How To Crate & House Train Your Purebred AKC Lab Puppy

How often will my puppy want to go poop or pee?   

Every pup is different and every owner's lifestyle is different.  In general here is what to expect. 

If someone is staying at home:   

1) When released from crate - poop & pee   

2) After they've eaten, usually within 15-20 minutes later.  When I used to train pups at my house, I would release the pups and feed them at the same time, allowing them to eat, go poop/pee, and play outside for 1 hour before bringing them back inside.   

3) If being house trained throughout the day, usually 1-2 pees during the day time and usually 1 poop usually around mid afternoon   

4)  After they eat their dinner   

5)  Before bed      

If you are crating during the day time:   

1) When released from crate - poop & pee   

2) After they've eaten, usually within 15-20 minutes later When I used to train pups at my house, I would release the pups and feed them at the same time, allowing them to eat, go poop/pee, and play outside for 1 hour before bringing them back inside.   

3) If being crated they will usually pee in their crate/diaper the first week or so but most pups are successful at holding their poop because they are immobile.  Exercise stimulates their poop.     

4)  As soon as you get home, release them from their crate to poop outside.   

5)  After they eat their dinner   

6)  Before bed  TIPS - if leaving to go work, do not leave them in a playpen, it's better to crate them.  They will poop/pee in the playpen, setting you back on house training. Diapers work great for both crate & house training. You can buy a 3 pack of washable, very durable/high soak diapers on Amazon for around $15 that work great to psychologically detour them from peeing their crates (they don't like the pee against their skin in the diaper).        

Crate Training your Purebred AKC Lab Puppy   

Your pup will likely be very sedentary/inhibited for the first few days.  By day 4 they will start to get used to their new home and become their self again.   Do NOT crate them for the first 3 days, it's just too much for them to take. Wait till day 4.   Almost all pups carry coccidia in their intestines.  They become immune to it.  However, under high stress, coccidia multiplies and can cause diarrhea - usually looks like mucous.  If there is blood in their stool, it's likely giardia which they cannot overcome on their own at this stage.  Although it's not always avoidable, most often, you can avoid this by NOT crating them until they've adjusted to their new home.   Instead of crating them, put down some training pads on your floor (if carpet put a towel under the training pads in case their is a leak through situation).  Using their collar, tie the pup to your bed so that they can only move around about 1 foot.  Usually around 1am they will start to whimper because they have to go pee/poop.  Untie your pup, bring them outside to go poop/pee.  By day 4 you can start the overnight crating process.   You can also use a playpen instead of tying to a bed.      

How to Crate Train Purebred AKC Lab Puppy   

Buy a double door crate with divider panel for your Mini Labradoodle Puppy.  Generally a 30" works for most pups.  Set a routine you can stick to.  Try to put your pup to bed when you go to bed so that it's nice & quiet, encouraging sleep.  Select a good location.  If you have a laundry room with a vent, shut the door and turn on the vent.  Create white noise.  Use a floor fan in your room and in the pups room.  Do not point the fan at you or the pup.  Rather, point the fan at the direction the noise would come from.  In your room, point the fan away from you in the direction of the pup.  The fan will break up the sound wave.  In the pup’s room, point the fan in your direction.  

Keep in mind that if you wake up in the night to go to the bathroom, any noise you make may wake up the pup.  Once they wake up, it's very difficult for your pup to hold their bowels.  Take your pup outside to go poop/pee.  Some pups take longer than others.  If your pup doesn't poop right away, you may have to take him for a walk to stimulate their bowels.  Take your pup back to the same place they last pooped.  Smelling their old poop often stimulates them to "go".  If your pup does not go poop before bed, you will likely wake up to a soiled crate.  

The first few nights are hardest but it gets easier as they settle into a routine.  When your pup goes poop/pee, be sure to praise and reward them with a tasty piece of chicken.  Place a training pad inside the crate.  Insert pup.  Walk away.  Do not cater to your pup no matter what.  If you cater to them, they have just trained you to come with their crying.      Generally it takes about 1 week for your pup to realize that crying does not work.  

Night 1 expect your pup to cry for 1-2 hours, gradually they will reduce the length of their crying.  

By about night 6-7 your pup might only cry for 5 minutes.  

By week 2, they usually just go right to sleep.  If you are having difficulty crate training your Mini Labradoodle Puppy. If you are having a hard time crate training your pup in the sense that they are pooping before bed but pooping again overnight and it's been 10 or more days from starting crate training, go down to feeding your pup just once a day in the morning until they are several weeks older.  Sometimes pups just have a hard time adjusting their bowels.  The older they get, the easier it gets.  You can try going back to 2 feedings per day after you've had clean crates overnight for 2 weeks in a row.      

When to stop crating your Purebred AKC Lab Puppy.   

When you are away I recommend always crate them.  Accidents happen.  Dogs have started house fires trying to counter surf.  Usually around 2-2.5 years old, you can allow them to freely run about the house when you are home as they are no longer interested in all the puppy follies.  Until then, teething, chewing, and house training can really put you at odds with your new family member if you are not controlling their environment.  We highly recommend using a playpen and crate combination when you cannot supervise when you are home.  The best idea is to crate them overnight and while you are away no matter how old they get.

Pro Training Tip for Crate & House Training:

#1)  On your pup's 1st Poop or Pee, grab 2 large baggies and 2 paper towels, scoop up their poop, and wipe up their pee with separate paper towels.  Place them in the freezer.  As you start to train your pup, take out the baggies of poop & pee, take your pup outside, let them smell the baggies and say "go pee", use a clicker, be sure to reward them when they do their business.  

#2)  if you are having trouble getting your pup to go pee on command, be sure to use Pro Tip #1 and offer your pup a small drink of water.  For whatever reason, often times, drinking a little water, stimulates them to want to pee within a minute of drinking.  

The Method We Used to House Train our Purebred AKC Lab Puppies:   

On days when you are home all day or home for several hours, follow this routine.   

1) Buy a 30-36" tall playpen with door. Do NOT place puppy pads inside.  If you have travertine or porous floors, I highly recommend using diapers or belly wraps.  Reason being is once pee gets into porous surfaces, the only way to rid the smell permanently is with bleach and it will ruin travertine or natural stone.  Diapers & Belly wraps catch the pee, are reusable, and also very effective psychologically as pup's don't like the feeling of having their pee next to their skin.   

2) Place a few toys to keep you pup busy, especially interactive toys such as a Kong with a bit of honey or peanut butter on the inside, a bully stick, or chicken jerky in the pet section from Costco. They will wear their self out trying to lick it clean (be careful not too add something unnatural with preservatives or too many ingredients as this could make your pup get diarrhea or loose stool, setting you back on house training.   

3) Place your pup in the playpen. If you have a dog door, you can open the door of the playpen and butt it against the dog door. If you don't have a dog door you need to determine how you want your pup to notify you to go outside. I recommend a door jingle.   

4) Every hour on the hour take your pup outside to do their business saying "go pee". When they go pee or poo, reward them with a piece of their kibble (take some out from their meals to avoid over feeding) or natural treat such as dried liver treats. In addition to rewarding them with a food treat, give them 3-5 minutes of playtime outside of the playpen with your family, limiting them to the same room as their play pen. For every successive pee/poo outside, increase the playtime by 2 minutes so that by the end of the 2nd week, there is no time to even place them back in the playpen. The concept is that the more they poop/pee outside, the more they become a trusted companion in your home. Your dog will pick up on this concept over time.     

NOTES/TIPS: If you are using a door jingle, place a treat on the door jingle bells. Next show your pup the treat - bring your pup closer to the door jingle. They will usually smell it and try to get at the treat, ringing the jingle. Immediately praise your pup and reward them with a treat. Or you can take your pups paw and hit the jingle before going outside and use the words "outside" so they associate "outside" with going outside and hitting the bells. If you have travertine or porous tile/floors, be sure to buy belly bands for boys and diapers for girls, so they don't have any pee accidents (most common accidents are pee accidents). Once they pee on porous surfaces, it's very difficult to remove the smell without ruining the floor surface. Once they have a smell of their own pee on the floor, they will think "oh this is where I go pee", and it will be harder to house break them.    

This concludes your comprehensive guide to House, Crate, and Basic Obedience Training brought to you by The Home of The World's 1st Low Shedding Labrador Retriever. Purebred AKCC Lab Puppies for Sale! We are the BEST Purebred Labrador Retriever Puppy Breeder in the USA. Yellow & White, English & American Pure Breed Low Shedding Lab Puppies for Sale in Gilbert, AZ