# Help! Question about using crate training as well as xpen



## LamborghiniGirl (Apr 16, 2009)

I am sorry everyone I keep posting questions about xpens and crates! I want to run this plan by you all to see if you think it will work for training, or if you think it is going to be too confusing for a puppy! :smhelp: 

So please bear with me:

In my living room I will have an Iris Xpen with a bed, food and water, toys and a pee pad for the puppy when I leave my house or am cleaning or whatever I may need for them to not be roaming. At night, or when they are just out and about while I am home, the door to the Xpen will be open so they can go in and out to pee/poo.

In my bedroom, I will have a small crate on my nightstand for the puppy to sleep in where they can see me. Every few hours, I will get up, and walk the puppy from my bedroom the 8 feet to the Xpen in the living room which has the pee pad in it. Eventually, I hope that the span of time they can hold it will increase, so I will get up less and less. And maybe eventually after that, I will be able to transition the crate to the floor, and maybe even keep the door open, so they can walk by themselves to the xpen with the pee-pad in it.

If anyone actually made it through that, and it made sense to you, do you think it will work? Or is it too confusing to the puppy that crate=sleep at night and xpen=hang out during the day and bathroom?

Can anyone improve upon this plan for me?

Thank you so much for putting up with my questions!


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

QUOTE (LamborghiniGirl @ Sep 13 2009, 11:43 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=829416


> I am sorry everyone I keep posting questions about xpens and crates! I want to run this plan by you all to see if you think it will work for training, or if you think it is going to be too confusing for a puppy! :smhelp:
> 
> So please bear with me:
> 
> ...


Overall it sounds great. Just a few thoughts 1) personally I wouldn't get up every few hours to take the pup--I'd let them "let you know" if they have to go--stirring, etc. Of course the first few (or several) nights you may want to take them frequently, but start stretching the time out or else they will train YOU to get up every few hours 2) Keeping the crate door open and expecting a pup to go potty on their own won't happen for a LONG time--plus, it's not something you want to encourage anyway. What you want is to train them to hold it all night without having to go at all--and again, that won't happen for a long time.


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

Sounds good. I think once you have your pup at home, you'll eventually figure out what works best.

I have an xpen for Ava - just like you, when I'm not home she's in it. At night I took the lazy person's route, I have a baby's pack-n-play play pen set up next to my bed....she's up off the floor and there's enough room for a bed on one side of it and a pee pee pad on the other. you know, she's never used that pee pad, she always waits till morning. (but she was 6 months old when I got her  ) also because it's right up against the bed, I can roll over and scoop her up.  

Each one of my four started out a tiny bit different, I just tweaked it each time to fit the actual dog's needs.

Will you be getting a pup soon?


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## princessre (Dec 23, 2008)

I agree with Camfan. I personally think you should try to goto sleep a little later and wake up a little earlier in the beginning and just see if there is any way your pup can last the whole night. Otherwise I would be afraid I was training them to wake me up.

I really think the secret to housetraining success is not letting them make mistakes, which means lots of confinement and very little freedom which they have to earn gradually. The puppy really should be leashed to you, in the crate, or in the pen at all times unless you are actively supervising and playing with them. Slowly add freedom. Casanova was only allowed to roam between living room and bedroom at one year old. But he never has accidents, ever. I have lots of friends who allowed their dogs to make mistakes in the beginning and they are still not reliable at 2 or 3 years of age!


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## LamborghiniGirl (Apr 16, 2009)

Wow, thank you guys! You all gave me great advice.

*Camfan*, that is good to know about not waking up/ letting them out unless they are making noise to go. I also hadn't thought about training them to make it through the night and keeping the crate closed-- I guess I was thinking older= they can decide if they want to get up. But then again, you are right-- older= should be trained to hold it longer and stay in the crate at night. Thanks!


Will the transition from having the crate on the nightstand to the floor be hard or am I just over-analyzing at this point? I guess I just like to think these types of things through.

*2MaltMom*, it'll be pretty soon!

*princessre, * did that work for you? Were you able to go to sleep later (like 12/1 am) and wake up early (7/8am) and Casanova made it through? Maybe if I keep them up late and wake up earlier I will only have to get up once or twice at the beginning. Thanks for the tips about earning freedom. Whenever I can't supervise, into the pen!

So I guess the consensus so far is that the puppy won't be confused if they only see the crate at night, and xpen during the day?

If anyone else has other advice, I would appreciate it! So far this has already helped so much.


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

QUOTE (princessre @ Sep 14 2009, 12:52 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=829570


> I really think the secret to housetraining success is not letting them make mistakes, which means lots of confinement and very little freedom which they have to earn gradually. The puppy really should be leashed to you, in the crate, or in the pen at all times unless you are actively supervising and playing with them. Slowly add freedom. Casanova was only allowed to roam between living room and bedroom at one year old. But he never has accidents, ever. I have lots of friends who allowed their dogs to make mistakes in the beginning and they are still not reliable at 2 or 3 years of age![/B]


I agree!

I was fortunate when Ollie was a puppy that I was home full time with my kids and Ollie stayed in the kitchen or x-pen at all times. I watched him constantly. It was exhausting. But it paid off because in about two months he was totally trained. And he hasn't gone in the house since!

Ollie won't go in the house, even if I let him roam at night. If I let YoYo roam in the night, he will potty in the house--and we don't do pads. SO both are confined to my bedroom at night and they hold it just fine all night. Although they want up and out at 6:30 am, no matter what day of the week. But that's ok--we just let them out, they go, and come right back in.


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## princessre (Dec 23, 2008)

QUOTE (LamborghiniGirl @ Sep 14 2009, 01:46 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=829605


> *princessre, * did that work for you? Were you able to go to sleep later (like 12/1 am) and wake up early (7/8am) and Casanova made it through? Maybe if I keep them up late and wake up earlier I will only have to get up once or twice at the beginning. Thanks for the tips about earning freedom. Whenever I can't supervise, into the pen![/B]


Yes, Casanova made it the whole night, but I got him at 6 months also. I took care of one puppy at 3 months that also could make it through the whole night, though. I think your crate/ex-pen plan sounds perfect! I don't think it would be confusing at all. 

The thing that helped the most with housebreaking is when you have the pup in the ex-pen when you're busy, the second you see them pee, say "Good Potty" to mark the behavior, and no matter how busy you are, drop everything you're doing and let them come out and play with you for at least a few minutes and give them treats and act like they won the Olympic gold medal. If your pup is anything like Casanova, they will loooove to be with you so much. This is the best reward for them and things will click very quickly.


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