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Do I punish my dog by leaving him for a very short time in his crate? And what if my puppy, a Siberian Husky, cries and whines at night in the crate.. do I ignore him? OR what do I do?

Hi,
I'm certainly not the voice of experience but I have read alot and my understanding is that your puppy's crate should never be used for punishment. If you do this then it gives the puppy good reason to fear the crate and it will be a hard job to train them to go willingly and rest peacefully in there.

What is the punishment for? I have found with my puppy that any mistakes she has made have been down to me!

As for the night time crying and whining I have heard people say over and over just ignore, ignore, ignore and then after a while the puppy will know that no good will come of it and he/she won't get any attention from it and then they will sleep quietly. I find with my puppy that after a late nght stroll and a little chewy treat thrown in her crate she sleeps very well.

Hope this helps. I love Siberian Huskies, they are beautiful dogs!
Mark

I completely agree with Mark!

Ooh. I've read in some people's experience in crate training, that they'd leave a dog in their crate for maybe a minute or even less, to let it settle down or something.

And the night time one I've also read elsewhere that you should just stick your fingers in the crate to calm the puppy down.. but I think yours is more reasonable. Thanks for the help!

Putting your fingers in the crate very well may settle the dog, but what happens when all of a sudden you stop? Some people like to do that the first night they have the puppy and thats fine. But I wouldn't continue it. Almost all puppies cry at first when adjusting to their crate. It's there instinct to cry when seperated from the pack. Just continue to ignore, if you think the pup needs to go potty (If it's a young pup, it will need a couple of breaks in the night) set your alarm, don't let the pup wake you up. You wake the pup up. If he does wake up crying and you think he really might have to go, wait until he is quiet for ten seconds before going to him. Make sure you have the leash ready when he comes out of the crate, this is not play time. Barely even talk to the pup. Take him out to do his business, then put him right back to bed. But the best way to get him to stop crying is to beat him to the punch, get to him before he wakes up on his own. If he never has a chance to cry, he will never learn that crying works to get attention. Ther is a ton of info on the internet about the positive aspects of crate training. As long as it is done properly, you shouldn't have any problems, at least no long term problems. Good luck! Any pics?

Thannks for that info! Do you think crate training is the best way to housebreak/potty train a dog? I have a GSD that didn't use a crate, just a little discipline when he went in the house. And now he's just marvelous, never goes in the house, and when he wants to go he just leads us to the door. I'm wondering if I should do the crate training method, or try that one again.

As for the pics, I have 2 actually, but I don't have a scanner to put them onto the computer! But I'll find a way somehow.. he's just so adorable.

>>Thannks for that info! Do you think crate training is the best way to housebreak/potty train a dog? I have a GSD that didn't use a crate, just a little discipline when he went in the house. And now he's just marvelous, never goes in the house, and when he wants to go he just leads us to the door. I'm wondering if I should do the crate training method, or try that one again.
>>
>>As for the pics, I have 2 actually, but I don't have a scanner to put them onto the computer! But I'll find a way somehow.. he's just so adorable.

>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm glad things worked out with your GSD, but punishment used in housetraining can cause terrible problems. If you could supervise your pup 100% of the time, you wouldn't need a crate or other confinement area for housetraining. Most of us do have to sleep, though, and leave the house occasionally! The crate keeps him from making mistakes at these times and confusing his training.

The crate is really not all that important for housetraining, though. Where you REALLY need it is when a large dog reaches several months of age and starts the heavy chewing. If you have not crate trained the dog while young, it can be difficult or even impossible to do it later. Many dogs lose their lives over destructive chewing. That is the real reason crate training is so important.

Crate training means conditioning the dog to be able to rest calmly in a crate. The crate teaches the dog NOTHING. It's just a safe holding area. It's extremely important not to overuse it. The dog learns NOTHING in there. The dog only learns when you have the dog with you, supervising and teaching.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

One comment on it not helping with house training. I have to dissagree slightly, I think it makes house training much easier, IF the dog does not potty in the crate and the dog is given frequent potty breaks. If the dog does not potty in the crate, but will on the floor (As most very new pups do), it helps you to catch him in the act, rather than coming home from the store to find a nice little pile in your living room floor. At this point, it's too late for the dog to know it did anything wrong, punishment or correction at this point is useless, you have to catch the dog within 3-5 seconds of the act in order for a correction to work (And when I say correction, I DO NOT mean rubbing the dogs face in it or tapping on the nose. I just mean quickly taking the dog out as soon as you see it pottying on the floor, this is the only way the dog will get the connection, but if you don't catch it in the act, you can't do this). I find that crate training is very useful with potty training. Kathy is right, the pup does not learn anything from being in the crate, but it keeps him safe and out of trouble and makes your job much easier since the pup is not picking up bad habits that you can't correct while you're not home.

I must admit I always associated crate training with housetraining and never gave a thought to it being invalubale when it came to destructive chewing.
Mine pretty much came perfectly housetrained so I don't confine her to the crate at all. She does have a nap in it now and again but I don't lock the door. Most nights she sleeps on the floor next to my bed.
The teething appeared to start and then stop and up to now she has been happy chewing on the things I supply her with.
The things that worry me now are the times when I do lock her in her crate to mop the floors...she doesn't like it at all!! When it does come to the point when I have to lock her in for other things it's not going to be easy.
I can see now that crate training is important for alot of different reasons and it is because it is not humanly possible, like Kathy said, to watch our dogs 24/7

YES! Crate training and potty training go hand in hand. Chances are, your pup won't potty in it's crate which makes catching him in the act much easier on your part since he won't be able to potty all over the house while you're not home. Not saying all dogs don't potty in their crates, some do especially shelter dogs since they have grown accustomed to going potty in their enclosures.

perhaps (about the first part of your post) you are refering to a situation like if the pup is nipping & some folks will want to send the message 'if you nip then no play'

some will place the pup in the crate & go away for a brief time, then return to play. you might send this same messge if the pup gets too rowdy by just standing & turning away briefly - make a real obvious I am ignoring you stance. then return to the playing with a toy that is good to chew/mouth on.

it might take a while, but if you are consistant & do this immediately, the pup will get the message. this 'ignoring' works better than any loud voiced commands/pushing the pup away.

as for night time, I agree with the others. having a routine go out potty time just before bed & restricting water (a few gulps, not long drinking) before bed.

a young pup needs 3-4 meals a day. a hungry pup will cry.

how old is your pup? I'd think a 10-12 wk sib. could easily sleep all night. you might consider putting the crate by your bed. dogs are pack animals & need to be near you.

personally I wouldn't wake the pup, but try for all night, maybe get up an hour earlier for a few mornings, unless the pup is 7-8 wks, that might be too young to hold it all night.

Every dog is different and has a different size bladder and has different needs when it comes to pottying. Cookie was going out in the middle of the night until she was 4 months old. At 12 weeks, in my opinion, any pup would still need a middle of the night break at that point, but if you want to do as Country says, try it out for a night. If the pup sleeps through then you're all set, but if it wakes up crying, I would definitely take the pup out (Waiting for the pup to be quiet for ten seconds before going to it). Not all dogs need a middle of the night break, but I think most do at that age.
Do whatever method works best for you and your lifestyle and your pup. This is what worked for me, and when Cookie would wake up crying I just couldn't bare the thought of leaving her in there if she really had to go. If I knew she definitely didn't have to go, I would ignore her.