Some pet owners ( both new and old pet owners) see crates as the devil’s invention. However, most new pet owners believe that crate training puppies at night
While it is true that is very important to start training a puppy as soon as they’re adopted, one shouldn’t jump to the most extreme level of training on day one.
If you want to know how this could negatively impact the newly adopted puppy, figure out alternative solutions that
If you follow this, you’ll soon be able to undergo crate training puppies at night without negatively impacting your puppy.
Table of Contents
Why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable- What is crate training
Before I
Crate training is a training process that requires the use of a crate. Crate training was created, so your puppy views their crates as a safe space.
This is done by teaching and familiarising the puppy with the crate by leaving them in it for short periods of time.
These short periods of time gradually increase with time, until the puppy is capable of staying in the crate for long hours. However, this doesn’t mean that you could leave locked in a crate for half a day. That act is a form of animal abuse.
It is extremely beneficial for many forms of training. Here are a couple of examples were crate training is essential and extremely beneficial:
- Crate training for house training; aka, to potty train your puppy.
- Crate training them for travel.
I will go into more details later on how to crate train your puppy later on in this post. But now that you understand what crate training is, allow me to demonstrate and explain why leaving your puppy in a crate overnight isn’t a good idea.
Why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable- Why is it a bad idea to leave your puppy in a crate overnight?
Why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable? Your puppy will view it as a prison
Your precious little puppy has just been separated from their mother and nest, and are moving in with you. They’re barely two months old, and you decide to lock them in their crates when you’re going to sleep at night.
First of all, this is going to scare and stress them out cause they went from being always surrounded by someone who cares about them, to be being locked in a small area all alone.
Some people might argue that even human babies are left in their baby crates at night. While that is a valid argument to bring onto the table, the scenarios are not
Since we’re talking about a baby and a puppy who are in their early months, then we have to acknowledge the differences in both of the baby’s and puppy’s development.
Let us pick eight weeks as our age because the minimum age at which you should start training your dog is eight weeks and older.
A puppy who is eight weeks old can walk, play, and feed themselves. An eight weeks old baby can only toss around while they’re laying down.
So whether their laying down in their baby crate, or on the couch, the feeling is still the same for them. They’re being held back from doing things that they’re perfectly capable of.
An eight weeks old puppy, on the other hand, can perfectly walk. So when they’re in their crate, they’re forced to remain in their place, even though they want to leave. They see the world that is outside the crate and crave to roam it freely.
However, they understand that they can’t do that because they’re locked in by the person they’re supposed to grow to love, protect and be loyal to. So you see, there is a huge difference.
The baby is provided a form of protection the shields them for the rest of home that they’re not even capable of accessing on their own, while the puppy is locked in a crate so they can’t access what they’re capable of accessing.
Yes, crate training has a lot of benefits, but a puppy should be gradually introduced to it and not left in there all night.
Why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable? Potty Issues
One more thing is the toilet situation. Like I previously mentioned, crate training is a great way to potty train your puppy because dogs don’t like to soil the area that they’re sleeping it.
This makes the dog hold it in when they’re inside the crate, and with time, direction, and other tactics, they will become potty trained.
However, note that puppies have smaller bladder and they can’t hold it in for so long.
This means that they will eventually soil their crate because their bodies can’t hold in urine for so long. You might even wake up to find out that the defecated in their crates and got dirty.
Crates can make your puppy hold it only for so long, but how do you know when your puppy needs to go to the bathroom. Well, there is a straightforward way for you to figure this out.
All you need to do is know how old your puppy is in months! That’s literally it. Your puppy’s age in months is how long you’re supposed to wait before you take them out to the bathroom.
If you want to make a range out of it, just add one more hour. So your eight weeks old puppy would need to go to the bathroom every 2 to 3 hours.
This means that you’ll have to set multiple alarms throughout the night to take them out for potty breaks. If you don’t do that, then you’re not even making an effort to crate train your new puppy.
If all that matters to you is to keep your house clean, don’t worry about that. I have a good solution for you that doesn’t involve locking a poor little puppy in a crate.
If you’re wondering if potty training a puppy at night is going to be okay if you set multiple alarms and disrupt your sleep through the night, my answer is still no. Why? Because of what I have mentioned in my first reason.
Meanwhile, the human baby doesn’t even have to think twice about when or where they should go to the bathroom. They just do it where they are cause they’re wearing diapers.
They won’t soil their beds or even get dirty head to toe. So comparing a baby in their baby crate and puppy in their training crate is an invalid argument.
Two important things to remember when you’re tempted to crate train your newly adopted puppy while you sleep throughout the night:
- Recall that time spent in the crate should be increased gradually and slowly. If you go cold turkey and leave your puppy in the crate for many hours, they won’t grow to trust you and might develop behavioral and mental issues.
- Puppies have small bladders, so crate training them during the night just to potty train them won’t work if you don’t set multiple alarms and wake up several times in the middle of the night to take them out to their bathroom spot
It is totally possible to reach a point where you can crate train a puppy throughout the night as you sleep, but don’t expect to do that during your puppy’s first couple of months.
Now that you are aware of the reasons why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable, let me introduce you to a couple of solutions that will ease your two major sources of worry.
Why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable- Then what should you do instead?
First, let me address your concerns because they’re one hundred percent valid. I know that you’re worried about your puppy’s safety and that them having the freedom to roam around the house without a chaperone is a dangerous idea.
Also, no one wants to wake up to see that almost every room in the house has turned into your puppy’s bathroom spot. Cleaning that mess and getting rid of the foul smell is very time and energy consuming.
But what if I told you that there is a more ethical solution to your dilemma? Your puppy won’t feel as imprisoned as being locked in a crate, yet they will have restricted access to the house.
Why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable- Use a Safeguard instead.
This way, if they soil a place, it is only going to be in one room instead of the entire house. Also, this way, they’ll be away from anything that is considered to be a hazard to them. This magical solution is using a safeguard.
You can use a safeguard and set it up to block your dog’s pathway from leaving the room you’ve chosen.
And no, just shutting the door won’t be as effective cause the locked room will give your puppy the same effect of a crate, which is making them feel imprisoned.
Also, if something happens to them, you won’t be able to hear their cries. Unlike a closed door, the safeguard doesn’t go all the way up to the ceiling, and its material is actually transparent.
Those two features will make your puppy feel freer because of the bigger space that they can explore, and being able to see clearly beyond the guarding wall you’ve built. Also, the only place you can expect to see any defection is that room.
I have another thing that will take care of this, but even if you don’t, your issues have been minimized greatly by just using the safeguard.
If you’re interested in trying this amazing product, then you’re in for a treat because we have this on our store and guess what? It’s on sale!
You can grab the Magic Gate Portable Folding SafeGuard For Pets here.
Don’t forget to leave them a water bowl and some toys for them inside their room. A kong filled treats would even make the room more awesome in the eyes of your puppy.
Why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable- Use a pee pad
Now, if you want to make your puppy go to the bathroom in only one area of the room, then I highly encourage you to pee pad train them.
A pee pad could be a disposable one or a reusable one. A pee pad is capable of protecting the floor beneath it and holding in the odor of your dog defecation and urine.
If you’re interested in learning about How to Potty Train A Puppy on Pads And Be Eco-friendly, then check out my blog post here.
Reusable pee pads are more eco-friendly and will save you a lot of money.
If you want to try a reusable pee pad, then we highly recommend you get one of our PADSMART™: Washable Fashionable Reusable Pee Pad here. Yes, the pee pad is also on sale!
Why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable- Crate train them the right way.
If you want to crate train your puppy properly, so they don’t get anxious when you’re traveling or even as a way of potty training them, then do so in the daytime.
You will first start by leaving the crate open and placing some treats inside, so your dog begins exploring the crate.
Then, you’ll leave them in it for a minute with some toys in the crate. Next, you can make your dogs eat their meals inside the crate, and thus create a positive atmosphere. That way, dogs are going to view the crate as a magical place, and not a prison
With time, you’ll be able to crate train them for hours, but note that leaving your puppy in a crate for longer than four hours isn’t recommended.
If you one a step by step guide where you can learn all things related to crate training a dog, then make sure you read my How to Crate Train A Dog | The Ultimate Guide blog post.
With time, you should be able to crate train your dog at night. The only reason you should do this though is that you want them to be prepared to stay in for a long time in case you want to take them on a flight with you.
Just make sure that crate you pick up for your dog is big enough for them to stand on all fours and turn around comfortably. Also, don’t forget to hook a water bottle inside of the crate.
That’s it for today’s post. I hope you now understand why crate training puppies at night isn’t preferable. There are other options that will make your relationship with your puppy better and are just more ethical, so why not use those instead?
If you have any questions or you want to share any personal experiences with regarding today’s topic, then feel free to leave all of that in the comments down below.
