Too late for crates?

[BETH HODGE]

I have two 4 month old puppies, a male dachshund, Louie and a female Pomeranian, Lola.  I did not know that I was going to bring Lola home when we got Louie, so I had originally bought a single 50"x50" pen thinking that's where he would be by himself (they both came home at 8 weeks, she's 5 days older).  And within a couple of days it became clear we could leave her at home alone out of the pen and the pen became Louie's place. She is very smart and instinctively knows right from wrong, she potty trained almost immediately.  He sometimes gets overstimulated and we have to put him in time out in the pen (happens less and less) and he goes in the pen when we leave the house.  She has taken over our bed/bedroom as her napping place. He sleeps out of the pen at night, with us either on the bed or the sofa. He also is known to do resource guarding with food. I have been feeding them separately, him in the pen, but he has gotten better and I've been feeding them together when I can (if he barks at her when they eat, I put him and his food in the pen).  They play all day together and get along very well, he just has a few rough edges. They are pretty much potty trained already.  

Is it too late to introduce them to crates?  I would like to give Lola her own space, and I'd like to take up less room (two crates would be half the size of the current pen, and he mostly just sleeps in there). Any suggestions?  

 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there, welcome to the forums! Congrats on your two new puppies! And how great that they are already doing so well in potty training, kudos to you!

Sure, it's far better to introduce to crates now that they are young and more amenable than trying later on. The process should be easier if their breeder already acclimatized them to a crate, which would be the ideal scenario, but not all breeders invest their time in doing that. 

You can find the guide for helping in the process here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/

If you must keep them in the crate at night, and they were used to sleeping on the bed, the process may result in some protests as they really cherish the closeness with us. Here you will find some tips to make the process a little smoother: 

 

 

[BETH HODGE]

Thank you so much for your reply.  I'm reading through everything, and I really have one one question.  If they are not supposed to use the crate for time out, where should I do his time out?  I have a really small home and the 50x50 pen won't fit if I replace it with two crates.  And he's just torn a hole in it anyway.  It was always meant to be temporary (it cost $27).  

Do you have any suggestions? Should I get another, smaller pen?  I basically have a two room home, a great room and a bedroom (there's an upstairs bedroom and bath, but we rarely use the upstairs because the stairs are very steep).  The bathrooms have barn doors which make them useless for this purpose.  I do have a very large yard, but I don't want to subject the neighbors to his barking if we put him in time out and he's not happy about it.  

Thank you!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

We can do timeouts in a crate, but only if the timeout is a positive experience meaning that it's just a way to give the dogs some time to chill. For example, if the pups are getting too hyper and aroused, we can place each of them in their own crate with something to chew on  (like a stuffed Kong, bully stick)  so that they calm down and become less over stimulated. This way we can give the dogs time to chill down, focus on chewing something and all without sacrificing all the positive associations we have worked so hard on creating with the crate. 

Something else to consider is that puppies need a lot of sleep. Sometimes when they get aroused, they are cranky and in desperate need for a nap, so placing them in their crates in a quiet area with something to chew on can help them relax enough to eventually nap. You may need to schedule some nap times, because as young pups they may just want to play all day long.