Crate training dogs, need help

[Elhana]

We lost our Mama Yorkie right after Thanksgiving (she's in my avatar), and my dh got me a new puppy as an early Christmas present. That didn't work out as planned because the pup, Gunner, took to dh and not me. So, dh went out and got a little girl, Sassy. (We did talk and decided that it would be easier to have two puppies at once rather than one now and one later.) Our other adult Yorkie, Lady, has always slept on the bed with us but we decided that we didn't want the new puppies on the bed too, so we are crate training them. We put them in the crate at night when we go to bed, which is usually around 10. They are quite for most of the night, but usually around 3:30 Sassy starts to fuss and whine. It is really annoying. We have tried not covering the cage, covering the cage, taking them potty when they fuss, ignoring them, telling them to hush, and putting a fan by the cage to act as white noise. Nothing has worked to help them be quiet! It's been almost two months since we got them. Are we doing something wrong? The crate is very large (I can't imagine sizes and bought it too big on accident) but we have a smaller one that we can use. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Elhana]

Here is a picture of the puppies. Sassy is on the left and Gunner is on the left.

[lasab]

We put our puppy out in the laundry room so that the crate was farther away from our room. I did cover the crate about 75% with a towel and then I plugged in a small radio and turned on some music. It didn't work the first night, but by the 3rd night things were much better. After severel months of success in the laundry room, we moved the crate in the bedroom. HTH.

[kval07]

Oh, they are too cute!! I've been wanting another yorkie so bad!!

Where do you have the crate? My suggestion - if it isn't there already - is for you to have the crate in your room with you at night.

[motherofmolly]

the crate size for a puppy should be enough room for them to be in there comfortably. too much room and they can make a room for "potty time". as far as the crying....you might try a simple "no" or give them a busy toy to keep in there if they dont have one already.

by the one crying and you getting up to tend to it, you are doing what you would do with a baby-giving it a reason to cry. simple "no" each time it happens should help. be consistent. the dog needs to learn to be quiet at night unless there is a serious reason to bark.

sounds funny....but a dog and a baby/child are the same. you have to be firm but gentle. consistent in your teaching and help it grow a good character.

[Elhana]

The crate is in the living room, which is at the opposite end of the house from the bedroom. It's a small house, so everybody hears it. Our bedroom doesn't have room for any crate, it's small and we have a king size bed in there that takes up most of the room. We've tried to be firm with them, because we do think of them as our furry kids, but geeze, after 2 months we're so tired of it! I think tomorrow I'll get the smaller crate set up for them to use. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. My dh is just about to give up and let them sleep with us! (I'm planning on trying to stall him for at least a week to see if we can try some other things first!!)

[kval07]

The reason I ask if the crate is in your room is the puppies need their "mama". If they were with their mom, they would have her body heat. I've heard of taking a warm water bottle and putting it in a sock - it mimics the body heat of their mother.

[meems]

How old are they? Is it possible they aren't quite old enough to hold it yet?

My springer did horrible with crate training, she had to see feel touch me at all times! Once I took her into bed with me she did fine as far as accidents, she never ever had one over night, but she really did NEED to be with me...still does 9 years later.

Also..just a note that's irrelelvant I guess...but they say training two puppies at once is tough as they want to bond with each other more than with their people.

[motherofmolly]

have you thought of putting them in the house together? my grandma had one of those little dogs, and he really liked having someone or another dog with them. if no one was home, you would find the yorkie with the lab laying next to him.

just a thought. normally you give each a place of his/her own. but if they are still young this might help

[doulas3babes]

Elhana - I don't really have any advice for you regarding the whining, but I do have a question for you.... do your yorkie pups pee in their crate?? We are crating our almost 3 mos old (will be 3m on the 16th) and have been since we got him Dec. 26. No matter WHAT I do, with regards to regulating how much water, to how many times I let him out at night, to the length of time he's in the crate, I still wake up every morning to a puppy soaked in pee. It's getting really aggravating as there are times that I'm bathing him up to 5x in a 48 hr period. *sigh*

I mean like right now, it's 12:30am, he just peed about 30m ago, and I'll be up till about 2am and he'll be out too. He'll pee right before he's put in the crate at night at 2am, then I awaken to an alarm at 5:30 am and he's already peed in the crate. I can leave for a few hrs to volunteer at school or run an errand and come back and guess what... yeah, more pee.

Does anyone have any advice??? I've tried small rewards after good "pee" behavior, scolding in a stern voice when he does wrong, regulating water, limiting time in the crate, as to not be in there more than a few hrs, etc. He even had his "blankie" in there and fav. toy and they both had to be pitched b/c he peed all over them and ruined them and I was afraid to wash them b/c they would fall apart.

TIA for any advice.