# New Puppy - Advice on Crate Training PLEASE!!



## goldentemperment (May 16, 2012)

I recommend having the crate in your bedroom at least until a while after he's potty trained (usually between 17 and 25 weeks). You'll probably need to get up with him 1, 2, or 3 times a night for the first month or so, so if it makes more sense to just have a baby monitor downstairs, then that would probably work. 

You're right about the steps...you won't want him going down by himself for a few months, and even then you'll probably want to avoid excess stair walking for the first year or two (not sure what the exact recommendations are on that, but I'd imagine it's similar to running with your pup). Have you looked into baby gates for the steps?


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## Bentleysmom (Aug 11, 2012)

I agree, I would put it in your bedroom for now so yo can hear him. Bentley's crate was in one room for about 4 weeks then I moved it to another room and he didn't care. Actually I think he liked when I moved it because it was away from the TV ect for when he wanted quiet time. (yes, there was a time he wanted it quiet )


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## Mayve (Aug 21, 2012)

Bentleysmom;1895974 (yes said:


> I don't believe it!!!


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## Mayve (Aug 21, 2012)

Roushbabe said:


> My new puppy will be home this Sunday evening (he will be 8 weeks old)and I'm getting nervous if I have all my ducks in a row or not. I couldn't sleep last night thinking of all different type of scenarios! :doh:
> 
> Anyways, something I keep thinking about is crate training. I know the basics of how and when to use it, it's where it should be placed that's got me thinking!
> 
> I live in a two story house where all the bedrooms are on the second floor. I'm not sure if I should have the crate in my actual bedroom so I can hear him if he cries to have to go out (the first couple of weeks) or if I should have it in the dark dining room where I wouldn't really be able to hear him if he cries. By having it upstairs I feel like I might have to carry him down the stairs because he'll be too small? I wanted to introduce the stairs when he's a little bigger incase he falls and gets traumatized. If I place him downstairs, I'm also thinking about baby monitors to hear him - not sure if that is crazy to do that or not! I know the crate needs to be in the same place so the puppy knows it's secure and doesn't keep moving around.



I vote bedroom too, but I do like the baby monitor idea as well...except I wouldn't keep it up to loud or those yippy yappy high pitched barks at this age will plaster YOU to the ceiling...


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

It probably depends on the stairs, but with our house it is pretty much impossible to get out of the house without the pup encountering stairs. We live on a hill so there are stairs going out the front door. And you have to go down a flight of stairs to get to the "potty door" (we have a small area in the back where we do the nightly potty outings). Of course both dogs are down in the lower level (walk out basement) with me at night. 

So I guess what I'm saying is that until the pup goes through the first growth spurt (12-13 weeks old), we are carrying up and down the stairs. This because they aren't too steady on their feet and can take a tumble. 

When they are big enough, that's when we get down on our knees and show them step by step how to go up and down the stairs. 

Bertie is flying up and down the stairs effortlessly at 15 weeks old. Actually with him, the only care we take is making sure he isn't leaping from 4 steps up. Which he will DEFINITELY try to do because he's insane. 

About the crate - I'd suggest keeping a crate for sleeping in your room. And then have another crate in your living space somewhere where you can pull it out and set it up to contain the pup without isolating him nonstop. 

I don't crate at night (my bedroom is small enough to be a crate for both goldens), but I do have a crate stored under our living room couch for those evenings when I'm eating or cooking or whatever. 

I would use a baby gate, but my daredevil pup climbs gates and leaps over the top of them. :uhoh: Hence why I've totally embraced using a crate with this guy.


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## heathermom (Dec 19, 2012)

I just got my two pups on December 22 and they were from different litters and I have a little story to share about stairs. Holly had and has no issueswith stairs, she can climb up and down them at a crazy speed - But I remember there was a small stair case in the room where I came to pick her up, so I am assuming those puppies played on the stairs alot. Now Buddy on the other hand, had NO IDEA what to do about stairs. he sat and cried at the bottom of them for a few hours before he gave them a go, he got the hang of climbing them in a couple days, but going down them, he still stops and thinks about how to do it.. LOL I am only talking about 2 stairs from our family room to kitchen. So far they have not shown alot of interest in our upstairs (2 story house as well) or basement, but we have avoided taking them there, and so far it seems to be working. enjoy your pup, it is such a special time.


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

I agree with Megora. You're going to need two crates. They can be found cheap on Craig's List. I bought one for the car for $30, and the guy only used it to fly his dog from Arizona when he moved to MN. 


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## Roushbabe (Feb 20, 2011)

*Picture of stairs*

Attached is the picture of the stairs that I'm talking about. I could imagine it can be quite intimidating for a little puppy. I guess carrying him downstairs for the first couple of weeks wouldn't make it a learned behavior. I'm worried that he'll expect it every time! lol. 

As far as two crates - I have a big size metal crate (42x28x26) that I'm going to use with a divider for down stairs and if I needed to get one for the bedroom I was looking only for a smaller travel crate that's around (26x18x18) that I can use to also take him to the vet. Is that too small? You think he'll outgrow that size too quickly? It's for $35 on Craigslist.


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

That's pretty small. They grow really fast. Look at the picture of Bella below. That's your dog in a few short months. 


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## Cari (Sep 19, 2012)

Yeah he will outgrow that if those dimensions are LxWxH. He'll be over 18" tall in a few months lol


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## Roushbabe (Feb 20, 2011)

Well he isn't going to stay in this smaller crate for much longer than a few months till he is big enough for the huge crate downstairs. I wanted to just use this for as long as I need to be able to hear him during the night (in my bedroom) and take him to the vet to finish his vaccinations. How big will he be at 18 weeks old? I would like to buy a crate for him till he's 6 months to use to take him to the vet and to sleep in as well on top of my larger crate that will be stationary in my house.


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## Cari (Sep 19, 2012)

Check out this link for height and weights

Golden Retriever Puppy Growth Charts


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Roushbabe said:


> Attached is the picture of the stairs that I'm talking about. I could imagine it can be quite intimidating for a little puppy. I guess carrying him downstairs for the first couple of weeks wouldn't make it a learned behavior. I'm worried that he'll expect it every time! lol.
> 
> As far as two crates - I have a big size metal crate (42x28x26) that I'm going to use with a divider for down stairs and if I needed to get one for the bedroom I was looking only for a smaller travel crate that's around (26x18x18) that I can use to also take him to the vet. Is that too small? You think he'll outgrow that size too quickly? It's for $35 on Craigslist.


You really need to put some sort of netting up to cover your staircase rails... I have a horrible vision of your pup going through the rails and getting severely injured. We have something very similar and ended up blocking off the staircase and rails down our bridge (we have an open floor plan in the middle with rooms on both sides of the house). We just checked today and at 12 weeks Yogi can still fit through them, so the barricade stays. Home Depot sells netting- it's not pretty but it does the trick and would prevent a disaster IMO.

Crates are relatively inexpensive in the grand scheme of things- I'd recommend 2 crates for up and down stairs. We let Yogi sleep in the crate in our bedroom, but he got a little incessant in waking us up without needing to go potty so our vet suggested we put him in the other crate, at the opposite end of the house if he got us up without pottying- tough love approach. We ended up doing that one night around midnight when we took him out and he didn't need to go potty. I didn't sleep much that night worrying about him, and even snuck up to check on him- he was fine. The next night he didn't utter a peep in his crate in our bedroom until he needed to go potty 8 hours later.


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

Roushbabe said:


> Well he isn't going to stay in this smaller crate for much longer than a few months till he is big enough for the huge crate downstairs. I wanted to just use this for as long as I need to be able to hear him during the night (in my bedroom) and take him to the vet to finish his vaccinations. How big will he be at 18 weeks old? I would like to buy a crate for him till he's 6 months to use to take him to the vet and to sleep in as well on top of my larger crate that will be stationary in my house.


My guess is that I could have squeezed Bella in that size crate up until about 4 months, or so. She was about 50 lbs. at 6 months. Now, she's 60 lbs. according to the vet's scale the other day.


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## Roushbabe (Feb 20, 2011)

Dallas Gold said:


> You really need to put some sort of netting up to cover your staircase rails... I have a horrible vision of your pup going through the rails and getting severely injured. We have something very similar and ended up blocking off the staircase and rails down our bridge (we have an open floor plan in the middle with rooms on both sides of the house). We just checked today and at 12 weeks Yogi can still fit through them, so the barricade stays. Home Depot sells netting- it's not pretty but it does the trick and would prevent a disaster IMO.
> 
> Crates are relatively inexpensive in the grand scheme of things- I'd recommend 2 crates for up and down stairs. We let Yogi sleep in the crate in our bedroom, but he got a little incessant in waking us up without needing to go potty so our vet suggested we put him in the other crate, at the opposite end of the house if he got us up without pottying- tough love approach. We ended up doing that one night around midnight when we took him out and he didn't need to go potty. I didn't sleep much that night worrying about him, and even snuck up to check on him- he was fine. The next night he didn't utter a peep in his crate in our bedroom until he needed to go potty 8 hours later.


Oh man - I didn't even think about him going through the rails! I'm going to be so paranoid. There is a catwalk going through from one bedroom to another and on both sides you can look below to downstairs. YIKES! I'll look into the mesh at home depot...


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Roushbabe said:


> Oh man - I didn't even think about him going through the rails! I'm going to be so paranoid. There is a catwalk going through from one bedroom to another and on both sides you can look below to downstairs. YIKES! I'll look into the mesh at home depot...


We have a catwalk too, but call it our bridge- open on both sides and yes, they can fit through those rails. Our rails are closer together than yours. I estimate we'll need them for another 2 months at least. They can easily get away from you if you aren't careful! We carry him downstairs, but he's quickly gaining weight so it won't be long until we will need to lead him down by leash.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Roushbabe said:


> I was looking only for a smaller travel crate that's around (26x18x18) that I can use to also take him to the vet. Is that too small? You think he'll outgrow that size too quickly? It's for $35 on Craigslist.


That's the size I used the last 5 weeks with Bertie. It's PERFECT for the car and taking to class. He probably won't fit in it by next week, but I've gotten good use out of it. So def recommend that size if you don't mind buying something you will donate to rescue in a few weeks....


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## Roushbabe (Feb 20, 2011)

Megora said:


> That's the size I used the last 5 weeks with Bertie. It's PERFECT for the car and taking to class. He probably won't fit in it by next week, but I've gotten good use out of it. So def recommend that size if you don't mind buying something you will donate to rescue in a few weeks....


What was the size of Bertie when he was 8 weeks? What's his size now? Thanks for your input!! I'm at least going to check out the crate tomorrow and look at in person to see if it's doable. It's on my way to work so it really isn't out of the way.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I'm sorry - I lied.  I measured Bertie just now and giving him a couple inches clearance, it comes out to 28". I went down to my car to check the crate I have and it is 28 x 20.5 x 21.5. 

I will donate the crate next week probably and buy a 36" softside crate for class for him. <- I just need to talk to people I train with because there are places online where you can order softside crates for a relatively painless price. <- Like somebody had an Irish wolfhound in a crate at class and she only spent a little over a $100 for it? It is a HUGE crate....


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## sswope4 (Jul 9, 2012)

This is what I did when I brought Isabel home at 8 weeks. I kept her kennel down the hall closer to the kitchen. My room is about 15 feet from where the kennel is. The reason I did this is so she would learn to sleep on her own and not be wanting to be w me, by continuing to whine. She needs to learn independence and to enjoy her home, her kennel. I left the kennel door open during the day and made it real comfy in the kennel. So, unless it was night time or I left the house, Isabel loved going in and out her kennel on hee own while the door was open. I made sure I took her water away around 7pm. And took hee out to potty as late as I could, like 11 pm. She was great. No whining, except a couple timea when my daughters were too loud and Isabel wanted to play!! She now, at seven months, sleeps wherever she wants. Sometimes in her open kennel, sometimes on my bed, and sometimes in a bed of hers in the living room. Whatever u decide, stick w it. I do put her in her kennel when I work. Good luck.


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## Roushbabe (Feb 20, 2011)

I'm looking for a travel crate on craigslist to use to pick him up and also for the first few nights in my bedroom. If I can't find one for less than $50 then I think I'm going to keep him downstairs (in the bigger crate with a divider) and just set an alarm for myself to wake up a few times during the night to go check on him or buy a baby monitor that isn't too expensive. We have a grandfather clock that I might not wind up so it doesn't spook him the first few nights.


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

Roushbabe said:


> I'm looking for a travel crate on craigslist to use to pick him up and also for the first few nights in my bedroom. If I can't find one for less than $50 then I think I'm going to keep him downstairs (in the bigger crate with a divider) and just set an alarm for myself to wake up a few times during the night to go check on him or buy a baby monitor that isn't too expensive. We have a grandfather clock that I might not wind up so it doesn't spook him the first few nights.


I believe our travel crate is 36" long. She fits just fine in that. We just leave it in the back of the van, and throw her pillow bed in it when we take her somewhere. I believe Walmart has new ones for $60-70, but I don't believe they are airline approved, if that matters.

I've bought many things on Craig's List. If you see one you like, but don't like the price, make them an offer. It's an incredible PITA to sell something on Craig's List. They just want to get it over with. Also, before you meet someone to look at a crate, have them email you a copy of their driver's license, and don't go alone.


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