At what age can a puppy be trained in a crate?

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dgs

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At what age can a puppy be trained in a crate. I am just not sure when their bladder is strong enough they can hold it.

thanks,
Danny
 
I believe that the rule of thumb is one hour for every month old the puppy is. Three month old puupy can be left for three hours, four months, four hours, etc.

Good luck!
 
The 1 hour per month old is the best rule of thumb, and its important that they never have to stay in the crate longer than that as an accident in the crate can set you back a bit.
 
The other thing to consider is the size of the crate. If it is too large the puppy may relive himself at one end of it. If the crate is too large it can be sectioned off and gradually enlarged as the puppy grows.
 
You also want to make sure when puppy comes out of crate you Always go straight out side before and playing:wink2:
 
We found that Layla and Bits were fine from 9 pm to 5 am. At 5, we heard the little whines and out we went. We always kept the crate next to our bed -- the puppies felt secure and scenting us all night strengthened our bond (or so the Monks of New Skete say).
 
It took mine roughly 2.5 months days before he was able to hold it in for the full day. We got him at 2 months.
 
Madison is 3 months old and we put her to bed (kennel) about 10 pm. We make sure she has had a pee & poo right before. Then I get up about 2-3 am to take her out and then my son takes her out when he gets up at 6:30 am.

There have been some nights though that I didn't wake up :o and she held it. But I feel bad cause I know how uncomfortable I am having to hold it, so I've started setting my alarm to make sure she can go out.
 
using a crate

I got my pup at 7 weeks. We live in Northeastern Wisconsin, where it was a really cold and snowy winter, worse than usual. I always had the real small breeds before, so I figured I would get what I had always got; a dog that went on the floor frequently. I got a crate just big enough for her to turn around in, limited her water before bedtime, and when she was in the house running around, I always kept a close eye on her.When she'd show signs of having to go, I'd scoop her up and rush outside, praising her when she went. She acted like the snow and cold didn't bother her. 3 weeks of that, and she began coming to me and whining when she had to go out. I am still amazed! I got her a bigger crate and now she sleeps in our bedroom, and she knows the daily routine.My husband still waits for her to make a mistake, because he can't believe a puppy could be housebroken completely at 10 weeks. Our lab took longer, and my yorkie never got it, for 13 years. I am a little afraid that this dog is smarter than me!!!!!:wink2:
 
Max Gets Distracted

Our one year old, Max, seems to be more difficult to housebreak than any other dogs we've had.
He'll go outside (he knows the key word for potty), but he'll get distracted and come in and disgrace himself on the carpeting. And he's also using his same signal (the paw on arm) for going potty and going out to play, so we're letting him out numerous times a day in hopes it's because he needs to go potty. Sigh.
But, we haven't thrown in the towel! Each dog has it's own personality and abilities and we can not judge one dog from the other.
Since all of our dogs have been rescues, we anticipated some problems, due to nervous peeing and such, but Max doesn't appear nervous, just high on energy, LOL!
 
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