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Midwest Life Stages Metal Dog Crate Review

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Midwest Life Stages Metal Dog Crate Review
Baby Archer – Midwest Life Stages Metal Dog Crate Review

The Midwest Life Stages Metal Dog Crate Review is nearly 11 years  in the making.  In fact it’s my first puppy product purchase ever!

Flashback to January 7th, 2005: The day I picked up Linus from the Carson Animal Shelter. I began my search for a puppy on December 5th, 2004 and after browsing PetFinder.com I came across an Australian Shepherd/Labrador Retriever mixed puppy with a white spot on his chest. Little did I know that this little puppy would be my best friend for the next 10+ years.

What does all of this backstory have to do with a MidWest Life Stages Double-Door Folding Metal Dog Crate? (affiliate link) Well, after I decided Linus was the puppy for me I ran over to the local PetSmart to purchase all of the essential supplies for my first puppy.

I wanted to crate train my puppy so one of my purchases would end up being the MidWest Life Stages Dog Crate (affiliate link) and the only item from that day that I still use to this very day. In fact, Linus will still meander into his crate on the off day we do not have a puppy in training.

Midwest Life Stages Metal Dog Crate Review

From Amazon.com (affiliate link)

Product Details

  •  Exceptionally versatile metal dog crate with adjustable divider panel
  • Double doors for side and front access; slide-bolt latches; rounded corners
  • Easily sets up and folds down to portable size; 2 plastic handles for carrying
  • Durable satin-black electro-coat finish; ABS-plastic pan included
  • 1-year limited warranty

Product Description

Whether starting with a new puppy or starting again with an adult dog, this folding double-door metal dog crate cuts housebreaking time in half and reduces behavioral problems. The exceptionally versatile unit features a divider panel that allows for adjusting the length of the living area. Keeping the living space small enough reduces the chance of the puppy eliminating in one end and sleeping in the other. Choose the size of crate that the dog will need when it reaches its full adult size, as the divider can be adjusted as the puppy grows. For easy placement in an automobile or in the corner of a room, the dog crate also comes equipped with convenient double doors, which allow both side and front access. Other highlights include safe and secure slide-bolt latches, a durable satin-black electro-coat finish, 1-1/2-by-5-7/8-inch mesh, rounded corners, and two plastic handles for carrying. The unit easily sets up and folds down to a portable size for suitcase-style carrying, and an ABS-composite plastic pan for easy clean up comes included. The dog crate carries a one-year limited warranty.

Amazon Reviews

Lets start off by doing exactly what I do when looking to buy a new product and that is looking at the customer reviews on Amazon.com (affiliate link).  The Midwest dog crate has over 5K reviews with an average of 4 1/2 out of 5 stars, not too shabby!  The second thing I do is I look over the 1 and 2 star reviews to see what problems customers may have had with a product.  Here is a comment that sums up most of the complaints I read:

We bought this crate 5 months ago for our new GS puppy but did not use it for a few months since it was so large. Now just three months into use it is unsafe to continue to use. The clips can be popped off by my puppy who tries to eat them. Not only that the front door never sat quite right and just continues to get worse. At this point my puppy can pop it right off. Last it is rusting out all over the place which makes no sense since we use it in our sun room not outside. I wish now we would have bought two plastic crates (we bought our other puppy a plastic one which has held up great)…

Reviews like the above only made up a small percentage of all the reviews which were mostly positive like this one:

I am very pleased with this crate. It erected easily within moments, is extremely sturdy and big enough for all but, possibly, the giant breeds. My Rottweiler can lie down stretched out, if that is her preference, and can stand up without hunching over. She loves this crate far better than her plastic airline type crate as she has better visibility and I believe that she feels less confined. It is also much cooler in the heat of the summer than the plastic crate…

It’s interesting to read such polarizing reviews about the same product.  It’s important to read as much as possible about anything you are looking to purchase whether it be for you or your dog.  Even more interesting is I’ve had 10 years of experience with this product and seeing that I’ve continued to use the MidWest Life Stages Dog Crate (affiliate link) I bet you can guess which camp my review will fall in.

My Review of the Midwest Life Stages Dog Crate

Since picking up Linus 10+ years ago I’ve only had one crate until recently (I bought a second Midwest Life Stages Dog Crate) and that one crate is the MidWest Life Stages Dog Crate (affiliate link).  During those 10+ years I’ve probably had over 100 dogs use the same crate!  That’s right…OVER 100 DOGS!!!  Yes, the crate has rusted from a time when one of the puppies was trying to chew on the metal wires, but besides that it’s been plenty durable.

So what dog breeds have used my crate?  Off the top of my head:

  • Labrador Retrievers
  • Golden Retrievers
  • German Shepherds
  • Australian Shepherds
  • American Bulldogs
  • Dachshunds
  • Chihuahuas
  • Yorkshire Terriers
  • Mixed breeds (fosters pups)

I’ve been a guide and service dog puppy raisers for the better part of the past 10 years and the majority of the puppies and dogs that come through our house are Labs and Goldens although we do foster mixed breed dogs from a local rescue from time to time.

Lets get to my pros and cons of this dog crate:

MY PROS

  • This crate is collapsible making it easy to store and transport.
  • The plastic tray is removable and easy to clean if you happen to have a mess in your crate.
  • Because it’s a wire crate it is breathable.  Air is allowed to flow through the crate.
  • It’s been very durable for me, but check customer reviews on Amazon.com (affiliate link) as others have found it not well made.

MY CONS

  • Read through the one and two star customer reviews on Amazon.com (affiliate link).  Durability, dogs escaping, poor quality, and sharp corners in the crate seem to be the most common issues amongst reviewers
  • Our crate has some rust on it, but it doesn’t bother me or the pups.
  • When using the crate with my young pups I have had one or two get their paw caught up between the wires.  While they have been able to quickly remove their paws they did let out little squeals.  This could probably be remedied by buying a smaller version of the same crate for my pups and something I may do in the near future.

While others have brought up some major issues with their dogs and this crate I have not had any real problems with our Life Stages dog crate.  However, I can see how some exceptional dogs may escape, destroy, or have issues with this crate and for that matter any crate.  I’ve even had friend’s dog chew through a plastic crate in attempt to escape!

I’d like to add that on top of my praise for the Lifestage wire dog crate I recently had the need for a second crate and without hesitation I ordered my second MidWest Life Stages Dog Crate (affiliate link).  I’ll let you know in a future review if it’s as good as the first one 🙂

So that’s it folks!  Do you crate train your puppies and if so what type of crate do you use?  Tell us about it in the comment section below.

3 Traits Of Successful Puppy Raisers And Bloggers

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Extraordinary Puppy Blogger!
Extraordinary Puppy Blogger!

2004 was the year I got my first puppy.

2007 was the year I started the Puppy In Training blog.

Today is the first day I realized that successful puppy raisers and successful bloggers have 3 common traits.  Sometimes I’m a little slow, but seriously it took 11 years to have this revelation!?!  So what are those 3 traits?  Well if you’ve left a comment on the blog about training your puppy sometime over the past 8 years then I may have responded by writing something along the lines of “…in order to be successful when training your puppy you need to be __________, __________, and __________”

Go ahead…search back through the archives and you will invariably come across the above statement.  Or just scroll to the next paragraph…your choice…

The 3 Traits Successful Puppy Raisers And Bloggers Have In Common

Drum roll please…all successful puppy raisers and bloggers  are…

1. Consistent: adjective

  • always acting or behaving in the same way
  • of the same quality; especially : good each time
  • continuing to happen or develop in the same way

2. Persistent: adjective

  • continuing to do something or to try to do something even though it is difficult or other people want you to stop
  • continuing beyond the usual, expected, or normal time : not stopping or going away

3. Patient: adjective

  • able to remain calm and not become annoyed when waiting for a long time or when dealing with problems or difficult people
  • done in a careful way over a long period of time without hurrying

Successful Puppy Raisers Are Consistent, Persistent, And Patient

Are you thinking about getting a new puppy?  If you haven’t raised or trained a puppy in the past then you should consider whether or not your have these 3 traits because if not you may be in for a world of hurt with a new puppy.  Let’s take a quick look at why these traits are so important.

Consistent – Lucky for me I read several books and scoured the internet before picking up Linus from the animal shelter.  I already new the importance of being consistent.  Why consistent?  If you are not consistent then your puppy will be confused as to what is right and wrong.  For instance, lets say you are teaching your puppy his name and you expect anytime you say his name he comes back to you.  If you say his name and he doesn’t return to you and you don’t do anything to enforce the command then your pup has just learned that his name doesn’t mean return to mommy (or whoever said his name).

I hear this all the time.  My puppy doesn’t return to me when I say his name.  I can almost guarantee the reason is you are not being consistent in enforcing the command.

READ MORE on teaching your puppy his name

Persistent – Training a puppy can be difficult.  Sometimes it seems like your puppy just won’t get it.  I came across the importance of persistence when I was crate training my first guide dog puppy, Stetson.  Lets revisit the definition of persistent: “continuing to do something or to try to do something even though it is difficult or other people want your to stop.”  The second or third definition could be “crate training Stetson.”  When crate training puppies you almost always have to put up with a little bit of barking/crying/howling.  Most of my pup’s would bark for 5 minutes or less than fall asleep.  This would usually continue for no less than a week with most puppies.

Many would think that alone would define persistence, but lets take a look at Mr. Stetson.  A short recap: Stetson basically cried for about 15 minutes in his crate while I talked him to sleep and woke up about every 2 hours crying for nearly a month.  The good news was after about a month he was a perfect puppy in his crate, but it required a persistent puppy raiser to get him there.

READ MORE on crate training your puppy

Patient – Puppies are frustrating!  Sometimes it seems like they are doing things just to test our patience.  After 10+ years raising and training puppies I’ve learned that I just have to be patient and our puppy will eventually learn his lessons.  Lets look at an example when your patience will be tested.

Some people seem to expect that an 8 week old puppy should already be potty trained.  However, this is far from the truth.  Most puppies at that age do not have full control of their bladder and will almost always have accidents at random times.  For instance, puppies will often go pee at their regular potty spot and then almost as soon as they step foot in the house they squat and potty again.  My answer to this craziness: At 8 weeks your puppy does not have full control of his bladder and sometimes does not know he did not get it all out.  Be patient and wait a few minutes outside with your pup after he does his first tinkle there may be a second or third one coming very soon.

When potty training your puppy you need patience.  It takes time for your puppy to not only physically mature, but also to understand what, where, and when he’s supposed to go.

READ MORE on potty training your puppy

Successful Bloggers Are Consistent, Persistent, And Patient

What about successful bloggers?  Why are being consistent, persistent, and patient so important for us?  Unfortunately, I’ve learned more about the importance of these traits after slacking off on my blogging over the past year or so.  Here’s what I learned:

Consistent – One of the main staples of a good blogger.  If you’ve read any blog about blogging, taken a course on blogging, or read any books about blogging, blog experts will all mention the importance of being consistent.  Most will say that bloggers should have a schedule using either a spreadsheet or editorial calendar to schedule posts by day even going as far as having a theme for each day you blog.  In the past I was very good about being a consistent blogger, but the past year or 2 or 3 I slipped off the path and unless you consider one blog post about every other month consistent then I am failing.

What happens when you’re not consistent?  It’s simple, consistent bloggers have a consistent readership.  As I slacked off on my consistency my readers stopped visiting, interacting, and subscribing to my blog.  Why?  Because they have no idea when I will post a new blog article.  Even when I do post I imagine it just passes through their blog readers or email inboxes without a second look (because they likely forgot about me) and that’s if they remained subscribed to my blog.

Look no further than my email newsletters which has never been consistent.  It’s a double opt-in list so all subscribers come to my site, fill out the form, then confirm their email address a second time through email.  However, because I don’t send out a consistent newsletter many forget that they signed up and even get upset when I send them an email.

Persistent – “Trying to do something even though it is difficult…”  I was as persistent as they come during my first 5 years of blogging.  I stuck to my schedule rain or shine.  I would put together a series of posts that would go live while I was on vacation in attempt to stick to the schedule.  I made it a point to write (not necessarily a full blog post) every night from 10-11pm.  Blogging is not always roses and rainbows.  There are difficult times.  You might have to write while on vacation, when you’re sick, when you’re tired, miss a dinner or party.

What happens when you’re not persistent?  Simple you cannot be consistent without being persistent!  Scroll back up and see what happens when you are not consistent.

Patient – Some people hear about blogging and expect traffic, fame, and riches from day 1, but when day 30, 60, 90 have hit and you’ve had only a small uptick in traffic?  Many end up quitting before even starting.  A successful blogger needs to be patient.  I started this blog in July 2007 and it wasn’t until February 2008 that I really felt I was making some progress.  Until then I was positive all the traffic was coming from my mom, girlfriend, and occasionally a few other members of the family.  And why not…in the early days I emailed my mom, dad, brother, sister, and girlfriend after every post and asked them to leave a comment. 🙂 I would end up with 1-2 comments and maybe 5 visits.  Back then that made me pretty happy.

What happens if you are not patient?  I’ve seen it many times over.  Bloggers who are not patient fail in 30 days, 6 months, or a year.  They want a windfall immediately and when it doesn’t happen they quit.  I feel lucky that my blog started to see an uptick after 7 months.  I think I had a fast rise and that was over 8 years ago when the competition in the blogosphere was not nearly as fierce.  Be patient young Padawan, blogging is a marathon not a sprint.

That’s all folks!  Time for me to apply this to my every day life.  I pledge to be consistent, persistent, and patient with my puppy raising and blogging.

How about you guys?  What do you think are important traits for puppy raisers?  bloggers?  Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

Attack of the Puppy Clones!

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Puppy Clone Wars
Puppy Clone Wars

Nope, this isn’t Star Wars and we’re not talking about real puppy clones.  These are just plush puppy clones, but they sure do look like the real thing.  Don’t they?

Will the real Adelle please tilt your head?

The puppy on the left was Adelle’s little play buddy from her first days with us.  We rubbed plush Mini-Adelle all over her litter mates so that Real Adelle would have the scent of her litter mates in her kennel when we worked on her crate training.

We ended up getting plush Maxi-Adelle when we saw her on sale at IKEA.

Luckily Adelle is not as heavy a chewer as Dublin.  Some of Adelle’s plush toys have long since been destroyed, but plush Adelles are still in pretty good shape and living at the house.

How long do your plush dog toys usually survive?

4 Future Benefits Of Crate Training Your Puppy

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Maybe you already started crate training your puppy and have already hit those frustrating first few days or maybe you are just prepping for that new puppy.  Either way when you first start crate training the future benefits of a well-behaved, crate trained puppy are not always apparent.

After crate training my last half dozen puppies I’ve found some future benefits that I didn’t initially think about during those first few restless nights listening to my puppy whining, crying, howling, barking, scratching…you get the picture…

Every puppy is different.  This isn’t a post about how to crate train your puppy.  You can find that here, but instead I’m going to talk about some of the future benefits of crate training a puppy.

Crate Training with Adelle
Crate Training Tip: You may want to remove bedding from the crate. Some dogs like to pull out the stuffing…Adelle.

1. The Crate As Your Puppy’s Den

If you live in Orange County, California then you may have noticed that we’ve had some hot, windy days over the past month.  Linus has noticed.  Linus is my rescue and unfortunately he’s a little more sensitive to outside noises and can get anxious from time to time.  These recent gusts of wind have produced some unusual noises outside the house which has had Linus spooked on occasion.

This is not uncommon for us.  Fireworks, thunder, heavy rain, wind, basically any kind of loud sound outside the house puts Linus on high alert.  Linus has a Thundershirt and it definitely helps although I wouldn’t say it’s the end all be all of curing his anxiety.

However, what helps Linus the most during these stressful times is his crate.  The last few days when I’ve noticed Linus is no where to be found I would look around the house and low and behold he’d be lying there in his crate.

Anytime Linus is stressed he goes back to his crate for comfort.  Linus views his crate as his den, his safe place, his place to kick back and relax.  When you crate train your puppy he will view his crate as his den.

When I first crate trained Linus I never thought it would help him with anxiety, but it does and thank goodness for that.

2. The Crate While Driving

Back when I was in college one of my buddies who worked construction was always reminding me: “Colby, don’t forget.  Safety First!”  Since then I’m always hearing in the back of my head “Safety First”.  When traveling with your puppy it’s definitely a good time to think about both yours and his safety.

While driving around in the car with your puppy there are several safer options then letting your puppy hop around the front or backseat sticking his head out the window.  One option is crating your puppy while riding in the car.  If you’ve crate trained your puppy then they will easily relax in the crate while you drive along your merry old way.  If not, it could be stressful for both you and your pup.

A few reasons why crating could be the way to go when driving with your pup:

  1. If your puppy is loose in the car and you get in an accident this could be deadly for both you and your pup.
  2. If your puppy is loose in the car and sticking his head out the window he could fall out (believe me I’ve seen it happen).
  3. If your puppy is loose in the car he could get injured with a sudden stop.
  4. If your puppy is loose in the car he could distract you and cause you to get in an accident.

As I said crating your puppy is not the only safe way to drive with your puppy, but it is a better option then allowing your puppy to be loose in the car while driving.

3. The Crate For Training

We adopted Stetson after he was dropped from the Guide Dog program and we wanted to continue training him in some aspect so we decided to enroll him in K9 Nosework training.  Nosework training was a great activity for Stetson and helped to work both his mind and body.

K9 Nosework training wasn’t like our group obedience classes.  Dog’s are only allowed to train one at a time.  With 8 dogs in most classes what did we do while the other 7 dogs were training one at a time?  There were 2 options:

  1. You could crate your dog while other dogs trained.
  2. You could put your dog in the car to wait for you.

While both options were okay, crating your dog was preferable especially on warm days when you would not want to leave your dog in the car.

Lucky for us we crate trained Stetson and he had no problem sitting quietly in his crate waiting for his turn.  However, some of the other dogs didn’t do as well in the crates and had to wait outside in the car.

We don’t participate in all of the different canine sports and activities, but I know there are others that probably require your dog to be crated while other dogs compete.  At the America’s Family Pet Expo I noticed dogs being crated while others performed agility, dock diving, and rally.

4. The Crate For Traveling

While we haven’t gone on a ton of trips with our puppies in training we have been on a few.  In general our puppies in training will get access to places other dogs are not allowed among other things, hotel rooms.  One of the benefits of crate training your puppy is when visiting a hotel room you can leave your puppy in his crate and if he was properly crate trained he will be calm and quiet if you need to leave the room.  No need to worry about him tearing up furniture, chewing on the carpet, or having an accident in the room while you’re away.

While your dog may be perfectly trained a new, stressful situation like a hotel room may cause him to act out in some way.  You never really know how a dog will react when in a new environment with different sights, smells, and sounds.  A practically perfect puppy could get anxious and resort to chewing, digging, barking, howling, or whining.  If you have a safe familiar place like your pup’s crate then he will definitely feel more at ease.

The first few days of crate training are probably some of the most difficult times for most puppy raisers.  Sometimes you get lucky and only hear a few whimpers while other times you end up with a “Stetson” and you have to do without sleep for about a month.  Most likely you’re puppy will be somewhere in between.  One thing to remember…well actually 4 things are the future benefits of crate training we mentioned above.  Keep these 4 future benefits in mind when times are tough during those early crate training days.

Good luck with your training!  If you were looking for our short guide on how to crate train your puppy check it out here.

What about you?  Have you realized any future benefits after crate training your puppy?  Tell us about it in the comment section below.

How Can I Get My Dog To Stop Peeing In Her Crate?

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How can I get my puppy to stop peeing in her crate?
How can I get my puppy to stop peeing in her crate?

We often get puppy questions through our blog, email, and social media channels and recently we’ve been receiving the same crate training questions over and over again.  The basic question we’ve been getting is “How Can I Get My Dog To Stop Peeing In Her Crate?”

Before we brought home our first puppy we read several books about how to train puppies.

One of our favorite books that we suggest for any new puppy parent read is Puppies for Dummies. In fact, Puppies for Dummies was the first book I read before bringing Linus home from the Carson Animal Shelter.

We wanted to learn as much as we could about puppies before diving into puppy ownership.

Now 10+ years later we continue to read books about puppies and dog training. It might be a good time to put together a list of our favorite puppy training books…stay tuned.

We rescued Linus from the shelter, fostered dozens of puppies and dogs, raised 11 guide and service dog puppies, and puppy sat countless dogs and puppies.

Maybe we’re not experts, but we do think we know a little more than the average bear.

We get hundreds of questions every month about puppies, dogs, and puppy dog training. 🙂

Over the years we’ve kept the answers in the comment section, but starting this year we’re going to highlight questions and answer it right here on the blog!

Our hope is to build a resource section and help answer some of the most common puppy training questions.

QUICK ACCESS: If you’re having puppy training problems then you should join our Puppy Training Tips email list and get instant access to our library of printable PDFs including our New Puppy Checklist PDF. To get started CLICK HERE.

So without further adieu…

How Can I Get My Dog To Stop Peeing In Her Crate?

Crate Training Dublin
Dublin didn’t have any potty problems during crate training

We hear this question several times a month in it’s different variations.

Maybe your dog is peeing in her crate or maybe your dog is pooping in her crate either way your question is in one way or another:

“What can I do to get my dog to stop having accidents in her crate?”

The original crate training question we received this week is below:

Question

“Hi I am crate training my 9 week boxer puppy. She is peeing and pooing in the crate overnight and then whines to be let out. what should I do if she doesn’t cry when she has to go?”

Answer:

You have to remember that a puppy as young as yours (around 9 weeks of age) probably does not yet have full control of her bladder.

She may not always know when she has to potty, but there are some things you can do in your situation.

Your goal is to not allow your puppy to potty in the crate anymore.  At some point in time she learned that it was okay to potty in the crate.

If she’s having accidents in the crate during the day and at night you need to make sure you reduce the amount of time she spends in the crate and over time incrementally extend the amount of time she spends in her crate.

Lets start off by speculating as to why your puppy is peeing/pooping in her crate.  There could be several reasons why a puppy has an accident while in crate:

  • Crate size is too big.  If you’re crate is too big then your puppy will often times use one side to potty (her bathroom) and the other side to sleep (her bedroom).  A crate should only be large enough for your puppy to stand up and turn around any bigger than that and you might have a few potty accidents. If you’re looking for a crate we recommend the MidWest Life Stages Double Door Crate which has a divider allowing you to adjust the size of your crate as your puppy grows.
  • Before you brought home your puppy she learned to potty in her crate. In general puppies will not potty where they sleep, but there could be reasons why your puppy learned to do this before you brought her home.  If you bought from a pet store (please don’t buy from pet stores as the majority of these puppies come from puppy mills) your puppy probably learned to potty where she sleeps. The same could be true if you purchased from an irresponsible breeder. Responsible breeders will often times start potty training their pups before they go home with their new families. If you adopted, your puppy may have learned to potty in there kennel or other sleeping area. You never really know, but sometime in her past she may have learned to potty in her crate.
  • She has a bladder infection or some kind of health issue. A trip to the veterinarian may be in order. You might want to consider this as an option if your puppy is having unusual potty accidents.

Basic Crate And Potty Training

Make sure you read through these two articles:

Since your puppy is peeing/pooping in the crate overnight without any whining to alert you then you should consider setting your alarm clock 2-3 times spread out through the night, wake up, take your puppy to her potty spot, have her potty, then take her right back to bed.

Another thing you should do to help avoid future puppy potty accidents in crate is thoroughly clean your crate using an enzymatic cleaner like Rocco & Roxie Stain and Odor Eliminator.

Your puppy’s nose is thousands of times more powerful then yours if she can smell the urine in the crate then she might go there again. Moving forward, anytime she has an accident make sure you thoroughly clean the crate again.

If you’re putting blankets or towels in the crate I would consider removing these.  Puppies usually like going potty on soft surfaces as opposed to hard surfaces.

As mentioned earlier make sure you have the right size crate.  If you bought a large crate to allow your puppy to grow into it I would either purchase a smaller, proper sized crate or use a divider to make the crate the correct size.

Keep your puppy on a consistent feeding schedule.  Try to make sure you feed your puppy at the same times every day.  You’ll notice:

  • Consistent Feeding Schedule = Consistent Potty Schedule.

You should start keeping a daily puppy potty schedule to keep track of every time your puppy pees, poops, eats, and drinks water.

You’ll notice that your puppy is very predictable as to when she potties in relation to the times she eats, drinks, plays, etc.

Make sure you feed your puppy at least a couple hours before you put her to bed for the night.

Make sure you take your puppy out to potty (and make sure she goes) right before you put her in her crate for the night.

By the way, we’ve had puppies potty outside then immediately potty again inside the house.  If you are having this problem check out this blog post.

Talk To Your Veterinarian And Local Dog Trainer

It’s always a good idea to speak with your local professionals. If you don’t already have a local veterinarian or dog trainer then you should start doing some research to find some good ones in your area.

Having a good vet and trainer will be a great resource for you and your dog today and into the future.

You should also consider enrolling in a puppy kindergarten which will give you a chance to socialize your puppy, learn basic obedience, and have a professional dog trainer to ask questions.

Not only that, but you’ll find that you may be experiencing similar frustrations with your puppy as others in the group. What’s the saying? Misery loves company. 🙂

It always feels better when you realize that you are not the only one experiencing these puppy training and behavior problems.

QUICK RECOMMENDATION: Real world training like puppy kindergarten is invaluable, but if you’re looking for some solid puppy training foundations then check out Puppies for Dummies (I know we mentioned it earlier, but it’s worth repeating). It’s a good book for learning the basics of raising and training a puppy.

I hope this helps to answer your question: “how can I get my dog to stop peeing in her crate?”

What about everyone else out there?

Have you had any problems with crate training your puppy?

Did your puppy used to potty in her crate?

If so, tell us what you did to solve the problem.

A quick recap of three big takeaways if your puppy is having accidents in her crate:

  1. Don’t overuse your crate. – we are advised to not crate our puppies for more than 3 hours during the day. Overusing your crate can result in your puppy having a pee pee accident in the crate.
  2. Keep your crate clean – Make sure you thoroughly clean all pee and poop accidents. We recommend Rocco & Roxie for removing stain and urine odors.
  3. Keep a schedule – Keep a consistent feeding schedule and you’ll notice a consistent potty schedule. Make sure you write it down!

That’s it folks! Good luck with your puppy training. Let me know if you have any questions.

puppy sitting in his crate with colorful background
How to stop your puppy from peeing in her crate

Puppy In Training TV – Ep2 – Take Your Dog To Work

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Episode 2 – Take Your Dog To Work

Welcome to the second episode of Puppy In Training TV – Take Your Dog To Work.  You’ll notice at the end of the episode we thank our sponsors.  If you’d like to sponsor an episode then please visit our Puppy In Training TV Sponsorship page.

Enjoy this weeks puppy training video!

Take Your Dog To Work Transcription

The Take your Dog To Work Transcription is not nearly as riveting as our video, but just in case for some reason you cannot get the video play properly we offer this written version of Puppy In Training TV Episode 2.

Hey Everyone, Colby and Dublin here at the Ascolta Training Headquarters.  Welcome to episode 2 of Puppy In Training TV.

(Titles Roll): Puppy In Training TV Starring Dublin.  With Linus Aussie Mix Rescue.  Also Colby The Human.  And Stetson Career Changed Guide Dog.  Episode 2 – Take Your Dog To Work.

Oh hey guys, Colby here just some work done here at the office.  Welcome to episode 2 – Take Your Dog To Work.

As many of you already know Take Your Dog To Work Day was a few months ago, but if you’ve been following us on Facebook then you’ll know that we brought Reggie, another GDA puppy to work with us on that day.

Lucky for us, our company, Ascolta allows us to bring our puppies to work with us every day as a part of their guide dog puppy training.

As Guide Dog puppy raisers it’s our job to expose our puppies to different situations…such as an office environment like we have at Ascolta.

Going to the office is great training for Dublin and he spends nearly the entire day with me doing the same things I do including:

  1. Taking a small break in the break room.
  2. Sitting quietly next to me while I make a copy on the copy machine.
  3. And patiently waiting by my feet while I’m in the middle of a sales meeting.

At Ascolta we offer technical training to corporate students across the world using cutting edge technology such as this Cisco TelePresence training classroom.  Ascolta is based out of Irvine, California and on this day I’m showing Sharlene, our sales rep in Denver, Colorado, Dublin our latest Puppy In Training.

We bring our Guide Dog puppies home at 7 to 8 weeks of age and during those first few weeks I try to do my best to make sure my puppy has an easy time getting adjusted to his new home environment.  I also have two dogs at home, Stetson and Linus and when I first brought Dublin home I made sure the adjustment period went a little easier by introducing him slowly to his two, new, big brothers.

We begin teaching the basics from day 1 and

  1. One of the first things I did when I brought Dublin home was show him the door he needs to go to when it’s time to go potty.  Next I took Dublin over to the spot where he’s supposed to go potty and I told him to “Get Busy” which is the command we give to let our puppy know it’s time to relieve himself.
  2. Another basic we started teaching Dublin from the very beginning was to sit and wait patiently for his food…as soon as we said “OK” …he was allowed to eat.
  3. You may recall from Dublin’s first night that he whined a little bit, but overall he did a great job.  Crate Training is another basic we began teaching Dublin starting his first night at home.  We tell him to first “Kennel” which lets them know they’re supposed to go into their kennel and then once we open the kennel they’re not supposed to come out until we tell them “OK”.

Thanks for joining us for our second episode of Puppy In Training TV.  We’d love to hear about your first few weeks of puppy training.  So if you have a chance, tell us your story in the comment section below.  And as always don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.  We’ll see you later and talk to you soon.

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A special thanks to Ascolta and the Ascolta employees for sponsoring this episode.  If you’re looking for technical training visit www.ascolta.com.

If you’d like to sponsor an episode of Puppy In Training TV visit PuppyInTraining.com.

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