Potty training my puppy. Instead of buying a crate, can I just put him in a small area with baby gate?
Monday, July 26th, 2010 at
7:37 am
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Crate training is really the best way to go. Many people consider a crate cruel. Dogs are denning animals. A crate makes them feel safer. There is only one entrance for them to protect. Think of it this way…how often have you found your dog laying on the floor in the knee hole of your desk? Or if you lean back in the recliner and put the footrest up – the dog heads for that spot under the footrest every time. Crate training not only helps with potty issues but chewing as well. Not everybody can be with their dog 24/7, and puppies will chew. My dogs were all crate trained. They are older now, they are house-trained and they are past the destructive stage. (This can vary by breed.) But, they panic if I remove their crates. So we still have the crates – just without doors.
The idea of crate training is that an animal will not soil its nest. The crate becomes the dog’s nest and he won’t pee or poo in it.
As soon as you take him out of the crate you take him outside. When he does his business praise him (use a high tone of voice). As you take him outside say his name (gets his attention) and "potty" and "outside." He’ll learn to associate those sounds with doing his business on the grass/dirt which he gets praised for.
I dont think a small area will really work.. your puppy will just potty on one side and sleep on the other. The point of the crate is to confine him so he doesnt potty inside. Its a good idea to have your dog accoustomed to a crate anyways, you never know when you may need to crate him.
To train him outside instead of inside.. no more pee pads inside! You may have to do some housebreaking 101 all over with him until he catches on. Since he is used to using pads, you can put one outside in the area you want him to potty in to help encourage the idea of pottying outside.
No, because in a 3×3 area, there’s plenty of room for a shih tzu to potty on one side and sleep on the other. The crate should be just large enough for him to stand up fully, turn around, and lie down, but not so large that he can go to the bathroom and ignore it.
Introduce a signal word, like "go potty", and say it whenever you see him in the act, whether it be on a pad or outside. He will soon associate the word with the act, so when you take him out to go, tell him "go potty" over and over, and praise "good boy go potty!" when he does it. Also, kinda gross but it works, take a doo doo from the pad and put it outside where you’d like him to go, this shows him that "poo goes here". I also reccommend you dedicate one spot in the yard for a bathroom area: It teaches him that when you take him to the bathroom spot, it’s time for business. As a bonus, you’ll only have to clean up one spot in the yard : )
No, the small area will not work the same as a crate, but if that’s not available, a small area is better than nothing.
The primary purpose of the crate is for the dog to have a small personal space–where he won’t pee because that’s where he sleeps. However, it also serves to keep him from destroying your house while he’s still learning. So the small area will serve this purpose.
I really like the book Before and After You Get Your Puppy by Ian Dunbar. He advocates both a crate and a "small space." This is especially useful for people who have to work all day.
Put a bed and a pad in his small space in case he has an accident. To train him to go outside, you might want to put a pad outside on the grass. Gradually transition out the pad. Maybe by cutting it smaller?
Another way is to constantly have your puppy with you. If he acts like he needs to pee, take him outside. This is the same idea as crate training–don’t give him the chance to go anywhere else except where you want.
confining to a small space would definitly serve the same purpose. I have done this with success.
The baby gate will work just the same. You may want to make sure there is nothing in the gated area the dog could wreck such as woodwork, cabinets, the rug or even the linoleum floor. The crate could save you alot of money in damages to your home.
You’re going to have more success using the crate training method, at least until he is a bit older and can hold his bladder longer. Even in a 3×3 area, he will be able to soil one end and sleep on the other, so you will not help his potty-training along as well. Just crate him in an appropriately sized crate(only big enough that he can stand and lay comfortably), and take him outside often, reward him for going potty outside, and don’t leave him unsupervised until he is consistent about not having accidents. Once he won’t go inside, you can give him a larger area to stay in while alone. Good luck.
Hi LEM
This is exactly what I did. I could not find a crate big enough for my boy so we gave him his own bedroom:)
It has worked really well.
Crate training is not cruel, it is a good way to keep your dog calm and safe when you are not around to supervise, as long as pup recongnises its crate/ kennel/ room as a safe place to be.
I have never used the toilet pads, we started off straight up with outside (i only work short days so pup has never been in his room for insanely long periods of time) but i believe that if you take the pads out in the garden where you want pup to go that this can be a good transition training untill you can eventually not worry about the pads altogether.
Good luck,
dont let anyone tell you that crate/kennel/rooming your dog is cruel, as long as you dont use it for punnishiment it is a place that your dog will learn to love to go to and feel really safe, and will often, if needing own space or time out will automatically go to for that time it needs to rest and chill.
A 3×3 space is actually too big unless you are going to put the potty pads down in that space but that would not serve your purpose of breaking the potty pad habit. A crate is effective only if properly sized. During the training process the crate or space should only be big enough for them to turn around and lie down. A healthy dog will not use the potty where it must lie down so if there is any extra space they will pee in one corner and lay in the other. Considering the breed you own and it’s age, 3 x 3 is way too big until he is fully trained.
That would work, but I would really suggest a crate. A dogs crate is like a den to them, it’s like their home, their own safe place. As for showing your pup to go potty outside I would suggest that you get on a potty schedule and stick to it. When we were house breaking our pups, we would take them outside every three hours and thirty minutes after they ate. Any time our pups would go potty in the house we would tell "no" in a stern, but not mean voice and take them outside. As soon as they went potty outside we would praise them and then bring them back in the house. I had people tell me that that wouldn’t work well, but it worked wonderfully for all three of our dogs. I guess different things work for different people and dogs! : ) I wish I could be more help! Good luck! : )
It may work. Give it a try. If you don’t have any luck, then you will have to use a crate.
You’ll have better success with a crate. I tried confining my puppy to a small bathroom and he never learned not to go in the house until we got him a crate.
It is much easier to train your dog straight after he has his meal, take him outside to a certain spot in the yard and stand there with him. Obviously the dog will not go as soon as you take the dog out. You will have to have lots of patience. You also have to ensure that the dog walks on its own to the spot in the yard so he will know each time that this is the area in which I should do my business. It will require alot of your patience but the end results are rewarding.
I have never used a crate on any of my dogs and I have had yorkies which are very difficult to train, but with consistancy and patience you will reap the rewards.