[d81r]

I’ll be bringing home an 8.5 week old standard poodle this weekend. Breeder has not started any crate training.
Where do I start from Day 1? How often do I take her outside to her potty area? What about overnight? So I keep the same intervals or try to stretch it out?
Thank you!

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Welcome.

I use Dr. Ian Dunbar's method and Peggy (my first purebred poodle) responded especially beautifully. She was fully housebroken within weeks, and did only a single poop inside (which was 100% our fault).

Since you've got a couple of days, I recommend giving this a full read:

https://www.dogstardaily.com/files/downloads/AFTER_You_Get_Your_Puppy.pdf

You can also purchase it in combination with his "Before" book:

Before and After Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog: Dunbar, Dr. Ian: 8601200633603: Amazon.com: Books

Before and After Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog [Dunbar, Dr. Ian] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Before and After Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog

www.amazon.com

I've read it cover to cover before bringing home each new dog, and I learn something new each time. It really is best to choose one method and stick to it carefully. Consistency is key.

Can't wait to hear all about your new little girl!

 

[PeggyTheParti]

(I'm not sure if Dunbar covers this, but we proactively woke Peggy up each night to potty, starting at about 3am and then slowly pushing it back every few days. We never gave her a chance to wake us up, and it's really paid off.)

 

[old-boots]

(I'm not sure if Dunbar covers this, but we proactively woke Peggy up each night to potty, starting at about 3am and then slowly pushing it back every few days. We never gave her a chance to wake us up, and it's really paid off.)

When you pushed it back did you move more towards midnight or morning? Asking since my pup is being born in a few days and I’m in full preparing mode!

 

[PeggyTheParti]

When you pushed it back did you move more towards midnight or morning? Asking since my pup is being born in a few days and I’m in full preparing mode!

We slowly pushed her wake-up time towards morning.

At first she had to urgently potty when we'd let her out, but very quickly she started skewing more towards sleepy and slightly confused. So that was our signal to push it a half hour or so. By the time we got to around a 6am wake-up, she was seriously confused why we were waking her and had to be coaxed from her crate. So at that point we considered her able to sleep through the night and let her go until 8. Now she'll happily sleep until 10am.

The key is to keep the nighttime potties dark and quiet, with only soft praise. Otherwise you're signalling it's party time and that'll make it hard for puppy to go back to sleep.

We also sometimes would sit next to the crate after until her eyes closed, or let her fall back asleep on the floor next to us and carefully place her inside. But she responded well to crate training and this was only necessary for a week or so.