Is 6 weeks to young to crate train

Hi all the crate i ordered for lola turned up today and i was wondering if 6 weeks was too young to leave her in it over night say from say midnite to 5am.

She has been using it all day as her bed and seems nice and snug i put an old jumper of mine in there to give her a bit of comfort.

I have never used a crate with my other pups in the past but thought i would try and avoid those early morning chewing sessions she seems to get lol.

Also not sure if i should put paper at one end or not, as i don't want her to learn that the crate is where she goes to toilet.

Many thanks Lola and Pete.

I thought that 6 weeks was too young to leave her mother??

I brought Ty home at 9 weeks old and he went into his crate from the first night. I didn't put paper in there at all. I find his crate a god send cos it stops any chewing and he knows if we're going out he goes straight in.

6 weeks is a little young for a pup. Was there a reason the breeder let her go so young? You could try it but don't force her in there and be prepared for accidents to happen because she really doesn't have much bladder control at that age. Also make sure she has used the bathroom right before she goes in.

@jon The ideal age to leave mom is 8weeks but sometimes things happen and it cant be helped.

As for crating too young, i wouldnt think so just make it fun for her, toys and reward when she goes in etc it is like there own little space to go sleep in, when she gets used to it she will love it! .. if you can try and keep her paper to go the toilet from inside her cage because otherwise she will be been told yes lola its ok to pee and poop in your bed etc, saying that tho for the first few wks with skye we did paper one side encase of accidents
Just make sure as she is so young, she pees and poops before going in for the night, its 99% certain that for the first few weeks she will have a few accidents but its part of the learning process
Skye was in her crate from 8wks old and has been ever since.

Hi i agree 6 weeks is too young to leave her mother and litter mates, but when we went to view her the mother wasnt there just the father, we was told the mother was their daughters and she stopped producing milk so they took on the litter and hand reared them.

Also when we was told that they hadnt been wormed and told what they had been feeding them, we decided to take her then and there as we felt we could give her more care and attention.

We took her to our vet's first thing monday and she had a full check over and worm treatment and is now feeding on James wellbeloved puppy kibble.

Thanks for the advice on your experience with Ty and he's crate.

Hi Kelly she has already going in and out of the crate already, only took an hour to get her used to it, gave me a bit of back ache tho as i had to crawl in myself to tempt her in at first.

I havent tried closing the door yet tho.

I suppose the worst thing that can happen is i have todo an early moring wash.

aww haha, i did that with my skye, i made it fun for her .. i would play with her and then put her toy in and she would go fetch it then id play some more and then put it in again and with her been a pup she got tired pretty easily and just found the bed too comfy and had a snooze, i left the door open like yourself untill she fell asleep then when she woke up i would open it and leave it open so she could come and go as she pleased .. it can be a longish process a few weeks to get her actually used to it etc and she will more than likely cry during the night .. but i found with skye covering the crate over with a blanket so that she couldnt see out and it was nice and dark calmed her down and she would sleep through the night longer.

staffy-lover89 wrote:@jon The ideal age to leave mom is 8weeks but sometimes things happen and it cant be helped.

Sorry, that wasn't a dig in anyway but said more as a question. Obviously Lola has left her mother early for a reason.

Good luck with the crate. I'm sure she'll be fine

Jon wrote:

staffy-lover89 wrote:@jon The ideal age to leave mom is 8weeks but sometimes things happen and it cant be helped.

Sorry, that wasn't a dig in anyway but said more as a question. Obviously Lola has left her mother early for a reason.

Good luck with the crate. I'm sure she'll be fine

Oh no dont worry i didnt take it as one lol, was just saying the ideal age

see this link from the website, we crated billy when we first got him, there was a few night when he cried but we ignored it. We had one half for the toilet with newspapers and one half snug for is bed, good luck

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/cratetraining.html

Both mine came home at 8 weeks old,Meg was crate trained so had no issues with her at all,no crying or anything.......

Tyler wasn't crate trained but we found it really easy,we fed him in there,door open,placed toys in there,when he went in there we gave treats etc,if he went to sleep on the floor we gently picked him up and placed him in his crate.He eventually went in there on his own and we waited for him to go to sleep before closing the door.

Before putting him in his crate we always made sure he went to the toilet so knew he wasn't crying to go to the toilet.At night we took the crate upstairs and placed it by the side of our bed just so we could hear him if he woke and needed to go to the toilet,no words spoken,kept everything very low key and calm.If he cried before going back to sleep I just used say sssssshhhhhhhhh, and put a hand down for reassurance.

Both mine love there crates,take anything they consider to be valuable in there,so when anything goes missing first place we look is the dogs crates lol.

Tyler starts pacing at around 10.30pm because he wants to go to bed lol,he won't settle anywhere but in his crate.

When we first got Vlad at 8 weeks, we put him in a play pen. Puppies are still very smart and he never peed in his bed... he would go (and this was only a few times) in the opposite corner from his bed in the playpen. A few weeks ago we started using a crate and he loves it. He just became too big for the playpen and began to push it around the room He sees these spaces (we think) as his, and so he is very happy to go to them. We purchased the playpen from the pet supply shop and is a fold up so we can put it away. We still have it so that in a couple of years when we're ready for a new puppy (Yep, another staff) it's ready to go again! After a few minutes of cuddles, running around and more cuddles, he takes himself off to his crate and generally between 9:30 and 10pm, he's snoring! Sleeps until usually about 7-7.30am

P&R&Lola wrote:Hi i agree 6 weeks is too young to leave her mother and litter mates, but when we went to view her the mother wasnt there just the father, we was told the mother was their daughters and she stopped producing milk so they took on the litter and hand reared them.

I've heard this so many times - it's basically an excuse to get rid of the pups early so that they don't have to spend any money on food for them! Even if the bitch had stopped producing milk it wouldn't matter because they would be weaned! They should at least have been kept with their siblings for another week minimum.

Ah, well. Can't turn back the clock. Crate training's fine for a pup of any age & will help it to feel safe & comfortable. It'll also give you peace of mind.

Thanks for all the advice everyone she manage to sleep from 12 till 5 am last night with only a couple of mins crying when she noticed the door was closed.

Im so pleased she took to the crate the way she has.

I had Vinnie at 6 and a half weeks only cause his mum had very bad mastitus and they nearly lost her. Vinnie had been used to the crate as all pups were sleeping in there, so I had no problem only first few nights when he only cried to tell me he wanted a wee!! Up til now nearly 6 months old no problems at all

Jon wrote:I thought that 6 weeks was too young to leave her mother??

I brought Ty home at 9 weeks old and he went into his crate from the first night. I didn't put paper in there at all. I find his crate a god send cos it stops any chewing and he knows if we're going out he goes straight in.

6 weeks is really young to leave her momma, i think crate training should be fine keep the crate close to you with lots of toys, the only reason why i say lots of toys is so ur pup can snuggle to keep warm. i was a sucker when i got my pup and she slept on my neck for a month. (pups usually like to lie on top of each other to keep warm)

Caryll wrote:

P&R&Lola wrote:Hi i agree 6 weeks is too young to leave her mother and litter mates, but when we went to view her the mother wasnt there just the father, we was told the mother was their daughters and she stopped producing milk so they took on the litter and hand reared them.

I've heard this so many times - it's basically an excuse to get rid of the pups early so that they don't have to spend any money on food for them! Even if the bitch had stopped producing milk it wouldn't matter because they would be weaned! They should at least have been kept with their siblings for another week minimum.

Ah, well. Can't turn back the clock. Crate training's fine for a pup of any age & will help it to feel safe & comfortable. It'll also give you peace of mind.

Have to agree here, they should be fully weaned at 6 weeks and not feeding off mum anyway. They are missing out on 2 weeks of learning social skills, which mum would hopefully teach them. We did have a pup here at 6 weeks from a bitch we bred, she was the
only one that survived and was running rings round her mum, .........brought her here and her grandma took over the teaching Took 5 mins to teach her some manners

I put paper at one end of the crate and put a soft toy for her to cuddle up with in her bed. Ebony had one from being a couple of days old and brought it with her, she dragged it around everywhere with her. Dread to think what she would have done to littermates.
I can smell the puppy breath from here ........ lovely

btw, being so young when she was seperated from her littermates, Lola may take a little extra time and training when it comes to boundrys and nipping etc. she would normaly learn this stuff from experience with mom and siblings, so just be patient. you'll do fine