Want to keep your puppy safe at night, need
to make sure they don’t have an accident or chew something dangerous while you’re
sleeping? In this video, I’m going to share my top
crate training tips to help your puppy remain calm and sleeping through the night! Go ahead and click the link in the comments
to watch this week's full episode! Do me a quick favor… hit the subscribe button
so you get notified when next week’s video goes live! Don’t forget to check us out on our other
social networks, you can grab the link in the description below! Ok, so you have a new puppy! Congrats! Your puppy is going to go through so much
growth and development during their 1st year of life. One super important life skill all puppies
need to master is crate training. After all, crates keep our puppy safe when
we can’t watch them, help them settle down when they are overstimulated, and keep them
from injuring themselves after surgery, and can keep our home damage-free if your
pup is inquisitive, chews or destroy things I just recently watched a tragedy unfold as
a 9-month-old dog accidentally set their home on fire because they got curious and knocked
something over that resulted in the house catching on fire. YIKES Now let’s get your puppy to love their crate
so when you go to bed at night or leave they have someplace safe to stay. Ultimately we have to make the crate the best
place to be so they love it and want to run to it when you call out “crate!” I want to share with you some best practices
for crate training. These tips will help to establish the crate
as a safe and cozy place to be so that when it’s time for bedtime, your pup doesn’t
have any reservations about going in. Think of the crate like a crib. We put babies in cribs to keep them safe while
they sleep, your pup will go in their “crib” each night to keep them safe while you sleep! We can establish a positive association with
the crate by feeding them their meals in the crate during the day. We can offer them busy toys such as a Kong
filled with tasty treats, each time they go in their crate. You’ll want to watch this video for Kong
Filler Ideas! Puppies should periodically go in their crate
throughout the day, not just at bedtime as this teaches them that crate time happens
anytime, not just at bedtime. This makes the bedtime transition much easier. If you only put your pup in their crate at
night, they may start to resist it as they didn’t get much exposure to it throughout
the day. We also need to make sure their crate is cozy
so covering their crate will help cut down on stimuli keeping them awake and alert while
they are in there. Here’s the deal… When you cover the crate you don’t want
to just put a sheet or blanket over the top. You’ll want to put something bigger than
the crate on top like a piece of cardboard or plywood that’s bigger than the top of
the crate on all sides. This way when you lay the sheet or blanket
over the top, it won’t touch the sides, and your pup won’t pull it in and chew on
it. Uncovered crates keep pups on high alert as
they try to watch and see everything going on all around them. Pups have FOMO, fear of missing out, and we
don’t want them to stress about things they can see but can’t get to. Like kids playing, other dogs or cats walking
past, people passing by outside. I once had a student call me for help because
her dog started getting aggressive in the crate as people passed by outside. When I went to their house for the lesson,
I immediately saw the problem. The owners told me they didn’t want their
puppy to get bored in the crate so they set the crate in front of the window so their
dog could watch the “world go by” What actually happened is what I like to refer
to as the “mailman theory…” So the mailman comes to the house every day,
they have a route to follow, right? Well, dogs that bark at the mailman think
they made the mailman go away. After all, the mailman leaves when the dog
barks, right?… at least that’s what the dog thinks. They think their barking made the mailman
go away. We call this accidental reinforcement for
an unwanted behavior. You don’t want your pup to get stressed
by things they see but can’t get to. You don’t want them getting accidentally
reinforced for this kind of behavior. Instead, your crate should be in a semi-quiet
area of your home with the sheet or blanket covering the front and both sides of the crate. You can push your pup’s crate up against
the wall so the back doesn’t have to be covered. This helps with airflow. Keep in mind we don't put any bedding in the
pup's crate, until they are wll passed the teething stage, otherwise your pup may destroy
and accidentally eat their bed They may even pee on it as puppies who are
working on potty training skills like to go on soft squishy surfaces like betting, blankets
and rugs. Since your pup might still be too young to
go all night without an accident, you’ll want to set an alarm for yourself or grab
a camera to monitor your pup’s activity. I’ll post a link to a really good camera
in the description below this video Also if your puppy is crying, You want to
make sure you don’t go running to let your pup out every time they cry as this reinforces
the wrong behavior. They quickly learn that the crying or barking
behavior works as an attention seeker Inside my free new puppy starter kit I share
a sample puppy schedule as well as potty training tips, you can grab that from the links below
too This will help you determine how much crate
time is just right for your puppy. Now you can also play a fun game of in/out
with your puppy and their crate. The game goes like this… Grab a super high-value treat, you can check
out this video for a list of treats that work really well. Put your puppy on a leash so they don’t
take off Show your pup the treat and lure them into
the crate Do not give them the treat until they are
all the way in If you can lure them into a sitting position
while they are in there Once sitting release the treat But keep your hand on the door, we aren’t
going to let them out until they hear the magic release word I do this for several reasons One, I want to teach them to have some control
before they come bolting out of the crate We don't want to teach them excitable behavior
gains you access out of the crate Two, I don’t want them scurrying to get
out right away and running away from me Building a little duration while in the crate
is how we can get them to stay in there longer and longer, and still love to go in If your pup is still sitting you can slowly
open the door, say your magic release word and act a little excited to get them to come
out If you pup goes to get up quickly close the
door You want to teach them that calm behavior
and sitting get you to open the door No treats are given outside of the crate when
you release them If you practice this enough what you’ll
end up with is a puppy that begs to get back in their crate because the good stuff happens
inside their crate while nothing to exciting happens outside the crate. Now you probably heard me say “break”
when it was time to let my pup out of the crate. This is our release word and i use it for
all situations that my pup needs to show control and then can be released I discourage you from using words like ok,
too common of a word in everyday conversations, don’t use “come,” that’s reserved
for the times we want our dog to come running to us from a distance, Pick something you’ll remember and that
can be used when you practice things like stay, other words I recommend are free, release
or done Ok as far as bedtime specific crate training
tips About 30-60 minutes before bed, I recommend
you have a play session with your pup, get them good and tired so they are ready for
bed Drain out all that pent up energy so they
can rest all night long Make sure you don’t keep water down all
the way up until bedtime, this will keep their system processing and they will need to go
more frequently during the night. I pick up my puppy’s water by 7 pm and let
them have a little sip after their play session and right before our last outing of the night,
if they were playing hard and seem thirsty. Some brand new puppies have a harder time
being away from their mother and littermates so you can use DAP, dog appeasing pheromone
such as Adaptil to keep your pup calm. This is similar to scent the mother dog gives
off to all her pups to help settle them down and remain calm and relaxed. I’ll put the link to this product below
as well. Now keep in mind the first few nights might
be a little rough, your pup might cry and bark. Remember what I said, don’t go running every
single time. You will create a bad habit that is super
hard to break. So many new puppy owners make the crucial
mistake of thinking that bringing their puppy into bed with them will make all their problems
go away, and for some, it works But for most, it not only doesn’t teach
your puppy how to self-sooth, settle on their own, it teaches them to be anxious when they
are away from you, Creates opportunity for pee and poop accidents
in your bed and leads to chewed up pillows, bedding, and other things once your pup jumps
off the bed. Before I share my last tip, if you haven’t
hit that subscribe button go ahead and do so, next week’s video will be super useful
for you! Now for the last tip… Play calming music such as this one found
right here on Youtube to help keep your pup relaxed through the night You can use a heartbeat dog which mimics the
heartbeat of a littermate or a mother dog, this helps many nervous puppies sleep better
through the night If your puppy has started chewing, I recommend
that you put the heartbeat dog on top of the crate so your pup can still hear and feel
the vibration, but can’t chew the stuffed animal and the electronic heart In the comments below tell me which tip you’re
going to try first to get your pup to sleep peacefully in their crate at night?
