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How To Crate Train Golden Retriever Puppy

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Week Old Puppy Crate Training

How to Potty and Crate Train Golden Retrievers Puppies

Puppies, as early as 8 week old, can be left behind in a crate up to however old they are in months plus one hour. So if your puppy is 8 weeks old plus one hour=3 hours.

Remember to make use of the crate to assist your 8 week old puppy to acclimate to it easier, get your pup really tired and then let him have a nap in his new house.

*We start crate training our service dog puppies when they are 8 weeks old and our rule of thumb is to not crate them for more than 2 hours at that age.

If Puppy Gets Stressed And Cries To Get Out

If your puppy gets to a stage in the process where the door is closed and they make a huge fuss crying trying to get out, the worst thing you can do is to let them out in this state.

This will teach them whining and crying gets them out and we really do not want this. We want the opposite, to teach them being calm and quiet is what gets them rewarded and released.

The worst thing you can do is let your puppy out of the crate after theyve screamed a long time!

If you do this, youll end up with a puppy that continually cries in the crate and this could be VERY hard to fix later!

In the early stages of crate training, if theyre making a fuss, calmly reassure your puppy until theyre calm and quiet and only then release them. You should probably go back a few steps in the training.

In the later stages of training, or when crated overnight, only go to your puppy when theyve become quiet for 5 seconds or more. This will teach them that being quiet is the only way to get you to come to them.

As you approach, if they start to scream again, simply ignore them. Stay in the room but busy yourself doing something else and do not turn your attention to them until theyre quiet again.

Then praise and reward the quiet. They will soon get the idea but it will require patienceand maybe ear plugson your part.

How Long Will It Take To Crate Train My Golden Retriever

How long it takes for your puppy to get used to the crate depends.

Did you rush them into it, or did you let them learn that the crate is awesome?

Have you been rewarding them for barking in it, or have they learned that silence is what gets them out of the crate?

If youre taking all the right steps, crate training could take as little as a week, but if youre making a lot of the mistakes listed later in this article, it could take several weeks.

It also depends on the dog.

Some dogs take to crates much better than others.

Im sorry this isnt the answer you were hoping for, but no matter what, if you keep trying, keep setting them up for success, and keep making the crate fun, theyll learn to love their crate.

You can do it!

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How Long Can You Crate Your Dog Or Puppy

Its universally agreed that during the day, no dog should ever be crated for more than 4 to 5 hours.

Why is that?

They need to be able to:

  • move around
  • exercise their muscles
  • enjoy some mental stimulation

If they are regularly crated longer than this, behavioral problems will be the result, as well as the fact they have little in the way of a fulfilling life.

Its also recommended that if you have to crate a dog for more than 2 hours they should have a crate mounted water bowl or bottle. So its good advice to buy one in preparation.

Puppies cannot be crated for even 4 or 5 hours though because they dont have the physical maturity to hold their bladders for this length of time.

Its said that puppies can hold their bladder for their age in months plus one hour. In my experience this is a bit optimistic, all dogs are different and when a puppy is very young, this is certainly too long.

So the guidelines are:

  • 30-60 minutes at 9-10 Weeks old
  • 1-3 hours at 11-14 Weeks old
  • 3-4 hours at 15-16 Weeks old
  • 4 hours+ at 17 Weeks old and older

House Training Your Golden Retriever The Right Way

How to Crate Train a Golden Retriever Puppy

The first concern of every new dog owner is how to potty train their puppy.

While every puppy can be house trained, in my experience, Golden Retrievers have been especially easy to train because they are intelligent dogs that love to please.

Today Im going to share just how easy this can be if you follow a few simple guidelines laid out in this post.

Were going to go through all types of training, such as when to start, how to train and how to deal with a dog that proves to be difficult to train.

I also own a Golden retriever and before understanding a few important fundamentals, training did prove to be more difficult than it should have been. However, through research and help from others, I was quickly able to whip my dog into shape.

After reading this, youll find that training your dog will literally be a walk in the park! .

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Potty Training A Chihuahua Puppy

Category: Dogs Here are the top 10 resources related to Potty Training A Chihuahua Puppy based on our research. When properly trained, these dogs make excellent hiking companions. 1. 3 Ways to Potty Train a Chihuahua wikiHow 11 steps1.Use reward-based training. Dogs make a positive effort to repeat behaviors

Consider Using A Crate

Crates can be a great tool in your training arsenal. They’re a catch-all piece of gear. A crate can be used for house training, obedience, and safety. If you ever have to leave your puppy alone, the crate will ensure that they can’t get into any trouble. It’s recommended that you use the crate at night as well.

Over time, your puppy will start to see the crate as a place of comfort. They’ll go to it whenever they’re scared, tired, or just want to be alone. By introducing a crate early on in their lives, you can rest easy knowing that they’re comfortable using one.

This can prove to be useful whenever you need to take your puppy to the vet or on an airplane. Typically, owners will stop using the crate full-time once their puppy has reached adulthood, using it only when it’s necessary.

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How Do You Know When Its Time To Grant More Freedom

It depends from dog to dog, their individual personalities and how fast they learn the rules you decide for them. Heres how you test the waters and slowly increase their freedom.

  • Once they havent tried to either toilet or chew anything in your home in your presence for at least a full 4 weeks, you can try to grant them more freedom.
  • Start by fully dog-proofing the room where you normally crate them and leave plenty of their toys out for them to keep busy with.
  • Lock the door to this room, or use a pet barrier to prevent them accessing other rooms in your home. Leave their crate in the room, just leave the door open.
  • Then simply leave them out of the crate, confined to this single room and leave the house. Only go for a short while at first, a 10 minute trip to the shop or so, and see what greets you upon your return.
  • If you find theyve been to toilet, or destroyed anything, it was too soon. Carry on teaching them right from wrong and crating them when you cannot watch them. Try again after the next 4 weeks without an incident in your presence.

If you come back to find nothing has happened and your dog has behaved as youd like, you try again, and again.

Lengthen the time they are alone slowly and you will find out if they can be trusted. 10 minutes, then half an hour, then an hour.

All the way to 4 or 5 hours

If they do not, open up another room and eventually every room youre willing to let them be free in.

Use Rewards To Your Advantage

How to Potty train a Golden Retriever puppy? Effective yet Easy Techniques…

Positive reinforcement is the best way to teach your puppy new skills. Golden Retrievers are very loving creatures that don’t typically display alpha-like behaviors with humans. Instead, they respond to a gentle touch.

You should never hit your puppy or yell at them. This will only teach them to fear you, which could lead to a host of other issues when they get older.

Rewards and praise are the way to go. Invest in some training treats that you can give to your puppy whenever they do something good.

These small treats are often low in calories, yet packed with flavor. They’ll love the reward and associate good behavior with the treat, making the training process much easier.

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Implement Training Techniques In New Locations

It’s not uncommon for dogs to completely forget their training once they leave the confines of home. Unfamiliar environments are exciting to a young pup.

If you have only ever performed training techniques at your house, they may not realize that those commands apply to everywhere they go.

To ensure that you don’t have to deal with a misbehaving puppy when you take your dog out for an adventure, try to implement techniques in new locations.

Take them to the local dog park or try a few techniques when you’re out for a walk. They’ll learn how to cut through the distractions and listen.

Never React To Or Reward The Crying

This is worth repeating:

PRO TIP: Never, ever, ever, ever react to or reward crying when your puppy is in his crate.

The worst thing you can do and the most common mistake people make is to worsen the problem by going to their crying puppy, to reassure them and maybe even let them out of the crate just to get a moments peace.

Wrong Move!

If your puppy whines at night and you go to them, they quickly learn that all the noise works and will in future try the same trick, even if they have to go on for hours.

And dont scold or punish your puppy either.

Theyre only acting naturally so punishing them is immensely unfair.

Furthermore, ANY attention is exactly what theyre looking for and negative attention will suffice. To them, its better than nothing.

So going to them and telling them off, even shouting at them from a distance is actually rewarding their behavior and will encourage the behavior to continue in future.

The only way to deal with crying and whining is to completely ignore it.

Having said this though, you will have to go to your puppy at least once during the night

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Before The Pup Arrives Home

In a lot of ways, training your Golden Retriever begins before the puppy even arrives home. Dog training demands a tremendous amount of energy and time from both you and your puppy. Not only will you need time, but a few supplies as well.

For this reason, we recommend you have the following supplies ready before your new puppy arrives:

Recommended Supplies

Potty Breaks In Specific Areas

How to Crate Train a Golden Retriever Puppy

Youll probably finds the job to be a whole lot easier if you can get your dog to go in the same place every time. To give you an idea of where to choose for your puppy to take potty breaks, I recommend you look for a spot that is away from doors, windows, pathways, and play areas.

It also needs to be a place thats easy to clean, get to and away from the center of a room . Just make sure that you dont forget to clean it up, as theres nothing worse than leftovers getting leftover!

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Part 2: Extending Time In The Crate

From this point forward, teaching them to spend time in the crate, its very important that we begin to reward only intermittently. Click and praise every time, but do not reward every time.

If you were to reward 100% of the time your puppy will learn to expect it and be disappointed and then rebel if they do not get rewarded.

They will perform only for the treat and only when they want the treat, not at any other time. This means they will not be trained and listening to your cues, theyre merely responding to bribery.

So you need to start weaning them off the treats to avoid this.

Dogs are effectively gambling addicts and by only rewarding them some of the time we tap into their innate desire to gamble and this keeps their enthusiasm for training high.

An explanation of the gambling phenomenon used in dog training is outside the scope of this article but you can read about it in modern dog magazine.

So please do not treat every time. We need our puppy to learn that being in the crate is nice and relaxing, not just a way to get a guaranteed treat.

Convince Your Dog That The Crate Means Only Good Things

If your dog or puppy has never seen a crate and you ask them to go in, or worse try to force them, it will very likely not end well. This unfamiliar box can be scary! The ultimate goal is for them to use it voluntarily.

So the first task you have on the journey to crate training your puppy or dog is to form in their mind an association between the crate and all the things that they enjoy in life, so they see the crate as a good thing.

Achieve this and youve won half the battle. Fail at this and you could saddle yourself with a dog who hates the crate, refuses to use it and maybe even fears it which can be a very hard thing to undo.

So how do you go about achieving this?

Technique 1: Magically Appearing Toys And Treats

Set up the crate before you bring your dog home or if you have an existing pet, assemble the crate without them seeing so it just magically appears.

Heres how to do it:

  • Either remove the door or make sure its tied open so it cannot close, then scatter a few high value treats around the outside of the crate and a few just inside and a few toward the back.
  • Also place a few toys in the crate, their regular favorites if they have such a thing, new ones if they dont.
  • Now let your dog or puppy into the room.
  • Now that theyre inside, remember:

    In training, dont make a fuss of the crate, dont even look at it, act like its the most normal thing in the world and nothing to worry or barely worth even thinking about.

    So what should you do?

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    Increase Time In Crate W/ Door Closed

    • Slowly increase the time they must lay in the crate with the door closed before a click and treat, from 1 second to 1 minute in 5-second increments.
    • After every success, release them and allow them to come completely out of the crate before asking them back inside for the next down.
    • And just as in step 9, mix up waiting for longer and shorter periods to stay unpredictable.

    See What You Can Achieve By Just 10 Weeks Of Age

    Golden Retriever Potty Training – How to Potty Train and Crate Train Golden Retrievers Puppies

    The following video is a great example of what can be achieved with your puppy by just 10 weeks of age! You will see the difference between a trained golden retriever puppy with a new one.

    Im showing this as an example of how intelligent and keen they are to learn and follow our guidance.

    This Golden Retriever puppy will have been trained these skills in just a few short training sessions per day over the course of a couple of weeks.

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    Recall How To Teach Our Golden Retriever Puppy To Come Back When Called

    Your puppy already knows their name at this point, so this should be a walk in the park. But if it isnt, remember that its alright.;

    Safety first should always be words you live by when youre doing anything with your puppy but in this case, you should keep them in mind even more.;

    How to do it

  • Treats and a cheerful voice will be what works here.;
  • Call out your puppys name in high spirits and cheerfully once, and not too loudly.;;
  • When they look at you, drop the treat on the ground near you;;
  • TIPS

    • You dont need to reach out or grab your puppy when they come to you just yet youre just teaching your puppy to hang out near you where all the good stuff happens like treats dropping on the floor.;
    • Do these exercises before meal times so your puppy is more motivated.
    • Practice this 5 times a day and in 3 different places in your house and garden to get them used to coming to you in all settings.;

    Write A Puppy Socialisation Checklist For Your Golden Retriever Puppy

    Yes, there is a checklist and its a long one. But you can download it here, or read our full article about it here. Its an enlightening read, honestly. Theyll give you the best ideas of things to do with your puppy to help them learn that the outside world is a positive place theyll be happy to live in.;

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