Pros and Cons to crate training 9 week old puppy

[katrad2011]

I brought home my 9 week old baby Chihuahua yesterday night. Her and I are already pretty bonded, as I spent a good amount of time w her since she was born. I was fully prepared to “crate” (crate in a puppy pen w a potty pad) train her, but I was not expecting her to be just so snuggly and sweet and calm. I was expecting a hyper active ball of crazy that I would need to shit away to be able to settle down. She’s been very calm and timid at our apartment so far. She slept in my bed last night and she pretty much slept through the night w zero accidents. She’s now snuggled up so happy next to me night two..
Do y’all really think it’s for the best that I make her sleep alone in the crate? The crate is in my bedroom so she’s not fully alone but she’s a snuggle bug and I’ve taken her away from her mom and brothers… why should I make her cry and be upset when she’s just fine in the bed and I like having her there?
Will it be harder to “crate” train her if I wait a few weeks till she’s a bit older and more comfortable here?
I will be keeping her in the pen when I leave the house for work or errands. Is that enough time to get her used to the crate?
The long term goal is to not to have her sleep in the crate. I would love for her to just sleep with me. And only be in the pen when home alone. But I do want her to feel comfortable and safe in a crate….Help me stop over thinking!

 

[nikkideamus]

@katrad2011 She's been home one day. My puppy acted sweet and calm the first few days too. Now she's a demon and a menace and I thank the crate every day of my life

 

[jchu4]

@nikkideamus lol right some of these posts are so hasty. Our pup was SO calm and sleepy, then we found out his 2 prior rounds of dewormer weren’t enough and the pup must’ve had a bad infection. Once that was cleared up he became a maniac overnight

 

[radicalpeng]

@nikkideamus Literally came here to write this

 

[muya]

@radicalpeng Same

 

[thelearner92]

@katrad2011 Crate training is still a good idea for future use even if they’re doing fine without one. If your dog needs surgery and has to be immobilized at home it’s going to be very hard to do that in the future if they’ve never been used to being in a crate.

 

[ateche]

@katrad2011 It's quite common to have puppies be angels the first night or 2 because they are just tired and a bit scared of all the changes and they prefer to appear invisible and observe.

She should open up in a couple of days and you might start seeing her true personality.

 

[scoobysnack]

@katrad2011 There’s this weird black/white view of “let your pup roam free” or “squish them in a crate and ignore”. If you do it right and IMMEDIATELY your dog can see the crate as their safe space.

The crate: enough room to stand up, turn around, and sit but no more (or else get ready for pee/poop in the crate). Make it a nice little den with a padded floor and a blanket covering!

• choose a command (mine is “go to bed”)

Training from day 1 (or I guess 2 for you). In reps of 10,

Day 1:
Say the command and lead them into the crate with the treat. BIG CELEBRATION, then let them out.

Day 2:
Say the command, they go in, BIG CELEBRATION AND TREAT, let them come out

Day 3:
Say the command, they go in, close the door, count to 10, BIG CELEBRATION AND TREAT, they come out

Day 4:
Say the command, they go in, close the door, hang out with them for a few minutes, BIG CELEBRATION AND TREAT they come out

Day 5:
Say the command, they go in, close the door, leave the room for ten seconds. At this point you’ll hear whining but hold off until they settle down. Go in, unlock door BIG CELEBRATION AND TREAT, they come out.

At that point it’s just extending that time limit and extending your absence. Obviously not a strict routine, and the pup may need additional sessions before they’re ready for the next step.

Little chihuahuas are much easier to just attach at your hip, but if you don’t want to be “that person” with your dog in an inappropriate place I think it’s crucial to either crate train or puppy-proof a room.

Regardless, it’s just cruel to go from 0-100 in leaving them alone at that age no matter what your method is for enclosing them.

Also some of y’all anthropomorphize your dogs and it really shows in your personality. Your dog is a dog and not a child. It’s a very recent first-world approach to coddle these animals, and they can handle it. That doesn’t mean don’t love them to death, it just means that you’re not neglecting them if you treat them a little less carefully than a human baby. Every training activity is an exercise of classical conditioning. They don’t have complex reasoning, they just want to love us and please us.

 

[peegee73]

@katrad2011 I cannot imagine how it would have been possible to do enforced naps without a crate as this guy would literally not settle unless he was plonked in there. Without enforced naps, and therefore an appropriate amount of sleep for a small puppy I think he would have been more of a demon than he already was at times - I honestly don’t think I would have coped. Possibly if you had a big house where the puppy proofed room was one you could avoid disturbing for 2/3 hours at a time several times a day then that would be fine but my place was much smaller than that. Mine is now 8m and doesn’t use the crate really, but he does still struggle to stay asleep if I’m up and moving about so I do worry about whether he’s getting an appropriate amount of sleep on the days I’m not just slobbing out on the sofa. Also, he was fine with his crate until we let him sleep in the bedroom a few times and then after that he would scream bloody murder when we tried the crate again, which also then caused an issue for when we wanted to leave him because he’s not trustworthy to be free roaming yet either.

Edit: also come back in a couple of weeks and tell us if your puppy is still totally sedate haha. You might have hit the jackpot…or you might be having the same thought probably most of us had here that turned out to be your puppy luring you in to a false sense of security!!

Anyway, crate training and the dog sleeping in your bed at night aren’t incompatible anyway.

 

[godisagardener]

@katrad2011 All the pros if done properly. As others have said it’s not just about sleep, it’s about being able to safely contain your dog if necessary. (Particularly useful when leaving the house with a chewing everything puppy in an open plan environment, as was our situation to begin with)

My 4yo pup is soft as anything but I have friends who are just terrified of dogs around their kids due to other bad experiences with other dogs. If I shut her in the lounge she gets fomo and basically tries to break the door down because she wants to be with people and love on everyone. But if I put her in her crate in the room with us she sits nicely and chews her toys because she’s with us and doesn’t feel left out.

We leave her crate open all day every day and I also find if she’s scared for any reason (fireworks/etc) or just overtired and wanting to be alone she puts herself in and snuggles up in her blankets (the crate is under our stairs covered with a blanket to make it dark and cozy).

We trained her by putting the crate in a pen and encouraging her to use it for naps. Gradually we started closing the crate door for short periods and then opening it back up so she learned we would always let her back out, lots of treats and praise, new toys magically appearing in her crate at night to reward her and make it a positive place to be. Slowly that evolved to the door being closed overnight and now she puts herself to bed in her crate once she’s had her last pee break at night. We open it at 5am when we get up and she’s often still in her blanket nest when we get home from the gym around 7:30am. I genuinely think it’s her happy and safe place that she sees as just hers. (We aren’t people who would want her sleeping in our bed, she snores like a foghorn and the couple of times she has stayed in our room we’ve barely slept )

We’re also hoping to move transatlantically in about 18 months and will be taking her via cruise ship as we don’t want her in a cargo hold and she’s too big to be allowed in any cabin that would take dogs internationally. If she wasn’t crate trained this would be impossible.

 

[presbyterianjay]

@katrad2011 Yeah, it will be harder if you leave it. Anecdotal, but the people I know who couldn't bear to crate train their puppies right away just never got around to it and now their dogs just can't be crated

 

[markwp]

@presbyterianjay To be fair, crating is mostly a thing in the US. Puppies in other countries do perfectly fine without and no, its no big deal for most of them to sit in a crate in the car or at the vet.
So having a dog that's not crate-trained is not necessarily a big deal.

 

[presbyterianjay]

@markwp Yeah, its probably 50/50 where I'm from. I'm personally a total convert to crating, it made toilet training so easy and even though my dog basically stopped using her crate at 6 months old it's nice to know that she's happy if she ever needs to be put in one.

The dogs I mentioned are good dogs but have some degree of separation anxiety. I'm not sure if crate training them as puppies would have helped with that or not.

 

[hiccup]

@markwp This.

Crate training is a management tool from a guardian perspective but when viewed from a dog welfare and lived experience perspective, it has the potential to be a consistent stressor in a dog's life.

It matters how and when a training is done too. The dog has to be cognitively and emotionally capable of understanding crate training which at 9 weeks old in a new home it's highly unlikely that either is true.

A lot of videos online show to put the dog in a crate and ignore when it is barking and howling. This can be detrimental to the emotional state of the dog and often exhibits itself in the form of accidents and hyperactivity outside the crate.

There are very few studies done on crates and it seems like the advantages are mostly for guardians and not necessarily aligned to the welfare of the dog.

The argument of being a den like environment seems to be debated as an oversimplification of the exhibited canine behaviour and often taken out of context.

The argument of crating in the car and the vet is questionable too because the learning context of crate at home vs other locations is vastly different and as such needs to be carefully evaluated for the individual dog.

I think crate training can be useful especially if the puppy is going to be alone but jt should be introduced in the right emotional and cognitive time for the dog. And then most importantly should be introduced and trained appropriately so it can truly be a safe space for the dog. I have noticed a lot of focus on the training part and a lot of online material asking to ignore the signs of it being a wrong time emotionally and cognitively.

 

[katrad2011]

@hiccup Thank you! I so appreciate your response. All the ppl online telling me to let stick her in the cage night one and let her keep crying it out till she stops just wasn’t sitting well with me. Going to take a slower approach and make sure to keep that a safe positive space for her!

 

[lessi]

@katrad2011 A lot of ppl took the time to comment and you only reply to the one that reinforces your opinion.

 

[hiccup]

@katrad2011 That is best. If you are keen, you can try in 2-3 weeks and gradually introduce once you feel your pup has become more acclimatised to your home and pull back if it's not working and try after a while again.

 

[psalms91baby]

@hiccup My oldest baby always slept with me, and then I tried to crate train her during the day, coming home during lunch to walk her. She hated it. The only time it was an issue was when he went to my dads place. He did not like dogs around during meal time. She was 10 lbs. She wasn't trying to get food, but was watching me. That made him uncomfortable.

 

[beautifull]

@katrad2011 There is no cons. Just pros.

 

[dnl123]

@katrad2011 My older dog is crate trained. My younger dog has been completely hysterical when we put her in there, to the point where I think it’s harmful. So, she stays in her playpen while we are gone, with puppy pads. I don’t think the crate is bad, I think it just varies dog to dog. I don’t think it’s worth giving a dog anxiety over.