Crates

When I first got Elli I planned on crate training her since I had heard it's a good idea. I got her a crate, guessing which size would be best. There were some things I loved about the crate and there were some things that didn't go according to plan.

I put the crate in the laundry room on the main floor of my house. This was the room Elli would sleep in, or be locked into when everyone was out. I only kept Elli in her crate at night. I heard that you really should put your dog in their during the day as well when you're home to better train them. But, whenever I tried to put her in if I was home she would cry and scratch to get out. So I let her out. I wanted her with me as much as possible.

Having Elli in her crate through the night worked great in that she never had an accident during the night. It was also reassuring to know exactly where she was, and more importantly that she wasn't getting into trouble. I left a nightlight on in her room, and closed the door only part-way.

There were a couple times when she cried a bit at first, but for the most part she slept quietly through the night.

Well, that is until a family member of mine started to go in to see her throughout the night. You're supposed to ignore her cries as you would a child and the dog will settle down again. Or, if the dog really does have to go out, you're supposed to just bring the dog right out and right back in again. Nighttime isn't for playing. But, you can't always control what family members decide to do.

Once Elli learned that she would get attention if she caused a fuss she began getting louder and doing it nightly. This was frustrating for me. Elli was my dog but people weren't treating her how I wanted them to in terms of training.

Eventually the crate moved up into my bedroom because we were painting the laundry room so Elli couldn't be in there anymore. Of course, once in my bedroom Elli did not settle into her crate and I couldn't resist having a cute cuddly puppy snuggling me all night. So that was the end of her official crate training.

I still keep her crate in my room with the door propped open. And, on the rare occasion Elli will go in there to sleep.

Overall I'm glad I did the crate training, although there are some things I would do differently next time. I think I would start the crate in my bedroom right from the beginning so that I could have more control over who interrupts her during the night. I might also do more daytime training, even though I'm still not sure how I would do that.