Crate training a puppy

Useful for housetraining - in moderation

Crate training a puppy can be a useful tool when potty training puppies - but it must be used in moderation.

While your puppy is too young to live outside, you will need to find ways to make sure he does not relieve himself all over the house when you are not home or during the night.

Dog crate training is not the only method you can use for this - you can also confine your puppy to an appropriate small area within the house or try paper training.

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On this page:

Crate training a puppy - great but for short periods only  It's not a substitute for proper puppy training

Confining to a small room  Avoid mess in the house and learn about paper training

Indoor dog potty  A great alternative if your pup can't get outside

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Crate training a puppy - great but for short periods only

Crate training a puppy is popular with some people as a means of housetraining because it removes some of the need to supervise the puppy and means owners can go off to work knowing the dog won't be in the house causing mess or chewing things.

Crate training a puppy usually involves placing the puppy in a dog crate that is just large enough for the pup to stand up and turn around in.

The idea is that the puppy will regard the crate as its den and as a safe place to go to. Since the puppy generally prefers not to soil its sleeping area, the puppy will hold on and avoid soiling the crate.

But many people are concerned that crate training can be used as an excuse to lock a dog up and avoid having to train it properly. Dogs left shut in crates for long periods of time (all day for 5 working days a week, for example) can suffer developmental and learning problems.

A better solution for preventing messes in the house and inappropriate chewing is to use the small room method described below. This allows your puppy room to move but keeps him out of harm's way.

There are two good uses for crate training:

1. You can put the puppy in a dog crate if you are not able to supervise it for a short time while housebreaking.
    
   The puppy must be in the crate for no more than 1 hour. The puppy will tend to avoid soiling the crate.
   
   You then immediately take the puppy outside and encourage it to relieve itself by using the potty or toileting word we learned about in Housetraining a Puppy.
    
   
2. You can train a dog to become used to a crate if it is likely to need to travel on trains or planes, or to remain in a crate while it is at a dog show or trial.

If you're tempted to use a crate because you don't have time to housetrain your puppy properly, consider buying an older dog instead.

Housetraining does require patience and time. So if you're short on both, you could adopt a young dog from a shelter or from a dog rescue and foster organisation. Dog rescuers will be able to tell you if a dog is already housetrained. Check out our Puppy Adoption page for information about how to adopt a puppy or older dog.

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Confining to a small room

The best way to do stop a puppy going all over the house is to confine the puppy to a small room with a floor that's easy to clean - for example, a bathroom or the laundry. This is better than crate training a puppy because the dog is allowed more freedom of movement and choice, avoiding any problems associated with the close confinement of a crate.

Cover the floor with paper, put his dog bed in one corner, his water dish and food bowl in another and scatter some chew toys around. You can put some soil or fake grass on part of the paper in one corner to get him used to where he will do his toileting outside.

Clean up any mess as soon as you come home and take him outside, using your toileting word.

Eventually, the pup will be mature enough to be allowed unsupervised into more rooms of the house. If he is well supplied with chew toys, he will also quickly learn what he can and cannot chew.

Don't let your puppy have the run of the house unless you're sure he is able to ask to go outside or is old enough to hold on for several hours.

Paper training

Paper training is another useful way to housetrain your puppy while you're not home. It extends the idea of the confinement to a small room.

As for the small room method, cover the floor of a room such as a bathroom or laundry with paper and place his bed and food and drink bowls in different corners. You can also put soil or artificial grass in one corner to encourage him to use the same sort of surface as he would outside.

As time goes on and he seems to be grasping the principle of where to go in the room, you can reduce the coverage of the paper, little by little until the paper is only in one corner of the room.

The puppy will now associate the paper with his indoor toileting area and will go there and nowhere else inside.

Indoor dog potty - a great alternative

Instead of using paper, you could train your puppy to use an Indoor Dog Potty or 'pet loo' - this is particularly handy for dogs that must remain inside while you are away or who live in apartments and don't have ready access to outside.

These devices are a great alternative to crate training a puppy.

They are designed to be easily cleaned and can be left permanently set up in a quiet corner of the house - perfect for people who live in apartments or who need to leave their dog inside for lengthy periods while they are away.

Eventually, your puppy will no longer need to relieve himself during the day when you're away as he will spend most of his time asleep.

But it can be a good idea to keep some paper down in a corner, or use a dog potty, just in case he's caught short or you are away for longer periods.

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