I get this question several times a week “Michele why won’t my puppy stop crying in their
crate…
I’ve done everything to make it stop”
In today’s video, I’m going to discuss the best tips to stop your puppy from crying
in their crate and help them settle in there faster
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Michele here with How to Train a Dream dog, Don’t forget to check out my other social
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Ok, you’ve been trying to get your puppy to love their crate and right now it seems
like it’s never going to happen
They keep barking, crying, whining..
Maybe you’ve resorted to sleeping on the couch with the crate right next to you,
Or you’ve just decided it was far easier to stop them from crying if you brought them
into bed with you
Both of these aren’t the solution and I’ll share in a moment why!
1st things first, crate training a puppy is one of the top skills your puppy should master
as soon as possible
It’s the place they should stay when you can’t watch them, when you leave the house,
go to work, or even if you’re working from home…
Puppies need down time or nap time.
They get overstimulated and can’t settle easily on their own, this leads to trouble
Trouble comes in the form of biting, nipping, destructive chewing, not listening well
Just like little kids need naps, so do our puppies.
Here are some really important things to consider when teaching your puppy to love their crate
and not cry in it all night long
#1 Your puppy needs to be well exercised before going in their crate, a revved up pup will
not be able to settle and will bark and cry in their crate
#2 Puppies should go potty right before going in their crate so they don’t have accidents
in there and so they don’t bark for attention and demand you let them out.
#3 Your puppy needs to go in their crate periodically throughout the day otherwise they will learn
the only time you put them in there is when you leave or it’s bedtime
They quickly pick up on this and will throw a tantrum when it’s time to go in
Make sure you are following the puppy sample schedule I have outlined in the new puppy
starter kit under the potty training section, the link is below
I think the most common reason puppies bark or cry in their crate is because owners accidentally
reward the behavior
A puppy barks and it’s owner quickly runs over and gives puppy attention, it only takes
one or two tries for puppy to realize the behavior works
Owners ask me all the time why their pup won’t stop barking even though they already fed
their pup, played with their pup, took pup out to potty and pup still won’t settle
down
I ask them if they have ever gone back over to their pup who was crying in the crate.
95% of the time owners say “YES, I wanted to see why he or she was crying”
I then say that’s your mistake!
You reinforce the behavior.
So what’s a puppy owner to do?
1st I want you to start to teach your puppy that their crate is a great place to be by
#1 covering the crate but make sure the sheet doesn’t touch the top or sides by placing
something bigger than the crate on top and then the sheet over the top of that
The front and sides get covered but the back which is against the wall stays open
If you have to make the crate cozy and provide a darker quieter place for your puppy to rest
Too much light or access to see all the activities going on around them will just keep them overstimulated,
revved up an unable to settle
#2 playing calming music near the crate
#3 Feeding meals in their crate (only leave food down for 10-15 min then take it out,
and don’t leave water in there as it will only backfire if you’re trying to work on
potty training or if your pup gets bored and wants to play in it
#4 teach pup that going in the crate means good things
You can learn more about this game in this video here
#5 letting pup cry it out.
If all needs are met and you’ve been teaching pup how to love their crate than the next
best thing is to leave them be.
Will it be easy, no, but the more you go to them when they are crying the more you teach
them their behavior makes you react.
This is also why we don’t allow them in bed just yet either.
I wait until their crate training has progressed significantly and they are well past accident
and chewing stage.
I can’t tell you how many pics I’ve seen and how many students have shared with me
where the puppy peed or pooped in the bed while the owner was sleeping or
when they woke up the blankets had holes in them or the pillows “just exploded”
Most pups aren’t trustworthy until they are… brace yourself… about a year or older.
I hear it ALL THE TIME… oh that would never happen with my puppy, my puppy is good
...and those same people reach out to me when their dog is about 6 months old and ask me
how to re-crate train their dog because it’s causing problems in the middle of the night
because it’s not sleeping
But instead chewing and destroying things.
This is both tiny and giant breed dogs and everything in between
I also don’t want you sleeping on the couch just because you think its the only way your
puppy will learn to go to sleep in their crate…
All this does is teach them they can only sleep if you are nearby.
The longer you allow this the worse the puppy’s behavior is going to get when you step away.
We need to start right away from day one by teaching puppy a set schedule, a set of routines
and how to settle in on their own with limited assistance from us.
This isn’t always an easy skill since they will be so used to their littermates and mother
but it’s crucial that they don’t accidentally get rewarded for the very behavior you’re
trying to stop.
If you know for sure they don’t have to go potty, they aren’t hungry and they have
been well exercised then it’s ok to let them cry it out.
If you do have to open the crate to let them out, make sure you wait a moment of so till
they are quiet, you can teach your puppy quiet behavior gets you to open the door but barking
and hopping around in the crate don’t get them any attention.
Before I share one last tip about crate training… if you haven’t hit that subscribe button
what are you waiting for?
Now the last thing to avoid which I’ve seen even more than returning to the crate to check
on pup…
Don’t try to feed your pup to keep them quiet.
Owners tell me all the time they toss in a treat or a couple pieces of kibble when their
pup is barking in the crate and that seems to keep them quiet for a few minutes…
This is just as bad if not worse than returning to the crate when the puppy is barking, it’s
just reinforcing the wrong behavior.
I once had a student tell me they stopped their dog from barking by giving the dog a
cookie each time it started.
By the time I got to their house the barking behavior was so out of control they didn’t
know what to do because toys, cookies, high value treats… just stopped working.
We had a lot of work to counter condition the dog to understand barking didn’t equal
cookie time.
The better thing to do is tire out your pup, take them out to potty and then tuck them
in their crate, cover it and walk away.
Make sure to follow this video to learn what you should and shouldn’t put in your crate
so your pup stays safe and out of trouble!
Tell me in the comments below, have you been accidentally rewarding your pup for their
barking while in the crate?