FAQ: Is your Frenchie crate trained?

[hannah]

I have a three month old Frenchie and he loves his crate. He is in it for 4 hours in the morning and then out for an hour for lunch and playtime and then back in for just short of 3 hours - We did have him in an expen but he destroyed it - tore up the pee pads (which i wish i never started using in the first place) and pooped and would drag the pee pad holder through the poop (eat the poop)... short story -
EW we will use the expen once again (without pee pads) when he is older. But for now crating is working for us

HAHAHA our 10 week old does the same thing!! when he poops he pounces at it and then tries to cover it up with his pee pad, rips apart his pee pad on top of it, steps on it... its so ridiculous!!!

 

[Mavis]

Bambi came to us crate trained and I love it. We keep the dogs in the kitchen when we are at work. Ginger's crate is right next to Bambi's, however, the doors are open. They love their crates and constantly take each other's "house" - it is so funny. Ginger's is big and Bambi's is 3/4 of the size. Ginger goes in there and looks squished, but I think it is a matter of conquest. :sarcastic: We had a Memorial Day party and Bambi was a hit and took the room by storm. After a while, she looks exhausted so John put her upstairs for some peace and quiet because her crate is right in the kitchen where everybody was milling around. She cried like a baby until John came and got her. We put her in her crate and shut the door and she slept like a lamb during the whole party. She just wanted to be next to everyone. That dog is my angel. :heart: She was so good with the little ones. I told my niece that she "purrs" when she is happy so they wouldn't be scared. We took Ginger to my sister's because she is relentless around food that is within reach and she is too high strung to just chill out.

 

[Mavis]

We used a crate when T was a puppy. She was very rarely alone during the day, she goes to work with my husband, but we crated her at night and on the rare occasion that she was home alone.

OMG, T goes to work with your husband?!!! Does she wear her little skirts and pearls? How does anyone get anything done! I would LOVE that!

 

[gdub4784]

We have crate trained all of our dogs. Bubb really took to it. and now when we are home if he needs some quiet time away from the rest of the dogs, that is where he goes. It gives us piece of mind when we need to run out for a bit, that he is not getting into anything. I would never forgive myself if he got into something and got injured. Our vet also said he prefers crate trained, saves him from unnecessary surgery's from dogs that get into and eat things that make them sick.

 

[Nu2frenchie]

Crate trained yes!! House training still in progress

 

[Pagan]

Well... When we first got Henry we tried out best to crate train but he hated it! He would poo and wee everywhere so every morning I would have to strip his bed. Not to mention he would scream all night! We probably shouldn't have but he ended up having his bed in our room and we packed the crate away. Then when he was about 5 months old we introduced him to the crate again and now he loves it! He sleeps in the kitchen in his crate with no problems


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[MunasG]

Hi all,

Now that me baby girl is feeling much better and back to her old self again after parvo at 9 week, gird and worms at 10 weeks and vomiting and regurgitation as well as aspiration pneumonia at 11/12 week old... YES! she's been through lot but she's a fighter. I am so excited to be having fun with her and watching her grow. But now i am facing a dilemma with crate training and house training her and need some help! When i got her a 9 weeks she was sleeping in her crate at night and only whined and cried the first few nights. But during the day when we are home, she doesn't like to be left in there, she will whine and scream until we took her out. Because she was only 9 weeks and hadn't received all of her shots, we did not take her outside for potty and used pee pad next to her crate which was inside a bigger pen. She was good with that and only peed and posed on the pads. Then she had to go into the emergency 5 days after we got her because of parvo and was in there for 10 days. When she came home we were so excited and wanted to keep her and the other dogs in our neighbourhood safe and we still did not take her outside for potty and let her use the pee pads until her follow up check a few days ago. During this time, she had a few accidents, mostly peeing on the floor when my boyfriend was watching her and she was outside of the pen. Once or twice she also posed on the floor when he was watching her. I do my very best to watch her like a hawk to make sure she males no mistakes, and when i notice the signs, i put her in the pen with the pads and she does her business. But the accidents seem to increase because she spends more time with my BF when am at home. His job allows he a lot of flexibility so he can be home with her but only for the next week, then we will both be away for most of the day. When we took her to her follow up check a few days ago, the vet said that its safe to start taking her outside for a bit, so we've started outside potty training. She's taking well to it, but its been a long weekend here and we've both been home with her for 4 days and taking her outside has been easy. I have been waking up at 6 am, taking her out right away, she pees and poos just fine after my "go potty" command. Then i feed her at 6.30am, and take her out again 15 mins later to potty again and she does. Then we play for a bit, then she naps and after she wakes up i take her out again and she pees. Then every couple of hours or more frequently if she eats or drinks. The issue is we are both going back to work full time starting tomorrow and was considering starting crate training. My BF can come home after 4 hrs and let her out to potty and feed her and play with her for a bit. I am just a bit nervous about starting to lock her in the crate. Because up until now, the crate door has been open and its only the pen that cuts her off from us. Any advice on whether its too soon to leave her in a locked crate for 4 hrs? We have a sitter who will be coming to spend a few hrs with her on days when we can't be home. Any tips and advice on crate training and house training will be great. She is 3 months old right now and i know she can only hold it for about 4 hrs, but we haven't tested this yet. Apologies for my long rant!

 

[HannahBanana]

We struggled with the decision to crate train Finley, but I believe, regardless of what the bleeding hearts will say, if you don't feel it's safe for your pup to be free roaming when home alone then don't jeopardise their safty. We ultimately decided to crate and potty train and it's the best decision we have made for him. If we go out for a short trip we will construct a pen for him that includes his kennel and when we come home he is almost always relaxing in his kennel anyway. While we're at work he is safely chilling in his kennel until his walker comes 2 times during the day to hang out with him or take him to play group so he's never in there more than 3-4 hours.
Dogs are natural den animals and Fin absolutely uses his crate as his own personal room. It took us about 3 solid weeks for the crate training to set in and now we say "kennel up" and he goes right in. I can't recommend crate training enough for their saftey and comfort. That being said they should never be in there longer than 5-7 hours and that's really pushing it.

 

[MunasG]

Thanks [MENTION=1737]HannahBanana[/MENTION]! Did you keep Finley in the crate at night as well and locked in? Or did you use pee pads at night until he was fully potty trained. Can you give me an idea of your schedule? For Nellie, we wake up at 6AM, take her out right away do her business. The she has a short play session and then her first meal of the day at 6.30AM. She hangs around with us begging for belly rubs lol. I then take her out again 15 mins after she eats. She seems to go both time (pee and poo). We then get ready for work between 7-7.30 am. I then take her out again once last time. I put a few treats in her crate, and put her in there (but with the door open) so she can access the sectioned off area with the pee pads. I have attached a picture. its not the best quality. We leave the house just before 8AM. And she is by herself until around 12.30PM when the sitter comes and spends 2 hours with her and feeds her and takes her on her potty breaks. She is then back in her crate (door unlocked) until i get home at 5.30PM. Then she's mostly with us the whole time playing, sleeping napping until bedtime at 11.00pm ish. Then back into the crate (door open) until 6AM again. What i am hoping is to keep her locked into her crate the two 4 hour sessions during the day, and then gradually wean her off the pads through the night. Does that makes sense. Was that a similar routine you took with Finley?

 

[HannahBanana]

We did crate him at night as well. We are just starting to let him have "big bed time" after a few accidents in the big bed a while back we decided he was not quite ready, but I'd say he's 95% potty trained now. When we just started crate/potty training his schedule was:
6A.M - out
6:30- breakfast
7:30 - out
Back in kennel while we are at work
10-11: sister comes to take him out
Back in crate
2-4: sitter back to take him out
Back in crate
6-7: mom dad home to take him out
Dinner
10-11: last pee before night kennel
2-3A.M- out

Now he has no middle of the night potty break, only one morning out, and only 1 middle of the day out.

We never used pee pads be issue he would just chew them up and I thought it might confuse him to sometimes go inside. We were also really struck about when he got food and water but now he even has a water bottle he can access in his crate and he's been accident free for a little over two weeks (in house not crate.) He had a small spell of peeling in the crate while we were at work before the walker got to him for his first walk but we took away some crate space and the comfy bedding we had in there for him and it did the trick. It seems cruel at the time but it was literally for a little over two weeks before he was trusted with space and bedding again and has not had an accident in his crate since.

I never thought I was going to make it though crate training because he would cry form time to time but the key is to be firm and never take your pup out until they have calmed down! I won't lie and say Fin is in love with his crate and now that's he hit 6 months he's had a tiny regression and will cry out for us at around 3A.M. But that's just when he's ready to move into the big bed so we will get him and he will snuggle with us until we we ready to get up and even sleeps in on the weekends! For all the hard times in the start, I would say we owe all the good times now to the crate!
Good luck! Nellie is going to do awesome!

 

[HannahBanana]

Oh! Another awesome trick that we used was the Kong. It pretty much saved my whole emotional state before leaving for work. I would fill the Kong with frozen yogurt or oatmeal (he was having some tummy issues when he was a lil one) and pop it in the crate before I would leave for work and he was so distracted with that he wouldn't even whine.

 

[MunasG]

[MENTION=1737]HannahBanana[/MENTION] Ok thats very helpful! I think the key thing has to be consistency! This is where i fail. Yesterday i tried and locked her in the crate for the first time. I was at a friends for dinner and was gone 3.5hrs in total. My brother had dropped by to check in on her and she didn't seem to have had an accident. But when i got home, i noticed she had peed in from of her bed in the crate! I didn't make a fuss. I cleaned it and put the divider in the crate to make it smaller. So now, she won't have any space to do her business in. Cruel i know! This morning we had to step out for two hours and i did the same thing, and she did not have an accident this time! I was sure she would because i took her out twice before i left an hour apart and she wouldn't poo but just peed outside. So am so proud that she didn't have an accident after two hours. I think I'll have to ease her into this, and also factor in a 2-3am pee time too. I haven't been doing that as i loooove my sleep lol. But it'll be worth it in the end. She is a feisty little one but a sweetheart all the same. Thanks again for all your tips. I will use the kong

 

[HannahBanana]

Everything I was doing that I thought was cruel I would just have to tell myself this was for Fin's best interest. He would cry so much in the start and I was so tempted to pull him out and squeeze him and tell him how sorry I was but my boyfriend was like "you're making him into this emotional terriost!" And from then on our motto was "we do not nagotiate with puppy terrorists!" In total it was maybe a month of hell and now I am endlessly proud of him and myself! Plus now he has this sense of discipline and we can work on the fun training!
You're doing awesome! Nellie is gonna be awesome!

 

[MunasG]

Ha ha ha! That had me rolling on the floor. Puppy terrorists.... My boyfriend on the other hand is too lax and thinks Nellie will eventually get potty trained without being locked in her crate. If only lol

 

[Frenchie Grrrl]

We have crate trained all of our dogs, so it was never a question with Gus. We started from day one.

Even though Gus was only 7 wks old when we brought him home, he never fussed or whimpered in the crate. I put him in a metal laundry basket beside my bed at night, and when I heard him wake up, I would take him out to potty. If he had trouble settling back down, I could easily reach down and pet/scratch him until he got sleepy again.

Luckily, I am home during the day, so he doesn't spend much time in the crate, but he pops right in there to get a treat when I need to leave for short periods and doesn't seem to mind a bit. He often goes into his crate when he wants to sleep in peace. I honestly don't see how you could house train (without the use of pee pads) without a crate.


sleepy pupper

 

[Jcstorlie]

Penelope was crate trained as a puppy but I haven't used it since she's been 9 months old. I can't imagine not using a crate while potty training any puppy. I've only used a crate for short increments of time so a puppy wouldn't destroy my house.