Hi, this is Ziggy (if the photo will load....), he's 10 weeks old and he joined our household last Thursday. He's been pretty good generally but we have 2 problems I'm struggling to solve. 1) Firstly he loves hanging out in his crate provided the door is open. We've built up a little time with the door shut but he quickly gets distressed and starts pulling at the door. I keep reading the toilet training advice which sounds like everyone else has their puppy locked up in a crate overnight from the get go - "Just pop him in the crate at night and nip down for a wee at 3am". It won't happen for us as it's taking some time to get him used to being locked in. Any advice? House training in the meantime means vigilance during the day and hoping he goes on the newspaper at night. He's such a clever little boy he does learn quickly but he seems to have a very stubborn streak I worry he's learned to exploit already! 2) He doesn't like the Kong. I've offered it 3 times now and tried to show him how to play with it and he just growls and barks at it. He's got a good variety of other toys but only a bone that otffers good long chew time.
Try sitting by the locked crate (during the day, when he's tired) and giving him treats 'till he's asleep, then open the door. Do this a few times and he may begin to see the crate as a pleasant place to be. It could take quite a long time. The other alternative is to go 'cold turkey' and let him shout - which is what I did with Tatze. I must confess to have given up on crates for pups (except my pet dog, who loves hers!) I have a (Guide Dog) pup every year so I can't face losing my sleep for 4-5 weeks a year! I now have a puppy pen for when they are tiny and put that away asap. Twiglet is 16 weeks now and sleeps in her bed in the kitchen. Most nights are dry but about once a week we still have a puddle on the mat by the door. Which is fine by me - far better than being shouted at in the early hours to let her out! Gypsy was completely reliable and dry at night by 20 weeks, which I was perfectly happy with. Both have been clean and dry during the day from 12 weeks - night time piddles didn't affect that at all.
Hi there, Great to 'meet' you on the Forum ,Ziggy looks lovely on your avatar pic and he sounds like a lovely little character.....he hasn't learned to exploit you,despite how it feels!They don't operate like that! What size kong are you using? A full size one might be too strange for him just yet,you can get puppy size ones.Are you putting something tasty in the kong ?if you do it might encourage him to interact with it....a lot of us use frozen ones ( I still do for my 3 year old )... But a frozen one might be a bit hard to start Ziggy off on,I'm sure he will get it if you encourage him with some tasty fillings! Hmmm the crate issue.You are doing the right thing building the time up gradually,that's the basis of cracking it...but if you want him to be crated all night peacefully I'd suggest trying the crate in your room for a couple of nights....I understand that might not be what you want for your sleeping arrangements but it won't be forever.....just until Ziggy settles in and gains confidence ,he's only been home a little while. Lots of us use crates,there will be others along to say hi and offer suggestions soon Best wishes Angela
Hi! Can't help with the crate training as we didn't use a crate with Ella (just suited our circumstances not to) However, I might be able to help with the Kongs. Ella wasn't fussed with her Kong either and only really started to like it at 44-15 weeks. I started out with dry kibble in it so she could get it all out pretty quickly. Then I soaked the kibble a little and gave it to her (so it took a bit longer) and gradually increased and now she has soaked kibble and frozen and she loves it. I haven't experimented with other fillings just yet as she seems to have a bit of a sensitive tummy. Good luck ☺
Hello and welcome! I think some puppies are fine in a crate from the get go, but others just are not - they cry, and they are unhappy. I crate trained my dog when he was 10 months old (up until that point, he'd been in a pen). I followed this article here (but took a week over it https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/weekend-crate-training I'm really glad that I took the trouble to do it properly, as his behaviour in crates is perfect. He settles and is silent - really handy as he behaves very well in a travel crate in hotels and things like that. What are you stuffing the kong with? Try super tasty stuff at first, you can use boring fillings later once they are hooked.
Hello from Dexter and me, I think we were really fortunate that Dexter loved his crate from the first time we used it. He was use to an outside pen at the breeders so that's maybe why he was more settled in the pen than the kitchen. I use a medium puppy Kong, it's pink from pets at home and put in a small Kong treat at first as wasn't mega challenging for him. Yesterday I gave him it with soaked kibble stuffed in it and frozen, he loved this, he is 14 weeks old on Saturday so a bit older than Ziggy. Is the crate you have big enough for you to go in with Ziggy for a little while during the day? I don't know if this is good advice or not as Dexter is our first puppy so I'm very inexperienced. You're definitely in the right place though for friendly helpful advice. I think I've read on the forum that some put their puppies food in the crate at their meal times to help them associate the crate with something enjoyable. I wish you well and don't dispair, Dexter has plenty of other things that we are having to deal with that challenge us, lol.
Thanks for the advice everyone. It may be the Kong is too intimidating for his little mouth. As for the crate it's encouraging to get some feedback that it is just one method. We started him off in the kitchen (where there isn't room for the crate but peeing on the floor wasn't a problem) but once he got hooked on the crate in the dining he howled and hurled himself at the door until we let him sleep in the (open) crate in the dining room - which is a bigger floor to newspaper. I don't think I ever thought the crating would be the method for house training but more a way of ensuring he can be left safely when he gets to a more destructive phase. He's made some progress today. I left him shut in the crate while I had a shower and he stopped howling when I called to him from upstairs. We'll keep learning from your older puppies!
