We just got an 11 week old puppy. While crate training, what do you do at night to not force them in?
We are following the procedures and my wife is home all day with the puppy so the only time we need to crate her for extended times is at night. We know you should never force them into the crate but are there rules to follow at night when you have to put the puppy in? Once we get her in the crate and go to bed, she cries for about 15 mins and then sleeps the whole night without accidents. I don’t want to counteract the progress we make during the day by making her go in at night.
Here’s a portion of my housetraining article which discusses introducing your pup to the crate.
Next you will need to introduce your puppy to its crate. Just sticking the puppy in there without a positive introduction can be very stressful for the pup. I like to bring a new puppy home on a day off, and try to pick it up as soon as possible in the morning. This way I have all day to introduce the puppy to the crate so that by bedtime the puppy will feel pretty comfortable with its crate and shouldn’t fuss to much.
Start by showing the puppy the crate and let him explore it. Next show your puppy a treat and then toss it inside. When your puppy goes in to get the treat praise him excitedly. Repeat this a few times and then end this session. If your pup won’t go all the way in the crate to get the treat try throwing it closer to the door, or even outside the door and then gradually toss it farther back, until the pup goes all the way in.
After an hour or two have another session with crate. If your pup went all the way in the last time start there, if not start at the point you left off. After a couple times of going in the crate and coming right back out you can shut the door. But let the pup out after a second or two. Repeat this gradually increasing the amount of time the pup is in the crate. If you do this several times the first day by the time your ready for bed your pup should be pretty comfortable with the crate. I also like to repeat this process for a day or two after the pup comes home.
Also remember that whenever your dog is crated you need to remove any type of collar, even a buckle collar can catch on a crate and strangle a dog.
For the full article http://www.tiaspetplace.com/housetraining_your_puppy_or_dog.htm
Crate Training Puppies At Night