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.

[Taylor & Huff]

The first couple of nights we had Huff was the same. I wanted to go down and comfort him but after 3-4 days he gave up and slept until 6 am. To this day he sleeps in his crate (but for longer periods of time). 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Several thoughts:

1)  Possibly a smaller portable crate that you could keep in the master bedroom beside the bed.  That way you can just drop a hand down to comfort him if he cries.  Doodles like to be with their people and sometimes it helps just having them be close to you. 

2)  You mention that he likes the hardwood floor.  What all do you have in the crate.  If you have a bunch of blankets or a bed or something you might remove those and just have the plastic liner at the bottom of the crate.  Sometimes they get too hot in the crate with a bunch of bedding.

3)  Have you purchased a "snuggle puppy".  This has helped many puppies adjust to their crates as it simulates their mother's heartbeat and is very comforting for them. 

4)  Start feeding him in his crate during the day.  Put the food in, put him in and close the door and leave him for awhile.

 

Many times it does take a few days to get them used to the crate.  Be persistent.  Don't give mixed messages.

[L.M.]

Great suggestions!  I just wanted to add on to Lucy and Sophie's Mom's suggestion about keeping a crate in the bedroom.  We did this with our 2 doodles and it worked out great!  I think sometimes when they are in the crate all day AND all night they just miss us!  We let our doodles sleep in our bedroom (not bed lol) so we started them in a crate next to the bed.  If you have the space to do this, it might be a good option for you.  With our male we didn't sleep literally for the first 2 weeks we had him.  My hubby and I rotated laying on the floor next to the crate.  But once we realized he didn't really have to pee in the middle of the night and was just crying to get out, we just ignored his cries.  He will eventually settle down, especially when he realizes that you will not respond to his cries.

Also definitely use the heartbeat thing.  We borrowed my sister in law's baby heartbeat thing that she used for her own children and it worked really well.  I never put soft toys in the crate with him because he would just play or chew on them all night when he should have been sleeping.  

Good luck to you!

[Elizabeth & *Kosci*.]

Be strong the first few days and it does get better,
I also place a snuggle puppy that had a heart beat going and it helped settle my puppy, We would hear my puppy cry and chose to stay away from her.
Also you could put a radio on a classical station on low.
My dogs crate is always left open during the day and I often find her sleeping in it.

[Madeline and Peanut]

Where did you find the snuggle puppy with the heartbeat? We would definitely like to get one.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

It's really important to harden your heart a bit and on no account respond to the crying.  It will just get worse because he will know that if he cries you will respond.  Put the crate beside your bed if you like or for a few nights sleep beside the crate.  Riley cried for three nights and then he stopped.   He is now 15 weeks old.   It was horrible in the begining but he now goes in  on his own with no prompting after his last outing to the garden at 11 and lies awake from about 7 until 8am when I get him out.  During the day he chooses to go in periodically and if I go out for an hour or so he will happily settle in his crate.  The work you do now will make life so much easier in the long run.  In the first week or so I lifted him at 2 or 3am and brought him out and then straight back into the crate with no talking or interaction at all.  I got him up at 6am for the first two weeks.  I now  feed the last meal at around 6pm and lift all water from 8pm. Oh the other thing that helped was covering the crate which made it more den like.

If you can't bear listening to him crying then invest in earplugs!

Good luck with Peanut and let us know how you get on.

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

We are going through the same thing. It will take awhile, he is jut a baby and he is scared.  It is interesting that Peanut is doing the same thing as Lilly (Lucy) from Mueller Pups.  Some dogs take to it quickly and some take longer. We happen to have ones that take longer. hugs 

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

we have the heartbeat thing, I put her in the crate next to the bed, put my hand in there, doing all the things suggested..but after two hours of non stop loud howling, I gave in..out her in bed with me wehre she settled down and went to sleep. i put her back in the crate and she did the same thing for an hour.. I couldn't take it anymore and put her back in bed with me where she slept till this morning. Lets see how tonight goes..hugs..

[Madeline and Peanut]

Wow! That's interesting because we got Peanut from Mueller Pups too!! I will definitely let everyone know how it goes in these next few nights. Thank you all so much for all of the input! Right now he is just laying in his crate so that is a really good sign. I think we will we definitely invest in a heartbeat stuffed animal and hopefully that will comfort him. Thanks again and I will definitely keep you all updated!

[Dori & Rua]

Madeline, I have to agree with those who say to put a small crate in the bedroom with them.  That would be my preference.  I wanted Rua to sleep on the bed with us once she was big enough (she is a mini, also), so starting her out in the bedroom in a crate was what I wanted.  In this case, your parents have to decide how they want to "raise" Peanut.  I agree with you, though, that you do have to be strong because it is so easy to let the puppies train you.

 

Good luck!

[Madeline and Peanut]

Thank you everyone for all of these replies! Tonight will be a much more restful night because I know that letting him cry is the right thing to do! I appreciate all of the support. We are definitely going to invest in a heartbeat stuffed animal. Hopefully that will help calm him. Thank you for everything and I will definitely keep you all updated!

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

Hi Madeline,

I bought mine online.. just google snuggle puppy heartbeat.  Scott and I were working on the other house this morning and I threw  the t shirt I wore yesterday in Lilly's crate (can't remember what wonderful soul suggested that) with Lilly and said "see ya later" left the tv on and out we went. When we got home I tiptoed in and she was sleeping on the shirt which was on her blanket on the heartbeat thing.. so know I know she can sleep in it and not scream all.the.time.