The first few nights are the hardest
If you just brought a puppy home, there is a good chance you are reading this at 2 a.m. while someone small cries in a crate next to your bed. You may be wondering if the crate is cruel, if you bought the wrong size, or if you should just let the puppy sleep with you and deal with it later.
I’m Tiffany Singleton, owner and Master Dog Trainer at Off Leash K9 Training of Amarillo. Between nine years in a veterinary clinic, raising my own dogs and fostering more puppies than I can count, I have heard a lot of crate crying. Here is what I want you to know: done right, the crate becomes your puppy’s favorite spot in the house. It keeps them safe when you can’t watch them, it is the backbone of potty training, and it teaches them how to settle down and rest. The crying fades faster than you think when you follow a steady routine.
Why the crate works
Dogs like small, safe spaces to rest. A crate gives your puppy that space, and it gives you three things you need in the first months:
- Safety. A puppy loose in the house while you shower can chew a phone charger, swallow a sock or get into the trash. The crate prevents that.
- Potty training. Most puppies don’t want to soil where they sleep. A crate the right size helps your puppy learn to hold it, so you can take them straight outside to the right spot.
- Settling. Puppies get overtired the same way toddlers do, and an overtired puppy bites, zooms and cries more. Regular crate naps give their brain a break.
The crate is not a punishment, and it should never be used as one. If your puppy only goes in when they are in trouble, they will learn to hate it.
Pick the right crate and set it up
Get a crate big enough for your puppy to stand up, turn around and lie down stretched out, and not much bigger. If it is too big, your puppy can potty in one end and sleep in the other. For a breed that will grow a lot, buy a crate sized for the adult dog and use the divider panel to shrink it now.
Put the crate where your family spends time, not in a back room or the garage. For the first couple of weeks, many families put it right next to the bed at night so the puppy can hear and smell them. A washable mat or towel is fine, as long as your puppy isn’t shredding it.
A quick Amarillo note: keep the crate out of direct afternoon sun, away from heating vents, and never leave a puppy crated in a car or an outdoor space in our summer heat. Panhandle afternoons can get dangerously hot, and a puppy in a crate can’t move to shade.
How to crate train a puppy, step by step
- Make the crate a good place. Leave the door open and toss treats inside. Let your puppy wander in and out on their own. Feed meals in the crate, starting near the door and moving the bowl further back each day.
- Close the door for short stretches. When your puppy is happily eating inside, close the door for a minute, then open it before they fuss. Slowly build to a few minutes while you sit nearby.
- Add a chew. Give a safe, long-lasting chew only in the crate. Now the crate is where the good stuff happens.
- Practice leaving the room. Once your puppy can relax in the crate with you sitting there, step out of the room for a minute and come back calmly. Don’t make a big deal about coming and going.
- Use it for naps. After play and a potty trip, put your puppy in the crate for a nap. Young puppies sleep a lot, and most will drift off within a few minutes once they learn the routine.
- Build the night routine. Last potty trip right before bed, then into the crate with no big goodbye. If your puppy wakes up crying in the night, take them outside on a leash, keep it boring, no play, then straight back to the crate.
How long can a puppy stay in the crate?
A common rule of thumb is that a puppy can hold it for about one hour per month of age, plus one, during the day. So a three-month-old puppy may manage about four hours between potty breaks. Every puppy is different, and that number is a ceiling, not a goal. At night most puppies can go longer because they are asleep, but expect at least one middle-of-the-night trip for the first few weeks.
During the day, your puppy needs plenty of time out of the crate to play, explore, train and be with you. If you work long days, plan for a midday visit from a family member, friend or dog walker. A crate is a tool for safety and rest, not a place to spend the whole day.
Crate training in a busy house
Most Amarillo families aren’t training a puppy in a quiet house. There are kids coming home from school, an older dog who isn’t sure about the newcomer, and weekend trips to see family in Lubbock or out to the lake. The crate helps with all of it, as long as everyone follows the same few rules.
- The crate is off limits to kids. No reaching in, no climbing in, no poking fingers through the door. Your puppy needs one place where nobody bothers them. Tell your kids it is the puppy’s bedroom and they knock by calling the puppy out.
- Give the older dog a break. A new puppy can wear out a grown dog fast. Crate naps give your older dog time off, and they keep the puppy from learning to pester.
- Use the same words every time. Pick one cue, like “kennel” or “crate,” and have everyone use it. Toss a treat in when you say it. Your puppy will learn to walk in on their own.
- Bring the crate along. A puppy who is comfortable in the crate is much easier to take on a trip. A familiar crate at Grandma’s house helps them sleep and keeps accidents off her carpet.
When everyone in the house uses the crate the same way, your puppy learns the routine much faster.
Mistakes that make crate training harder
- Letting the puppy out while they are screaming. If crying opens the door, your puppy learns to cry longer. Wait for a few seconds of quiet, then open it. The one exception is a real potty need, so go out on leash and come right back.
- Only using the crate when you leave. If the crate always means you are about to disappear, your puppy will start to dread it. Use it while you are home too.
- Skipping exercise before crate time. A puppy with energy to burn will complain. Play, a short training session, a potty trip, then the crate.
- Giving up after night two. Most puppies settle within the first week or two when the routine is the same every day. Consistency is what makes it work.
If your adult dog panics in a crate, drooling, breaking teeth on the bars or hurting themselves trying to get out, stop and get help. That is not ordinary puppy protest, and forcing it can make things worse.
Want help with the puppy routine?
Crate training is one piece of a bigger puppy routine, along with potty training, chewing and biting. If you want to see how much a steady routine changes things, read Bo’s story, an Amarillo dog whose family came to us for one thing: potty training.
Our 2-Week Puppy Board & Train is built for puppies between 10 and 16 weeks old, and it focuses on crate training, a consistent routine and potty training while your puppy lives with our trainer. You get daily video updates, and at the end your trainer meets with you to show you everything your puppy learned and how to keep it going. If you would rather work on it yourself, our puppy training lessons cover crate training, potty training and puppy manners in four one-hour sessions. None of our puppy programs use an e-collar.
Payment plans are available. Call us today to learn more about payment options. If the biting is the bigger problem right now, our guide on how to stop puppy biting picks up where this one leaves off.