Crate Training a Puppy - featuring CP's foster puppy Dylan!

Written by a CP Volunteer

Dylan

My two cents is that I'd be crate training him at night. Use a small, plastic type crate so he feels secure, and put it on a chair next to your bed where he can see/hear you while you sleep. Then if he fusses, you can reach over and put your fingers in the door (if you position this correctly, you can even fall back asleep with your fingers still there ). Don't take him out when he fusses, unless it's been 4-5 hours and he might need to potty. In a few days, you'll be able to move the chair away from your bed or the crate to the floor, once he knows he's safe and close to you. Then you can slowly start moving the crate to where you want it to be. My puppies always get a soft toy and a chew bone in their crates in case they wake and need a distraction.

I'd feed like Dylan's foster mom has suggested - a mix of kibble and a wet - either the puppy plate or cottage cheese, but at 9 weeks I'd do 4 meals a day and taper to less wet food/more kibble and less feedings as she gets older and is able to hold more at each feeding. Cottage cheese can't be beat to add calcium to their diet as their bones are forming, cartilage is stiffening in their ears, and they lose their baby teeth and get their adult ones at about 5 months old. It's like they grow so rapidly, their body just sucks the nutrients up. And don't be surprised if he does rapid changes in the amount he eats, gobbling for a few days and then hitting a plateau. You'll be able to tell what portion size satisfies him for a meal (give him like 10 minutes to eat with no distractions), and then that's your portion size you should make for the next meal, adding a few more bites to the portion as he gets bigger until he's eating that adult serving of 1/2-2/3 cup kibble a day plus his dollops of the extras. If he's a good size at 6 months, he can probably be at 2 meals plus a snack before bedtime, and you could transfer him over to an all-age kibble then, plus a dollop of yogurt. Each dog is different, so you've got to use your judgement on how much he can consume at a meal and if he's getting enough to keep her growing. Our foster that just left a week ago just couldn't hold very much at a time - at 19 weeks she was still getting 3 meals a day plus a snack meal about an hour before bedtime.

Lots of toys rotated in and out of the ex pen to spark his interest, plus a snuggly bed, and once you've given him lovin' and put him back in, ignore the whines. I use a roll of brown contractor's paper($10 at Lowe's for 130') in one end of my ex pen instead of newspaper or those disposable pads that make so much fun noise when they're torn up. I put the roll on the outside and pull the paper under the end and back out just a bit on the other side. It absorbs, but excess can be wiped up and poo picked up easily.

Our featured CP foster puppy Dylan is being fostered in Mississippi and you can learn more about him by clicking here.