Crate training my lab puppy (Gus)

[Beagle1]

I’ll give you my take having raised one bird dog puppy and getting ready to raise a second. So obviously I’m no expert. But other bird dog trainers I look up to gave me the same advice.

Sounds like you’re doing great with your daytime crate training! As for the nighttime crying, I would move his crate into the mudroom or the garage at night. Just get up every 2.5 hours and let him out. He’s gonna bark and scream and cry, but he has to learn that that doesn’t do any good. If you ignore him, he will settle in to a routine and stop doing that if he doesn’t get reinforcement.

But if you get up every time he starts making noise and give him the attention he’s looking for that just reinforces the idea that crying and making noise makes you appear. So inadvertently you can train him to cry at night. As difficult as it can be, it’s better to set the ground rules early that sleeping in the crate at night is his solo time (other than potty breaks, of course).

It’s a necessity for puppies to be extremely adorable……….. otherwise they’d never survive to adulthood lol.

But once you get past this stage and hunting this fall, it’ll all be worth it!

This is it. You train the dog or the dog trains you.

 

[*zap*]

May not be ready to stay locked in all night. Every dog is different. Best would be crate him and let him out BEFORE he starts noise making. Lengthen the time in over time.
My dog sleeps where he wants and knows what quiet means, mostly. He is almost 4yr.
Start obedience training now.
Down, come and place. No pulling if you say 'stay close'.

 

[K9kodi]

Here’s the best advice I can give you since I nor anyone else is w your pup.
Look at the behavior the dog is showing, if it’s behavior you want, give them what they want, if it’s non desirable behavior, at this age, practice negative punishment and remove what it is they want.
Formal obedience training as in longer in duration, more complex and higher expectations, is still a little ways off. Behavior shaping now so formal obedience later is easier is the way to go.

When training dogs I use behavior modification as b.f skinner implies the 4 quadrants of behavior modification. At the age your puppy is at, I would focus more on the negative punishment, positive reward aspect. The dog will show you when they are ready for positive punishment or negative reward.

In anything you do at this age look at the behavior and decide if it’s desirable or not.

I.e whining for attention in crate, if it’s desirable, go pay atttention to the dog and give them what they want, it will reinforce said behavior and make it solidified. If it’s not desirable, ignore it till you get the behavior you want, then reinforce the behavior you want. That’s all shaping is, and more grossly, dog training generally.

Also, the younger the dog the shorter opportunity window you have to reward or correct the dog.

I.e the old wivestale about rubbing your dogs nose in their piss when you come home from work.
People thought it was working bc when they come home if there is piss they figured the dog knew better and would hide. Coincidently: the behavior of actually pissing was so long ago, the dog doesn’t connect the act of punishment w the behavior. The dog was hiding bc they knew if there was piss on the floor when dad came home something bad would happen, they can’t connect the actual behavior of pisskng in the house to the correction. Same goes for rewarding. If your dog sits and you walk away and they follow you barking so you give them a treat, they are being rewarded for barking and following not the sit.

Just immediately reward the behaviors you want and ignore the ones you don’tDesire and you’ll be well on your way.