From Crate to Freedom

There are two main reasons to put your dog in a crate; to assist in speedy housetraining and to avoid destructive chewing.  Deciding to give your dog freedom in the house when you are not home can cause a lot of worry. Here are some pointers to help you succeed.

When should you let go of the crate?

Many puppies can safely sleep through the night outside of a crate around 4-5 months and to be free completely before a year old. Your dog needs to be housetrained; which means you know how long your dog can hold his bladder and he knows how to ask to go outside. Your dog must know the difference between household/human items and things that he is allowed to chew. And lastly, your dog is comfortable when alone.

With the proper attention, a puppy can be housetrained by four months. Beyond the 5th month, a problem is growing. Dogs can be “chew toy trained” at the same time that you housetrain. Your pup is housetrained when he/she has not had an accident for at least three weeks and knows how to communicate to you that he/she needs to go outside.

This is a rigorous schedule for some, but in the long run, a little more work in the beginning means a lot less work later. Puppies need a lot of attention and supervision or they make mistakes. Mistakes teach them the wrong information. Setting your puppy up to succeed is the key!

The two most important tenants of housetraining are very simple:

 1) Get your puppy outside when it needs to go and reward it heavily when it does.

2) Prevent your puppy from going inside.

The fastest way to chew toy train your dog is to feed him all his food from toys and from your hands for good behavior. My favorite toys are: Kong, Kibble Nibble, Squirrel Dude, and a muffin tin with 24 holes and 24 tennis balls. I also use food tossed in the grass, along the toe-kicks in the kitchen to prevent counter surfing, and from my hand for lots and lots of reinforcement to tell the pup what I like and will pay him for doing. I also provide many other ways to chew: Bully Sticks, Tail Teaser, chasing any toy that I toss, raw real meat bones, cow hooves, Virbac chews and Whimzees. If you feed your dog his meals from toys 2-3 times a day, reward him throughout the day for good behavior and occupy him mentally and physically; you teach him what to do each day. You also prevent him from learning fun things on his own and from making mistakes.

All young dogs need at least three periods of exercise per day that is at least twenty minutes and structured. Structured exercise means you are with your dog making sure he is exercising for at least twenty minutes, three times a day. This can be a walk, playing fetch, running in a field off-leash, playing with another dog, using a Tail Teaser or Tether Tug, etc. Keep in mind, this is a minimum amount. Most dogs benefit greatly from a lot more exercise! Take your dog to trails on a long leash and let him sniff to his heart’s content on the weekends. Find an empty baseball field or tennis courts and play fetch until he can’t go anymore. Dogs need this! They need freedom and to drain their energy.

The last piece of feeling confident when leaving your dog alone in your house, is knowing you’ve taught him how to feel secure when you are not around. This is easily accomplished by not spoiling your dog and giving into his every desire and demand. Ignore your dog when you need to and don’t feel bad about it! If he asks rudely for your attention by pawing at you or barking, do not reward this with talking and petting. Set rules and boundaries and enforce them. This makes a secure and confident dog. Make your comings and goings very nonchalant. Reward your dog for calm behaviors rather than getting all excited with him.

Train your dog to feel secure when home alone by leaving him home for short periods of time after you have drained his energy with exercise. Leave him wanting and needing nothing. Exercise him fully, leave him a truly awesome chew and walk out without a fuss. Start with 30-minute outings, then 45, 60 and so on. When he is successful (no stress, no accidents, no chewing damage) you increase his time alone until you can implement the schedule below. You may have to make yourself go out somewhere, even if you don’t need or want to! Drive around the block, take a phone call in the driveway, or run to the store. The only way your dog gets used to being home alone is to be successful at it, by practicing. It is not a good idea to use a crate and then just leave him out one day. He needs a transition. This transition can take just a few weeks if you practice. Once you decide to begin this weaning process, you need to commit to it by leaving him out of the crate and alone, a little bit each day. If you work during the day, you will practice in the evenings, weekends and holidays or hire a sitter to help you. The schedule below should remain in place until your dog is about 2 years old. At that time, he should be able to spend the entire work-day home and you can skip the mid-day exercise period.

If you’ve missed my chosen times for training, you can still get there, but you’ll need help and a commitment to your dog. Dogs do what we teach them or what they are allowed to do.

Here is a suggested schedule for a person that works 9 am to 5 pm. This schedule assumes you have housetrained, chew toy trained and independent trained your dog.

6:30am - wake up, take dog out to pee.

6:35am - feed dog from a toy like a Kibble Nibble or scatter it in the grass outside.

7-7:30am - take dog on a walk to pee and poop again.

7:30-8:15am - ignore dog.

8:15am – take dog out in the yard for pee and play with him for 5 or 10 minutes. (tennis ball, tug, tail teaser, etc.)

8:30am – leave dog home and free with something great to chew (bully stick, marrow bone, stuffed Kong) Leave a couple of toys that your dog enjoys out for him.

8:30am-12:30pm – dog is home alone.

12:30pm – you are home for lunch or you hire a sitter to pop in. Let dog out in the yard to pee. Walk dog for 20 minutes. Play with dog for 5 minutes in the yard. Wait 5 more minutes for dog to pee again. Leave dog with something great to chew on.

1pm-5:30pm – dog is home alone.

5:30pm – you arrive home, take your dog out to pee.

5:35pm – feed your dog from a toy, scatter feed or hand feed for training. Let our dog out to pee/poop after a meal or when he asks.

5:35-7pm – ignore your dog, train your dog or play with your dog.

7pm-7:30pm – walk your dog.

7:30-9pm – ignore your dog, train your dog or play with your dog.

9pm or at your bedtime – take dog out for pee.

9pm-6:30am – dog should sleep free in the house.

At the end of the day:

Sleep: 9 ½ hours at night and up to 8 ½ hours during the day. (dogs over 20 weeks sleep 11-15 hours in a 24 hour period.)

Food: dog is fed twice a day in a toy to drain energy and entertain.

Walks: dog is walked 1 ½ hours daily.

Play with toys: dog has at least three, five-minute periods of active play with you and many more opportunities throughout the day.

Training: the structure of this day is training his habits. The play with toys is training value in chewing toys. The feeding in toys is building value in toys. Ignoring him builds independence. Formal training should take place all the time; ask for sits before giving him anything. Call him when you need him to come to you. Practice mat training whenever you are seated. Walks are leash training and leadership time.