Quote:
Originally Posted by Maximo  I brought my first pup home at 13 weeks old and he was about 3 pounds. He would have gone nuts if I had tried crating him. The xpen and piddle pad worked perfectly for him. He graduated to having a safe room to stay in fairly quickly. The Maxman excelled in potty training; it's his specialty. 
Crate training works for some pups, but crates should never be used as babysitters for more than 3-4 hours a day -- if I recall correctly, that is what my breeder wrote in the instructions she gave me. |
Just want to make sure I clarify how we are using the crate and pen. She is never in the crate for more than 2 hours at a time (except if she is sleeping which is at night). Each time I go home between 7:00 and 4:00PM (which is 3 to 4 times a day) she gets time to go outside to potty and I let her play for 10-15 minutes. During lunch she gets atleast 40 minutes before going back in the crate.
After 4PM, we have done our best to not be away from home unless we have to (like go to the grocery store) so we can play with her, bond and take her outside to potty. If we have to put her down to eat dinner or be away from her to cook or do something for a couple minutes she is put in her pen with her toys, crate, bed and potty pads. She is never in the pen more than 10-15minutes.
When it is bedtime, we take the crate into our bedroom, place it next to our bed and but her bed in there. She falls asleep with us after cuddling for a few minutes and in the crate we put her. She never hesitates to cuddle in her crate and sleep. During the night she whines and we take her to potty. She goes without any issues and back to sleep in the crate she goes without much whining.