# HELP! Made a TERRIBLE mistake in crate training!



## jianuine (May 7, 2008)

Firstly, Cashmere is an 8 week old pup and I've been reading alot about crate training. 

Just not enough to understand that I should not crate a young puppy too long and without my presence!
I went to work today and decided to "crate-train" him for 5 hours! OH NO!!!!

Now he absolutely detests his crate no matter how many treats or toys I put in! 

Even when his favourite chewing toy (also known as my bedroom slippers) are thrown in, he'll just run away in the opposite direction! 

Can anyone advise me on what to do?

Thanks,
WorriedCashmereMum


----------



## Max & Rocky (May 20, 2004)

> I went to work today and decided to "crate-train" him for 5 hours! OH NO!!!![/B]



:biggrin: I think you both will survive. Actually, in my opinion, the worst possible thing here would be if you regularly left him in his crate for long periods of time, such that he would become used to having accidents in there and then having to live with it for a few hours. However, you didn't do that, so take a deep breath and relax.

I have no idea what your setup is but I would suggest a x-pen on a solid surface floor with enough space for food, water, a potty pad, and his crate, but not a lot of extra space.

This encourages him to eliminate on the potty pad and outside of his crate.

Younger dogs and dogs who have come from puppy mill situations will usually just pee or poop where ever they happen to be when the urge hits them... This is the behavior that a crate is trying to stop.... teach them to hold it until an appropriate place to do their business is available.

It sounds like in your case, he just wanted to have more freedom and probably had some pent up energy that he wanted to run off and I suspec that if you give him some choice in if he is inside the crate or outside, (such as the x-pen crate combination I suggested), you will soon find him back inside the crate on his own.


----------



## vjw (Dec 20, 2006)

Petplace.com is a great site for finding answers for your puppy questions. For example: 

Crate Training

I also wanted to add that five hours is too long for an eight week old puppy to wait to potty. 

A general rule is : # of months old plus 1 = # hrs a puppy can hold urine. 

So a two month old puppy should be able to hold urine about 3 hours.



Joy


----------



## phesty (May 30, 2006)

You can try feeding him in his crate for a while, to help him associate it with positive things. You could also try laying with your head in the crate, (yes I've done it) so he learns that it's an okay place to be.

I wish you luck!


----------



## jianuine (May 7, 2008)

I know!! Its all my fault, I didnt read clearly :smpullhair: 

Poor Cashmere must have thought it was a punishment! 

Anyways, I'll try all those things you guys have suggested!
Thanks, guys!

By the way, how do you stop them from chewing your hands OFF?


----------



## Max & Rocky (May 20, 2004)

Go buy and large container or Bitter Apple... It works on body parts... but you might wantt o see if it causes any issues if you rub your eyes and get some in them... Not sure I would want to find the answer to that question accidently... :smpullhair:


----------



## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

All meals are fed in the crate (leave the door open). 

Keep on tossing stuff in it. Be matter of fact. Don't baby him or force him in. Toss treats closer and closer to the entry, eventually inside (enough for him to stick his head in, then a foot, then two feet). A trail of treats works, too. Slowly extending it further into the crate. 

Practice going in the crate on command (gently set him in, praise and cookie inside, right out we come - use a word to release him like "okay"). Once he gets comfy, vary the time in. Start closing the door sometimes. Slowly extend the time with and without the door shut.


----------



## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

I used the x-pen set up like Steve described for both of mine and it worked like a charm both times. We started out with the floor completely covered in potty pads and she has her bed, food and water in there, too. We slowly stopped covering the floor entirely with potty pads and now she just has the one pad in there. It's set up in an L shape - food and water in the back, bed in front to the right and potty pad right inside the door - this takes up all of the floor space in the pen. Annie is a rescue and she simply will not tolerate a crate.

Sophie has had free run of the house now for a while as she has no desire to dig in stuff she's not supposed to, but we still use the x-pen for Annie's safety when no one is home because she is always looking for something to get into as apparently that is her mission in life. I still have a potty pad in there for her, but after a while she decided she would rather wait until we get home to go potty on one of the other pads outside of her pen. Oh, Sophie is a little over 2 and Annie is a little over 1 - we've had her since October she was 6-8 mos old and was not potty trained. And, when not in the pen we watched her every move until she was trained.

I use one of the wire pens inside the house, but recently found the plastic play yard at Baby's R Us for much less than Petsmart wanted. Petsmart wanted over $80 for it and I got the same thing at Baby's R Us for $65. I use two of these hooked together for outside under the patio when we're outside since my yard's not fenced in. Of course, I'm in there with them!! 

Good luck!


----------

