HELP WITH CRATE TRAINING PLEASE!!!!!!!!

[Madeline and Peanut]

Hi everyone! My family and I just got our first dog, an 8 week old mini goldendoodle puppy! He, Peanut, is such a great addition! We are trying to begin crate training. We are using positive rewards to make his crate a good and safe place where he will want to go. The crate is in our kitchen, where we have a gate to limit where he can go. He has a large space to play around in and we are in there quite often because a hearth room is connected to the kitchen. Peanut is doing great in the day! He will go into his crate without any treats luring him in! We will then close the door and praise him like crazy! But night time is a different story. We put him in his crate(in the kitchen. bedrooms upstairs). He doesn't seem to mind it then but after we praise him for going in he realizes that he is staying in there until we let him out to go potty(1 AM and 4 AM). Peanut then proceeds to cry all night. I don't think that he has slept at all tonight. We really don't want him to sleep in one of our bedrooms. I just want him to be comfortable and happy! Thanks for reading this and helping me and my family out!

 

PS- Right now my dad is laying downstairs with the Peanut. But he is not in his crate. I have tried to tell my dad we need to be strong and not let him out. But the only time he is comforted is when he is laying on our hardwood floor.

[Madeline and Peanut]

That's good to hear. I was trying to answer your post about Peanut and Lilly being from the same litter and they definitely are! So the t shirt thing works? I have heard good and bad things about it so maybe if it worked for Peanut's sister it will work for him! We will definitely be keeping in touch!

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

If you really want the crate training to work you have to be strong and ignore it as best you can. They will stop when they don't get the attention. They have snuggle puppies at a couple of our local pet stores. I think a crate cover or at least a blanket would also help. Good luck and be strong!!!

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

Hey Madeline,

Bailey was having the same problem....Try putting a ticking alarm clock next to his crate.  we also used a night light for her too.

 

for the first 2 nights I layed next to her crate til she calmed down and was quiet. I would also lay so she could see me with my fingers in the crate so she could smell me too.  After 2 nights I would tuck her in, tell her she was a good girl, give her a few treats through the crate and then wait for her to lay down.  I would then go to bed...

 

We have had her for 2 weeks now and she does great...Hang in there, beore you know it he will be sleeping with no prob.

[Barbie]

There's a lot of good advice in this thread. I hope it helps you. I just wanted to add my story, perhaps for a little more reinforcement on your crate training.

My Doodle puppy, Zeus, was raised in a crate with his siblings until 5 months old, when I brought him home. Yet, his first night, he fought me fiercely on being crated. He scarfed up the biscuit I tossed in there before I could even get the door shut. Although he could see me in the next room, he cried for several minutes, but I kept silent, and he finally went to sleep.

The 2nd day, I propped a mirror between his crate and the wall, so he could see his reflection and possibly feel he had a cratemate. He spent most of his time in the crate all day admiring himself, but when night came, he freaked out when he saw the door closing. The mirror did help some - his crying changed to whimpering and didn't last as long as the previous night.

The 3rd night, I moved the crate between my bed and my Portie's dog bed, and Zeus again fought me going in there and whimpered for several minutes.

The 4th night, instead of a biscuit-type treat, I tossed in a mini-sized Busy Bone, hoping it’d keep him busy a while. He jumped right in there, let me shut the door without incident, and I didn't hear a peep from him until the next morning when he saw my feet hit the floor.

The next day, I stocked up on Busy Bones for nighttime crating, and we're now a happy family.

Anyway, good luck with your crate-training and please keep us updated on your progress.

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

i am going to stock up on busy bones...

[Madeline and Peanut]

We ordered a snuggle puppy and hopefully it will be here soon! He is actually asleep in his crate right now so that is a GREAT sign! I am introducing my mom to this website so that she and I can both use this website to ask any questions. G'nite!

[Madeline and Peanut]

UPDATE:  Last night was night four with Peanut.  As my daughter said, the first three nights of trying to get Peanut to sleep in the crate were very difficult.  He cried and barked almost the whole night and we ended up letting him out to sleep on the hardwood floor.  So after our initial post we decided we needed to be strong!  We are happy to report last night was much better!  Yesterday, we really worked on getting him into the crate during the day just to get him more familiar with it.  We did this by giving him a few treats to search for, REALLY praising him, and giving a Kong with a treat inside.  After a while he would wander in and out on his own and again, we would really praise him.  He was so tired yesterday that when he would fall asleep on the hardwood floor we would transfer him into the crate and then he would wake up in the crate.  One time we even got him to go in awake and fall asleep with us petting him and soothing him. All of these things seemed to help because last night he only whined for 20 minutes tops.  We got up to take him out to the bathroom at 12:00 and 3:00 and we put him back in the crate, gave him a very small treat and left the room.  After the 3:00 bathroom break he only whined for 10 minutes!!!!!  Yea!!  Hopefully it wasn't just luck and tonight will go well too!!

[Julie and Maggie]

That is great news! Glad you are getting the snuggle puppy. Maggie really loves hers too. She licks it like a sibling. Sounds like you are on the right track! Peanut is a cutie by the way.

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

hi... sounds like Peanut and Lilly are on the same track..it was great to get some sleep last night even with the potty breaks!