slept in a cardboard box next to the bed. This worked really well for us as we didn't need to set an alarm to wake us up when she needed a wee. Once I was unable to carry her downstairs with one hand she graduated to sleeping downstairs. Alice
Re: Where to put the crate? [quote author=bbrown link=topic=5706.msg73387#msg73387 date=1399189411] When we went to look at our puppy (3 years ago ) the litter of 8 was brought out in a laundry basket. Cuteness overload!!! [/quote] Id prefer a laundry basket full of sweet puppy smell over a basket of laundry any day☺️ Alice, is it safe to assume if she sleeps in my room she will make noise when she needs to go outside? Sorry if that sounds completely ignorant but I was imagining having to set my alarm and wake her up multiple times a night!
Re: Where to put the crate? [quote author=Aburns link=topic=5706.msg73638#msg73638 date=1399229340] [quote author=bbrown link=topic=5706.msg73387#msg73387 date=139918941☺️ Alice, is it safe to assume if she sleeps in my room she will make noise when she needs to go outside? Sorry if that sounds completely ignorant but I was imagining having to set my alarm and wake her up multiple times a night! [/quote] It is best to set alarm for say every 2-2 1/2 hours the first week and wake her up rather than her waking you!.A couple of reasons. She will soon associate crying = mum and this will soon be a learned behaviour which you don't want. If you wake her, then take her out for wee, you will know she has been and any more crying is just attention, which you can ignore (hard to do I know). She will still be sleepy and will (hopefully) go back to sleep quicker. And she will not soil her crate by having a full bladder with not much control. Also take her outside every hour and after food/playtime during the day. We used cue words from day one "be quick" every time he went and used the clicker and a treat each time too. Albert now 12 weeks has never had an accident using the above methods and learnt very quickly. He now sits by the door if he needs to go! We put him in the crate from day one, and divided it in half, covered the top and sides with a blanket, to make it more 'den' like for him. I put him in it every time he fell asleep so he woke up in it. I couldn't use a box or laundry basket the first few nights as he could get out too easily! When I moved him out of the bedroom on night 5 we left the crate door open during the day and he gradually started going in there by himself! At night, when waking him for a wee ( I gradually extended the alarm to 3 hours then 4) I would keep the light off, (used a torch) and put him straight back to bed. I sat by the crate for a few nights till he dropped off but he soon got the message and I was able to leave him straight away without only a minute or two of crying. He now goes through the night without a peep from 10.30- 11.00 ish to between 6.00 & 7.00am and has been doing this for almost a week now. We have only had him for 4 weeks but he has made so much progress. It was hard work at first, but so worth it and getting up in the night doesn't last too long as you can see. Good luck Jan
Re: Where to put the crate? [quote author=teapot57 link=topic=5706.msg73863#msg73863 date=1399286715] [quote author=Aburns link=topic=5706.msg73638#msg73638 date=1399229340] [quote author=bbrown link=topic=5706.msg73387#msg73387 date=139918941☺️ Alice, is it safe to assume if she sleeps in my room she will make noise when she needs to go outside? Sorry if that sounds completely ignorant but I was imagining having to set my alarm and wake her up multiple times a night! [/quote] It is best to set alarm for say every 2-2 1/2 hours the first week and wake her up rather than her waking you!.A couple of reasons. She will soon associate crying = mum and this will soon be a learned behaviour which you don't want. If you wake her, then take her out for wee, you will know she has been and any more crying is just attention, which you can ignore (hard to do I know). She will still be sleepy and will (hopefully) go back to sleep quicker. And she will not soil her crate by having a full bladder with not much control. Also take her outside every hour and after food/playtime during the day. We used cue words from day one "be quick" every time he went and used the clicker and a treat each time too. Albert now 12 weeks has never had an accident using the above methods and learnt very quickly. He now sits by the door if he needs to go! We put him in the crate from day one, and divided it in half, covered the top and sides with a blanket, to make it more 'den' like for him. I put him in it every time he fell asleep so he woke up in it. I couldn't use a box or laundry basket the first few nights as he could get out too easily! When I moved him out of the bedroom on night 5 we left the crate door open during the day and he gradually started going in there by himself! At night, when waking him for a wee ( I gradually extended the alarm to 3 hours then 4) I would keep the light off, (used a torch) and put him straight back to bed. I sat by the crate for a few nights till he dropped off but he soon got the message and I was able to leave him straight away without only a minute or two of crying. He now goes through the night without a peep from 10.30- 11.00 ish to between 6.00 & 7.00am and has been doing this for almost a week now. We have only had him for 4 weeks but he has made so much progress. It was hard work at first, but so worth it and getting up in the night doesn't last too long as you can see. Good luck Jan [/quote] I totally agree now on your take on this. I will set my alarm rather than wait for a cry. I ended up ordering a 36" crate, as the 42" crate I already have is much too big to lug up and down the stairs every day. So for the first few days the smaller crate can be in my room. Is there any downside to having more than one crate? Will it be confusing? Love the idea of using the clicker to housetrain! Love that! So say the cue word, when pup goes to the bathroom click right away and then reward? I have a clicker on order, I sure hope it comes in before Friday!
Re: Where to put the crate? There are loads of useful resources on YouTube to help you with clicker training. Kikopup has a lot of good stuff generally. Here is an introduction to clicker training and one about house training using the clicker. It is really well worth having a browse. Its amazing what useful stuff (not just dog-training related) that you can find on YouTube 8)
Re: Where to put the crate? Oh YouTube! So resourceful. I have been watching a few videos on clicker training, the trainer I plan on using has a big following on her YouTube videos so I've been watching a few of those and browsing the related feeds. I found this, from where I ordered the clicker from that discusses how to use the clicker to housetrain. For anyone who may read this and require the information here's a link: http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3892 A couple of paragraphs down she discuses when to click when using it to housetrain.
Re: Where to put the crate? [quote author=Aburns link=topic=5706.msg74020#msg74020 date=1399309318] [quote author=teapot57 link=topic=5706.msg73863#msg73863 date=1399286715] [quote author=Aburns link=topic=5706.msg73638#msg73638 date=1399229340] [quote author=bbrown link=topic=5706.msg73387#msg73387 date=139918941☺️ I totally agree now on your take on this. I will set my alarm rather than wait for a cry. I ended up ordering a 36" crate, as the 42" crate I already have is much too big to lug up and down the stairs every day. So for the first few days the smaller crate can be in my room. Is there any downside to having more than one crate? Will it be confusing? Love the idea of using the clicker to housetrain! Love that! So say the cue word, when pup goes to the bathroom click right away and then reward? I have a clicker on order, I sure hope it comes in before Friday! [/quote] I don't think using two crates will be an issue. Just use the same bedding when you transfer her to the bigger one and don't forget to divide it to make it cosy for her. I bought a smaller crate for use in the car as I couldn't see any other way to get him used to the car safely. It worked almost instantly, largely because he was familiar with a crate indoors, and he is quiet in the car straight away now. I know the car crate isn't going to be big enough for him forever, but I'm hoping he will be well used to the car by then and will be ok in the boot! So your smaller crate will come in handy for that too! Good luck with the housetraining. Clicking and treating as well as using the same words really worked very quickly for our puppy. I don't click and treat every time now, maybe 2 or 3 times a day, but still use the same words every time and give lots of praise too. I used the clicker for the sit command too, which again he learnt very quickly. Am now trying it with stay, as well as trying to get him to stop chewing the lead. Not so easy lol! Also started using a whistle for recall from day one. Works great in the garden/house, but out in the world.....that's a whole new ball game!
