When to start crate training and stop free feeding

  I keep them in a crate, door shut, starting the first night.  I don't free feed pups or adults.  I feed puppies three times a day until about 4 months of age. 

If he's used to sleeping in the crate with the door open, I don't think it will bother him much to sleep with it closed. 

JackieG

  I keep them in a crate, door shut, starting the first night.  I don't free feed pups or adults.  I feed puppies three times a day until about 4 months of age. 

If he's used to sleeping in the crate with the door open, I don't think it will bother him much to sleep with it closed. 

 

My only concern with that is that he can't hold it all night, and I don't want him to get used to going to the bathroom in his crate...

Man, I would not be training him to elminate on a pad -- but that's MY way.  I would be taking him out ON LEASH during the night (otherwise you aren't encouraging him to learn to 'hold it' longer and longer) -- particularly with a puppy I wanna know what's going on, and I want to know *when* they're going (and making sure they aren't cleaning up their own 'mess' to be honest)

Bottom line -- I always *always* have the dog in my bedroom - just too many things can go wrong and they can learn too many 'wrong' things if you can hear them and know exactly what's going on.  Puppies take a while before they can even approach sleeping thru the night -- and this one is very very young to be away from momma yet. 

I would begin to crate train absolutely now -- you do that by simply beginning to close the door while he's busy in there (food, treats, etc.) so that he doesn't even *notice* that he's in there.  Never let him out when he barks -- don't reward bad behavior. 

And honestly -- I never free feed.  Not even a tiny puppy -- I'd want to KNOW when he eat, because when he eats he'll elminate.

 Sleeplessness is part of the price we pay for puppy breath.

thetruejuliet22

My only concern with that is that he can't hold it all night, and I don't want him to get used to going to the bathroom in his crate...

You don't want him going in the house willy nilly either -- you WANT him to wake you up to go out.  It's the *only* way to housetrain them.  For get it -- you won't get a decent night's sleep for MANY months.   I never paper train them in any way -- I just don't want it ***ever*** to be 'ok' to go in the house.  Not from night #1.

I agree. I would stop using the pads. It's sending the puppy mixed messages.

thetruejuliet22

My only concern with that is that he can't hold it all night, and I don't want him to get used to going to the bathroom in his crate...

 

Of course he can't hold it all night at that age.  You have to keep him in a crate in the bedroom so you can hear him.  As Callie said, free feeding doesn't let you get him on a schedule of elimination.  You will have to get up several times a night to let him out to potty.  Take up the water at eight at night.  Praise and treat when he potties outside.  Teaching him to use pads to save you from getting up at night is setting yourself up for trouble, IMO.

The training section has many posts on crate training and housetraining puppies.

 Okay, that's what we'll start doing then....
Thanks everyone

I know a lot of people have great success with puppy pads...but ick...I've never used them, and both my dogs have been able to make it through the night starting around 4 months.  At about 3 months they were able to make it about 5 hours...so I'd only get up once at night.  I start out the first night shutting the crate door, and never use potty pads.  Eliminating that close to his crate is not a good idea in my opinion.  I'd start by taking the pads away asap...and shutting the door whenever he is going to be in there and you are not right around him.  That's just my opinion...and I'm hoping you get a great response from someone who likes puppy pads...I've heard they work...but they grose me out! lol

Yep, as others have said, I always get up with pups during the night (and I do love my sleep, but it has to be done) My pups have always whined when they have to go, but if you're worried about not hearing any whining, you can set an alarm to wake you a few times during the night.  You should fairly quickly see a pattern as to how often she needs to go.

I don't free feed, but I always gave my small breed pups three small meals a day, plus treats during training in between.

I shut the crate door from night one.

 Close the crate, lose the pee pads, go to bed late, get up early and have at least one wee break per night until you are sure he can hold it till morning

 Update:

I have done away with pee pads and he's sleeping through the night in his crate with the door closed already! we put him to bed around 10 or 11 and my fiancee wakes up to let him out at about 6:30 in the morning... he's doing GREAT! 

Accidents are to a major minimum too, I monitor him closely to watch for signs he might need to go outside....and we're not free feeding anymore either, we feed him 3 times per day and he's doing really well.

He's been easier to get adjusted to crate training and sleeping through the night than my aussie was lol....

Thanks for everyone's input it was really helpful :)

 Glad you are having success.  Just, FYI, though, while I generally agree that free feeding is not good for most dogs, I don't have a problem with doing it for very small toy dogs in puppy hood.  Most do very well when they are switched to scheduled feedings as adults.  All toy pup owners should learn to recognize the symptoms of hypoglycemia, and have some Nutri-Cal, or Karo syrup, and Pedialyte on hand just in case.

I have had nothing but success with Zeke. I got him when he was just a wee-thing. I crate trained him from day one. When I could not watch him (usually when he would want to take naps was when I would be busy doing stuff) , sleep time, etc. He would wake me up when he needed to go out. I also would let him out, whenever he'd wake up from naps. He never had an accident in his crate. He caught on well though! I do not imagine with past puppies I have had that all puppies catch on that well. Even myself I anticipated him to potty in his crate. He is six months old now and still from day one he has not had 24/7 eating/drinking time. He eats throughout the day but, by 7:00 pm the food/water is put up for the night. So far I have had the best time. He never uses his crate now. He is completely house-broke and has been since he was about four months old. He prefers sleeping on a blanket- that I made his, on the floor oppose to his crate. So the crate is there if he wants to go into it, but he rarely uses it. Good luck! I do know that smaller dogs work a bit different as they can not hold it as well as a bigger dog. However, things that would help is start crate training now and not feed past a certain time. Its worked great for me!

I free-fed Nikon as a pup and am free-feeding the pup I'm raising right now.  Not sure if it's normal for GSD pups but he and Ana just didn't/don't seem to have an appetite for scarfing food.  In fact she is refusing the food the breeder sent home which is better than what I have!  I think she was getting canned before, so I've been soaking the kibble in a little water and mashing in a little bit of food roll to make it more palatable.  She will eat my dogs' kibble dry so maybe I'll just feed my dogs her kibble, they will eat anything and absolutely cannot be free-fed!

That said, I don't leave food with her when I'm not here and I take it all away an hour or so before bed.