Crate training puppies? Try two at dog?

[silkiechicken]

Farm dog with stay at home mom = easy peasy..... doesn't get any better than that really.

Apartment dog with 9-5 job... might as well never get a dog!

But alas....people do it, 80% of the people in the condos here have one or more dogs! There's a huge pile of micro dogs, a few labs, a boxer, a few pit types, german shepards, a grey hound... even an australian shepard! And they almost all work 9-5! So obviously it can be done!


So here's a question for apartment/condo dog owners that is as vague as "how loud are chickens"......

For how long have you found that your puppies have cried while being crated before they stop? Rule is to ignore their crying, but for how long do they usually cry for? Guess the question is, how long do you have to wait for them to cry it out, how loud is their crying? Only had adult pups back home so 99% of the issues in apartment living are essentially non issues.

First try for an apartment dog was a two year old lab mix from the pound who was evidently was crate trained to where he would go into it no problem when told, and even stay there... but b/c of separation issues, if you went to work, would cry and bark for hours... nonstop... to where he'd be drooling in his face off, red in the eyes and be crawling on the floor when you got back because he knew he wasn't supposed to be crying. He literally pulled the wires off the petmate 800 series crate just to get to the front window to bark and cry, and this is all after running him every morning to where he could not keep up with the run and would be so exhausted he was foaming at the mouth tired on the floor. Needless to say, the pup got his eviction notice 2 weeks later and we've been dog free since. (poor guy was returned to the shelter 4 more times after we had him) He was full grown and had a big bark which is probably what did him in. The puppy idea is to teach it crate and manners from the get go so it does not know any different and before it's bark gets too big and loud....

So I guess, just looking on comments on how people did their indoor apartment dogs. We have 900 sq feet to work with... and a balcony. Stories?

 

[redhen]

I always started with pups..
And i kept the crate by my bed or couch..wherever i was sitting..and when they would start to cry..i would say "HUSH" very firmly.. Then if they kept crying i tapped medium loudly on the top of the crate..and said "HUSH" again... (just a few tapps... just to get their attention... and DONT let them see YOU doing the tapping...let them think its an act of god or something that happens when they cry in their crate...so they dont associate YOU with it..)
its always worked for me... the dogs learned thr word Hush..and how to be quiet in their crate...
and never, ever let them out of the crate if they are crying...
I'm sure the dog gurus will chime in here and tell you how to do it properly though....I just got lucky doing it my way...

 

[Crazyland]

We gave time only for the dog/puppy when we first got them. Scheduled vacation if we needed and spent that time with setting up the foundation.
I would keep the crate next to my bed and actually stick my fingers in the first night. I fell asleep and so did pup. Next night I would talk to them.
Come home during lunch to let the puppy out or arrange for someone else to come and let the puppy out at intervals.
Other alternative is a day care center.

LOL Redhen, there are a lot of "my ways" and they are normally right for "my pup".