<p>One thing that I find to be a constant with the breeders ( numerous ) that I have been in contact with is the use of crates…I had a crate for my old lady golden retriever when she was puppy…she slept in it at night , but that was about it…all the corgi people I talk to, both owners and breeders are all about crate use for a lot more than I would have thought</p>
<p>I think breeders like crates because they are dealing with multiple dogs – they don’t have time to get overly sentimental about a whining puppy. I’ve got a crate for my dog but she doesn’t like it and its not really necessary for housebreaking. I’m 99% sure right now that the dog starts playing with <em>my</em> stuff when she wants attention – because if I take my things away and substitute her own toy, she will go right back to playing with my stuff again – but if I stop and play with her for a few minutes or throw in a 3 minute training session (anything that involves a few minutes of active interaction with me) – then afterward she leaves my stuff alone. So I really do think its simply that she’s learned that the best way to get me off of my duff and focused on her is to mess with my stuff, not hers. For me… crating wouldn’t be a solution because I work from home doing stuff on the computer (writing, web site management, data entry, etc.). If I put her in a crate and she’s whining, it would annoy me and distract me and interfere with my work as much as anything else. (She’s potty trained and sleeps well through the night – she sleeps on my bed and she’s a very quiet sleeper, so she stays pretty much at the foot of the bed or nuzzled against my legs, and doesn’t bother me at all – she did that from day #1 when I brought her home from the pound.)</p>
<p>Come to think of it, she’s probably figured out that she gets more attention during a training session if she plays dumb than if she does what I want – as long as I think she hasn’t quite got the hang of something I’ll keep repeating it for practice.</p>
<p>A crate gives the dog a space of its own. It simplifies house training. It makes it way less likely the dog will chew inappropriate things. In short, it helps insure that the dog will be a “good dog” which will mean everyone is happier.</p>
<p>I have always crate trained my puppies; the first was in 1978 when the only place I could fine a crate was in Sear’s catalog. I think I spent well over $100 which was a ton of money in those times, especially since I had just graduated college!!</p>
<p>Some of my dogs have liked the crate better than others. My current goldendoodle is fine going in when I leave, but you will never find her in there when someone is at home; my daughter’s goldendoodle puppy not only goes into his crate, but when I let the dogs out when I get home, he heads to the big dogs crate with her still in it! My first dog spent most sleeping hours in his crate with the door opened. When he knew we leaving, he would go get into his crate without being told. His crate was in the upstairs hallway and we had a gate at the top of the stairs so he didn’t have free roam of the house. The gate was just leaning against the railing and he could have pushed it over with his nose, but never tried. I don’t know why we didn’t give him free roam of the house as he was never destructive, but he did love his crate.</p>
<p>When my daughter got her puppy while living at home, I told her the only way to have a dog here was to crate train him. She wasn’t happen but has gotten use to the idea. Even our older dog while not in love with her crate, is content being in there while we are out.</p>
<p>dmd–may I borrow your poodle? I live in a really old house with way too many mice.</p>
<p>ingerp: where do you live? and do you realize she might well tear stuff up trying to get to your mice?</p>
<p>More seriously, if you have friends with terriers–jack russells or rat terrier would be good–you might ask if you can borrow one of them.</p>
<p>I was at the Petsmart last night, and saw a note posted on the shelf with doggy bones that some products (mostly hooves) have been recalled due to possible salmonella contamination. So please check your doggy’s toys and wash your hands after handling bones (and your dog).</p>
<p>I’m in Central VA. House is already pretty torn up! (We had a cat for years that was great for the mouse problem, but we lost her a while ago and haven’t brought another into the house.) I’ll think about borrowing a mouser! (Or prod DH to get out the mousetraps. Again.)</p>
<p>BB: that’s why I always buy human soup bones for my dogs. Then I pour boiling water over them before serving. (Yes, I wait for them to cool.)</p>
<p>dmd, I hate to say this but your chances of picking up something from human soup bones that have been only briefly treated with hot water are pretty high, too (you really don’t want to know what’s lurking in human food, according to one of my friends who is involved in food testing). Boil the bones to kill off the pathogens. Especially if you have some little ones in the house or someone with compromised immunity:</p>
<p>[Bad</a> To The Bone: Professor Advises Against Raw Meat Diet For Pets](<a href=“http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070218143832.htm]Bad”>Bad To The Bone: Professor Advises Against Raw Meat Diet For Pets | ScienceDaily)</p>
<p>My dog is housetrained pretty well now, but as long as we are talking about what dogs eat, here’s a link to a brief audio about how choice of food impacts the housebreaking process:
[Housetraining</a> | Food Audio](<a href=“http://housetraininghandbook.com/food-audio.html]Housetraining”>http://housetraininghandbook.com/food-audio.html)</p>
<p>I was redoing my shopping list for tomorrow while sitting on the sofa and watching tv. Went up stairs to do a few thing and come back down to add something to the list except my pen is not there. I look between the cushions, under the sofa, under the papers, but there is no pen to be had. I figured I must have walked into another room with it and left it. Work on the list some more and go fix dinner. Come back in and the puppy is sitting there happily holding my pen in his mouth chewing on the top. He has now bothered any of our things until this week as he approaches his 28 week birthday; can you say adolescence has hit my pup? I knew it was too good to be true; where my older dog chewed on everything, including walls, the puppy only would chew and play with his toys. This morning he got a hold of a pair of my daughter’s underwear and was not happy about giving them up :-0</p>
<p>I guess we will need to keep a closer eye on his until he gets through this stage.</p>
<p>My puppy took a pen off the table and started chewing on it, once – but I very politely explained to her that pens are for people to chew on… and she hasn’t tried pen-chewing since. ;)</p>
<p>How big is your puppy? Sometimes its just a matter of keeping stuff out of reach.</p>
<p>The puppy is only 23 lbs. but tall for his age; he is all legs! We haven’t had to bother with keeping things out of his reach as he truly never would bother with things that were not his, or the older dogs. Our coffee table has pads of paper and pens that up until now he hasn’t had an interest in. While the house is puppy proof, we will need to be more careful now that he has discovered there is more in the house than food and his toys!!</p>
<p>My thanks to all who have posted helpful hints to my original post. I am happy to say that Puppy is doing quite well. Housetraining is progressing, she is bonding well with our family, and is honestly just too darn cute for words. Only problem? Depositing a “gift” in cage every night. Doesn’t wet, but drops a load. Certainly cleanable, certainly unacceptable long term. Suggestions? I am taking away food by 6pm and she is out before bedtime to use the grass. She is approximately ten weeks old.</p>
<p>Awww… At 10 weeks old she is still a baby. Check this thread on another forum (Dogster):</p>
<p>[Help…Puppy</a> pooping in crate… - Puppy Place Forum](<a href=“A Fond Farewell to the Dogster Community Areas – Dogster”>A Fond Farewell to the Dogster Community Areas – Dogster)</p>
<p>(If she doesn’t stop, a visit to the vet might resolve it as some posters said^^)</p>
<p>I’m no expert (obviously) – but I have now read very extensively about crate training – so I can offer some suggestions.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>make sure that the crate isn’t too big. If you bought a crate to be large enough for the anticipated dog your puppy will grow up to be, then its too big for a puppy - they do sell barriers for some type of crates. The crate-space should be big enough for the dog to stand up and turn around, but nothing more.</p></li>
<li><p>does she go when you take her out for the before-bed walk? If so… an if she still goes during the night… then maybe she just can’t last that long. I had an older (geriatric) dog that was incontinent toward the end, and I was able eventually to figure out what TIME my dog was going. She was pretty regular, it just turned out that she couldn’t hold out that long – so I managed to prevent accidents by setting my alarm to get up at 5 am to take her out. As annoying as that is, with a 10 week old pup, you may have to do that until she gets the ability to hold things in longer. (And if getting up at 5 isn’t early enough to catch her… you might have to try 4 am, then 3am…etc. She IS a baby! )</p></li>
</ul>
<p>*my pup is a pound dog and she had to be on antibiotics when I first got her. One evening she had an in-house #2 accident when she had been outside only shortly before… but I suspected that the antibiotics were causing loose stool, so I gave her a little yogurt and that seemed to clear up the problem. Now I try to make a point of giving her a small amount of yogurt about once a week- - so you might try that and see if it helps.</p>
<ul>
<li>I posted a link above to an on-line audio about feeding and housebreaking. It’s worth listening to. Basically, some puppy foods have a lot more filler than others – and what goes in has to come out. Cheaper dog foods have corn or wheat products as filler – corn is particularly hard to digest, so a dog that eats a food with a lot of corn meal will also poop a lot. Look for a dog food specially formulated for puppies that has meat as its first ingredient, and uses a rice or oat-based filler or binder. You also want a dog food that is higher in calories related to the volume – again, you will feed less to achieve the same result. Example - if you buy “Pedigree” (regularly available in your local grocery store, pretty cheap) – the first 2 ingredients in its dry puppy food are “Ground Whole Corn, Chicken By-product Meal”. If you buy “Nature’s Recipe Puppy Lamb Meal and Rice” – then the first 2 ingredients are “Lamb meal, ground rice”. Obviously the “Nature’s Recipe” is more expensive and is harder to find. But it’s probably also a lot less poopy. I don’t want to endorse a particular brand – I’d just suggest buying food from a pet-food store now, read ingredients, and pay attention to what happens with your dogs digestion on various foods.</li>
</ul>
<p>More on food – I’ve also read that wet food (canned food) can be like a laxative for some puppies – so for that little one messing his crate, make sure you are feeding dry kibble!</p>
<p>Thanksgiving has been great for puppy’s socializing. She continues to bark when anyone enters the room, but quiets quickly. She was passed around the group, and loved all the attention. Major problem, though, at 1 AM when out-of-town son came in. She heard his entrance, and barked up a storm for 15 minutes. I could have used her as an alarm when he was in high school!</p>
<p>I still need major help on leaving her alone. It appears she doesn’t settle down at all. She has 3 Kongs to amuse her, and I can tell she is using them. However, she also poops, and then tracks it around the kitchen (fenced in area). She is so exhausted when I return that she falls asleep easily.</p>
<p>How long do you have to leave the puppy? Are you leaving her during the day or in the evening? If it is during the day --and not for a very prolonged time – would it be feasible to just put her outside when you have to leave? You mentioned in an earlier post that the trainer suggested fencing off a smaller area of the yard for her - maybe you could put up something temporary for now.</p>
<p>When I got my puppy I bought a dog exercise pen like this – <a href=“http://www.precisionpet.com/images/E-Black%20UXP-Dog.jpg[/url]”>http://www.precisionpet.com/images/E-Black%20UXP-Dog.jpg</a> – with the idea of having a safe place to confine her when I went out. It didn’t work because the first time I ever used it she figured out how to climb out. (She’s a really small dog but she is like Houdini when it comes to getting in and out of stuff.) </p>
![http://www.precisionpet.com/images/E-Black%20UXP-Dog.jpg[/url]](http://www.precisionpet.com/images/E-Black%20UXP-Dog.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>I think that if you are gone for a relatively short time you should probably crate your pup, but put a kong filled with good stuff inside or another chew toy to give her something to do. If you leave for more than a couple of hours then I think you should go with a doggie play pen and put it outside if it is during the day – then you can just hose down any mess the dog has made later on. I’d be reluctant to put a small pet outdoors during the evening – at least in my neck of the woods, there are raccoons and other critters that show up after dark – but then I would suggest an indoor pen and use puppy pee-pads or paper, and hope she uses them. If she still tracks the mess around, at least it will be confined to a very small space.</p>