Adopted a Puppy.. Alittle Trainng Advice/ Help Please

So last Saturday i adopted a 11 week old Cairn Terrer, Terrier mix, with what i think may be a Chihuahua, from a shelter. So i need alittle help with training.

We finally just go him to go to the bathroom on those blue pads which is nice.( I don't have a back yard for another month and cant take him outfront because he doesn't have all his shots yet.)

Here's my problem, crate training. i have no idea how to go about it. i have a small cage the size Petco recommended for crate training. when i put him in at night he cries for 5 minutes max and then goes to sleep. then he wakes up an hour later and cries some more. i cant stop the crying. and i have people that live above and below me, so Im trying to be courteous. Any recommendations? am i going about this all wrong?

The first night we didn't have a crate and he slept in our bed all night with out waking up so i doubt he has to go the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Our other problem is i left him in the crate for 30 minutes when i had to go get something, the girl below me said that he cried the whole time i was gone.

And he chews on everything

I need some help.

as long as he's in his crate, he won't relieve himself. don't give in to the crying, otherwise he'll learn that if he cries, you'll come rescue him. keep using the crate. you'll be glad later. we crate trained both our dogs and now they don't even use it, even if we have to leave them at home for an extended period of time. we've left them at home on their own for over 10hrs once and no accidents. they're absolutely great! i'm anti pee pads 'cause later on down the line, he might go where the pee pads once were thinking it's ok to go there. take him out. it's ok even though he doesn't have his shots. just limit his outdoor activities until then. it might help if you give him his favorite toy in the crate with him. that's what we did w/ moby. he used to cry, too.

get him a bunch of chew toys. positive reinforcements if/when he plays w/ his toys instead of everything else.

most of all, talk to your neighbors and let them know that you're working with his crate training, that he may cry here and there. they may appreciate it, they may not care, but it can't hurt. they may be more understanding.

by the way, don't feel bad for putting your pup in the crate. he'll grow to love it as his own space and safe haven.

Crying is part of the deal for first few weeks. You need to be tough and ask your neighbors for a little tollerance.

Ease into things. Keep things light and happy. Never get mad. And, don't let the puppy win. If he cries to get out of the crate to go potty, let him out. If he cries for any other reason, tell him to be quite once in a nice manner and then ignore him and DO NOT open that crate until he is quiet.

A great book is Ian Dunbar's "Before and After getting your puppy".

I feel your pain on the crate. I tried it for a week, which eneded up with the same situation as you. I gave in and he slept in my bed. Problem solved. Then he grew to about 100 lbs. Problem again. Had to get him a nice bed next to mine. He got used it quickly and now all he wants in his bed, all the time. haha. But like people said earlier, the crying will stop. And i strongly recopmmened not doing the weewee pads. They are a hard habit to break. Esp for small dogs that dont pee alot. Easy clean up but a very bad habit for the dog and from my experience they will start peeing all over eventually

I can give some insite on both the pee pads and the crate, as we've tried both with our two dogs.

For the sleeping.. I have no advice on the crate. Our dogs have slept in our beds since day 1.

We never crated our first dog. We used pee pads to potty train him and it did actually work. He was much easier to potty train than his sister and still, to this day, doesn't have accidents. He did chew up anything and everything though. When we got a second dog, we tried the pee pads again. It really didn't work with her at all. She used them, but would also go on the carpet. Eventually she wouldn't go pee outside at all and would only go inside on the pads or the floor. It was after that started that we asked around about crates. We started crating them both at this point while we were at work and have never had a problem since. They don't seem to mind their crates and will go into it while we're at work without an issue. I wish I would have listened and tried them when our first dog was a puppy, instead of trying to introduce them later in their lives.

I wouldn't recommend the pee pads. While it worked for our first dog, I suspect that might have just been the luck of the draw. It was a nightmare with our second. You can definitely take your puppy outside to go to the bathroom. As Joe said, just limit the outside time until the dog is fully vaccinated.

Good luck and congrats on the new addition!

so he uses the pee pads, which i dont like either. but he knows were hes going. now with that being said can i break him in a month from pee pads when im out of this appt.?

Last night he went into the crate with no problems, fell asleep around 10 and around 4:30-5 started whining. but he didn't have to pee he wanted to play. I think hes doing pretty good, but after i puled him out of the crate he wouldnt go back to sleep in there.

Try covering the crate with a blanket at night. this really helped with my dogs. they could not see or here me if i got up. then take him straight to where u want him to potty and tell him to go and then good dog. this worked really well with my Golden's.

On the subject of crates.. do those of you with two dogs crate them together or apart? We've always crated them apart, though side by side. Our older dog probably prefers this, but the younger one is extremely attached to her brother and would love to be together. Thoughts?

Our pups are crate trained. The have seperate crates while they will also share a crate. Its great to be able to put them in their crates when we want. If the cleaning people are coming to our house. If we have someone over who is uncomfortable with dogs. If we visit someone who is uncomfortable with dogs.