Potty Training & Liking the Crate?

[Hannah & Pepper]

Hi Doodle Friends!

My husband and I picked up Pepper on Saturday.  She is 10 weeks old, adorable, and overall really really good and so so smart.  She already knows how to sit and go down. 

I have two questions:

1) She is doing really well with potty training--she has not had many accidents and of them 2 were definitely our fault with not taking her outside after long car rides.  But, I didn't use the bell system, and so far I'm having trouble determining if she has any "tells" or "signs" that she uses when she needs to go to the bathroom.  I think I basically just take her out so frequently that she doesn't have the opportunity to have an accident.  Am I making it harder on myself by not "waiting" for her to show that she has to go to the bathroom, or is she still be learning that going to the bathroom outside is the right thing to do?  Is it worth trying to buy and use the bells so that she can show/tell us when she needs to go out, vs anticipating it?

2) We got her at 10 weeks, so from 8-10 weeks the breeder worked on crate training her for sleep.  She sleeps 8 hours a night and doesn't wake up or need a potty break during the night.  But, whenever we put her in her crate either at night or during the day she *hates* it and cries and yelps and howls and jumps.  I have a camera on the crate, so I do know that she doesn't cry the whole time, and settles, but is there anything I can do to make her like the crate more initially and want to go in it?  I throw treats in and today a kong, but she's almost wisening up to it and tries to grab the treat and then run out.  Any advice on how to get the pup to like/enjoy the crate, especially during the day?

Thanks!!

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

That is an adorable picture.   

What I did with Hurley is take him out every couple of hours on a leash.  I would give him 5 minutes.  If he did not go and preferred to play it was right back into the house and back out 15 minutes later.  I did train him to use the bells. That worked out great with him.  With Sydney it is a constant ringing so he can go out and look around.  So if he has been out recently then when we go out it is only for a few mins to see if he really has to go.   But I love the bells!!!!

Syndney's signal was walking around with his nose to the ground and not paying attention to anything else.  When he did that I took him to the door using the word 'potty, potty' in an excited voice, tapping the bells and then out we go.  I didn't think he would ever get the bell idea.  He was so excited or anxious to go out that I thought he wasn't paying attention. Then one day he started ringing the bell.  

Hurley was only in the crate for a few weeks.  He didn't whine in the crate but was very restless.  So I started putting him on the bed with us at night and he slept through the night.   I only used the crate when we were going to be gone during the day.   I just ignored his fussing and he would settle down.   

Sydney is another story. Could not crate him at all. He literally freaked out when put in the crate.  He was 9 months old when we got him.  Had flown across the country to join our family and I think that is why he had such a reaction to the crate because it was obviously he was so traumatized by the flight.  

I hope some of that helped and good luck to you.  

[Hannah & Pepper]

Thank you so much for the help and insight! I wonder if it's worth trying the bells?  So, is the main thing that you do that you just ring the bells on the way out the door and say my potty phrase?

Thanks again! 

[Nick]

Wow what a great looking dog! Very cute - she is going to be a blast. I hear you on both counts of potty training and crate frustration; we had similar problems with Cooper. I think you just need to get Pepper on a regular schedule with potty training and when she does go outside, huge praise and huge reward. Taking her out too frequently can be confusing ("oh yay, we're outside again!!"). After she wakes up, after eating, after playing, and regular intervals after that - I would say it took Cooper a solid 4-6 weeks before he really got it. Now at 7-8 months, all of that is a distant memory.

As for the crate, just keep reinforcing the good. Feed her every meal in the crate and its fine to give her treats in there and not close the crate door. Once she gets into the knowing comfort of a routine, she will accept it better. During the daytime our Cooper still will whine and bark when we put him in there, but he quiets down pretty quickly and it wasn't always like that.

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

I would take the pup to the door and tap the bells as I say 'potty, potty. From there I went to taping the bells with the puo's paw. As I said, Hurley Ca ought on quickly no asemed to be paying attention each time. With Sydney I wondered if he would get it but it really only took him a couple of weeks at most if that. I just dodnlt think he was paying attention but he was.
Nick had some great advice. As he mentioned, get your little one on a regular schedule can makes a big difference. I should have mentioned that when I took either dog outside (when potty training) I praised with the words 'good potty' in an excited pleased voice, I didn't wait until they were finished going but as they were going. You can try treats also of you want. Some people do that.

It turns out our 13 month old pup has figured out how to open doors. Luckily he cannot open the slider but he gives it a good try. He also comes to me after he rings the bells as if to say, 'I need to go outside now, mom'. Then he goes back to the door and if I don't come as quickly as he thinks I should he will ring the bells and come to me, etc.

[Lisa & Sunny]

In the early stages of potty training, the surest sign that Sunny was about to go potty was when she walked around sniffing the floor.  We had the bells from the beginning, and it did not take her long to start using them.  All we did was ring the bells as we went outdoors and say "go potty".  In no time at all she was ringing the bells herself to let us know she wanted to go out.  The only problem was much of the time she wanted to go outside for fun, not to go potty.  Still, I would rather err on the side of knowing when she wants to go out.  Now that she is older (six months) she still uses the bells but also has other ways to let me know she wants to go out.  She will get my attention, then go sit by the door and stare intently at me.

Sunny had no prior experience with being in a crate before we brought her home when she was 8 weeks old.  I think we got things off to the right start with the crate by having one of us sleep next to the crate for the first few weeks.  We also had her go into the crate for short periods during the day to help her become accustomed to it.  At six months old, she does not complain about being put in her crate and often opts to in there of her own volition to nap or take a break from the kids.

[Hannah & Pepper]

Thank you all for the advice!! She's getting better about sniffing/sitting by the door, but I'm still watching her very closely.  We haven't got her to love the crate during the day, but she has no problem sleeping in it all night and doesn't fuss.

[Hannah & Pepper]

Hi All! I figured I'd do an update, both the good and the bad.

Potty training is going so well! She almost sits by the door when she has to go and seemingly can hold it for 1-2 hours or so. That's the good, making major progress there.

The bad is that she HATES her crate, especially during the day.  It almost seems like it's getting worse.  She seems to work herself into a total tizzy when she's in the crate, where she's yawning, panting, whining, barking and crying.  She even figured out how to slide the clasps from the inside and pull her head out of the crate which makes her even more crazy.  So, now we've had to reinforce the clasps so she cant stick her different limbs or head out.   

We've tried putting her toys in there and treats, but as soon as she gets into the crate she's such a nut that she doesn't even notice or try to play with them.  I do the thing when I walk buy and give her a treat while she's in there, but she just stops long enough to sit and eat the treat and then goes back to whining and barking and being crazy.  We've also tried randomly placing treats in there throughout the day but that doesn't seem to get her to like it either.

Any thoughts or advice on how we can get her to like the crate more?  She is with me or a puppy sitter for the vast majority of every day, but we need her to be okay with being alone in the crate for a few hours here and there, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!