From: liza@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Liza Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs
Subject: Re: Crate Problem
Date: 11 Dec 1992 18:22:37 GMT
Organization: Stanford Univ. Earth Sciences
NNTP-Posting-Host: pangea.stanford.edu

In article <1992Dec10.205330.9310@cattnts.canada.ncr.com> sal@cattnts.canada.ncr.com (Sal Magnone) writes:
>Hello all,
>
>I have a 11 week old male Golden Retreiver named Mojo.  
>
>First question has to do with crate training.  I started crate training almost 
>as soon as I got him.  He has been very good, up till now, Mojo slept through 
>the night and during the day he was OK. Now, Mojo will yelp, whine and bark
>while he's in the crate.He has started to dislike the crate all together.
>From what I understood, dogs should start to love thier crate because it's
>their little get away.  What should I be doing to make it more pleasant for him

	Okay, Mojo now needs to learn the word "Quiet".  Part of being
crate-trained (imho) is to learn how to behave in a crate.  That means that
he has to learn that when in the crate he can play with his toys quietly or
sleep or lie down and watch the world.  I put a couple of soft toys in a
crate with a puppy and a blanket to cuddle up with.  I put the crate where
the puppy can see me in bed.  When I decide it's time to crate the puppy,
he goes in and is admonished to be "quiet."  Then, at first, I go to bed at
the same time so that he can still see me.  Any whine or cry gets a
"quiet."  A bark gets a larger response.  I get up out of bed, walk over to
the crate, open it, and give him a little scruff shake saying, "quiet!"  At
first this is almost incessent and the first night of crate training, I get
very little sleep.  However, eventually the puppy's exhaustion will win
out and you'll get some sleep.  Generally it gets progressively easier form
there.  There are a couple of other key rules but I will address them below
as they relate to the next question.

>My second question is related to the crate, he has started to pee in his crate 
>even though he just returned from going outside.  The length of time he is in
>the crate depends on the situation, sometimes he's in the crate for 1hr, 2hrs
>at the maximum 6hrs. 
	Okay, here's the deal.  YOU are responsible for discovering if your
pup did his business.  I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER assume that a puppy who has
been outside actually remembered to pee unless I see him do it.  They get
out there see the flowers and the rain and the gravel and the bugs and
simply forget they had to go.  Until they get back into the nice, warm,
cozy house when suddenly they can't wait any longer.  Whose fault is it
then?  Smack yourself in the face with a newspaper because it's not the
puppy's fault.  Here's what you need to do.

	Take the puppy outside.  Tell it to "get busy" (or whatever
euphumistic command you'd like to use).  Keep telling it to "get busy."  If
it sniffs a flower, tell it, "No, get busy."  Eventually, if you wait long
enough, the pup will go.  Then you tell it, "Good get busy, good puppy."
The puppy has no clue what you are rambling on about, but will eventually
get the clue that "get busy" means just that.  The most important part of
this is that you can take the pup outside and focus it on the task at hand.
But you are responsible for ensuring that it did empty its little bladder
and its little bowels.  

	My own rule is this:  take the puppy to the designated spot before
bed and tell it to "get busy."  Wait until it does.  Praise it.  Crate it.
(Do the whole quiet routine).  After the puppy sleeps, you sleep.  At 3 am
(or 1 am or 4 am or whenever pup wakes up and realizes he has to go again),
you'll hear a whine.  Get up immediately and take the pup outside.  Tell it
to "get busy" and praise it when it does.  Then put the pup back in the
crate with a command to be quiet.  If pup complains after that, you can
freely admonish him to be quiet because you KNOW he's already done his
business (by the way, I offer a little water during the nightly visits
because I've had two pups now you found thirst more horrible than a full
bladder and would cry until they got their drinkie! :( but only offer a
little otherwise, you'll be up again in two hours! :).  

	So what you are doing is ensuring that the pup is comfortable and
ready to settle down.  You are training the pup to let you know when it has
to get out of its crate.  You are also training the pup to be quiet when it
is not in desperate straits.  

	Later, once it can sleep through the night without having to pee,
you can admonish him if he just wakes you up for fun.  You'll know when
that happens I think.  

	Good luck and be patient!


>
>Thanks is advance,
>Sal. (parent of Mojo)
>-- 
>Sal Magnone		|	The opinions expressed are entirely my own	
>Systems Engineer	|	and no one elses.
>NCR Canada 		|	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>an AT&T Company		|	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


--
Liza Lee Miller         My dogs are labradorable!     liza@pangea.stanford.edu
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