In a hurry?
- Choose a crate big enough to stand, turn and lie flat in, not a palace.
- Make it the best place in the house: soft bed, chews, meals fed inside.
- Build time with the door closed slowly, starting with seconds while you're in the room.
- At night, put the crate next to your bed for the first week or two.
Alex can help with this: Puppy training.
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A crate done well is your puppy's bedroom: a quiet, safe place it chooses to go to. Done badly, it's a box your puppy screams in at 2am. The difference is almost entirely in how you introduce it.
Every dog that comes to us for residential training learns to settle in a crate, because it's how they travel safely and how they rest between sessions. Here's how to get there with a puppy at home.
Choosing and setting up the crate
Your puppy should be able to stand up, turn around and lie stretched out. If you're buying one crate for a breed that will grow a lot, use a divider so the space suits the puppy now. Too much space and a puppy may use one end as a toilet.
Put the crate where the family is during the day, such as a corner of the kitchen or living room, not shut away in a utility room. Cover the back and sides with a blanket so it feels like a den, and leave the front open.
Inside: a washable bed, a safe chew and something that smells of home. Leave the door open at first.
Step 1: make the crate the best place in the house
For the first day or two, the crate is simply where good things happen:
- Feed every meal inside the crate, with the door open.
- Drop treats inside when your puppy isn't looking, so it finds them.
- Give long-lasting chews only in the crate.
- Praise calmly whenever your puppy wanders in by itself.
You're aiming for a puppy that walks in on its own to see what's there.
Step 2: close the door for seconds
Once your puppy is happily going in, close the door while it's busy with a chew, for a few seconds, then open it before it notices. Build up to a minute, then a few minutes, while you sit nearby. Then start moving around the room, then step out of sight for a moment and come back.
Open the door when your puppy is calm, not while it's scratching or crying, so it learns that quiet opens the door.
Step 3: naps and time alone
Puppies need a lot of sleep, around 18 hours a day, and most over-tired puppies bite and race about. Use the crate for naps after play and a toilet trip. A puppy that has been out, played and eaten will often go straight to sleep.
Then build short absences: pop out to the car or the garden for a few minutes while your puppy is resting. Short, boring departures and calm returns teach a puppy that being alone is normal, which is one of the best things you can do to prevent separation problems later.
The first nights
For the first week or two, have the crate in your bedroom or sleep near it. Your puppy has just left its mother and littermates, and being close to you helps it settle. When it whines, a hand near the crate or a quiet word is usually enough. If it has been a while since the last toilet trip, take it straight out, then straight back to bed with no fuss.
Once your puppy sleeps through, you can move the crate a little further each few nights to where you want it to sleep long-term.
First, check the basics: has it been to the toilet, is it tired, hungry or too hot? If all of those are fine, wait for a moment of quiet before you open the door. Letting a puppy out mid-scream teaches it that screaming works.
If your puppy panics, drools, or tries to break out, you've gone too fast. Go back a step and build up more slowly. A crate should never be frightening.
During the day, a young puppy shouldn't be shut in for more than an hour or two at a time, apart from overnight sleep, and always after a toilet trip. As your puppy gets older and is clean in the house, it can stay longer, but a crate is for rest and safety, not for keeping a dog out of the way all day.
If crate training has gone wrong, the puppy screams the moment the door closes, or you're worried it's turning into separation anxiety, it's worth getting help early. The first puppy training session is £160 at my field at Roxwell, west of Chelmsford, or £190 at your home, and we can cover the crate along with toilet training, biting and lead walking. Read more about puppy behaviour problems.
Questions owners ask
Is crate training cruel?
Not when it's done properly. A dog that has learned to love its crate treats it as a bed it can take anywhere: in the car, at the vet, on holiday. What isn't fair is shutting a dog in a crate for most of the day.
Should I cover my puppy's crate?
Covering the back and sides usually helps a puppy settle, because it feels like a den. Leave the front open so air can move and your puppy can see out.
How long does crate training take?
Most puppies will happily nap in the crate within a few days, and sleep through the night in it within a couple of weeks. Building up to longer periods alone takes longer, and should be done gradually. Tell Alex about your puppy using the form. Say how old it is and what's happening at bedtime, and he'll tell you what to change first.
Google review
Have seen Alex for various private sessions and more recently boarding for my German Shorthaired Pointer puppy. He makes training easy whilst also pointing out details not obvious that wouldn’t be without his experience. Couldn’t recommend him more to anyone looking.
Read the full review
Have seen Alex for various private sessions and more recently boarding for my German Shorthaired Pointer puppy.
He makes training easy whilst also pointing out details not obvious that wouldn’t be without his experience.
Couldn’t recommend him more to anyone looking.
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Last updated . This post is general advice, not a diagnosis. If your dog may be unwell or in pain, please see your vet.