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Training Your New Puppy By Using the Metal Cage Method

Our next beagle was easier to train because we were able to acquire a metal cage through the pet shop where we purchased our beagle. Back then, you see, the more popular chains like PetSmart or a Pet Mountain were not yet available whereas small pet shops were. The metal cage we got had a metal pan on the bottom very much like the "Petmate Home-Training Wire Dog Kennel" seen here. Only thing is... the bottom of the cage rested on the floor, so that the puppy stepped in his own feces... again a mess. To correct this we placed two wooden beams underneath two sides of the cage so that the metal pan lay on the floor and was several inches lower than the wire cage itself. I thought we had the problem solved... except for one small detail... He hated being couped up inside of that cage and whined and cried the whole time. When I called the pet shop the owner said not to take him out unless he was quiet for at least 2 minutes (which is a big falacy, by the way, because a dog's memory can last longer than that). I did try it, however, and got hell from my family because his crying kept us all up.

Creating a Separate Living Environment

Enter the super mom. I finally realized that the only way to train a puppy is not to listen to any of the traditional methods and developed my own. Now, the method I am about to suggest to you may not work for everyone because it requires some work on the trainer's part. But if you are willing to heed my advice, I can almost guarantee that you will have a fully housebroken puppy inside of 1 week. In less time, depending of course upon your temperment as well as the puppy's. Here you will be creating a separate living space for your new puppy.

First, create a small but separate living environnment for your new puppy. The smaller the better because puppies like to snuggle when they sleep. Then line the bottom with something soft and fuzzy like a piece of rug, dog pad or you can even use a blanket or a towel. You can use something as simple as a cardboard box or you can get decorative and buy something like the "Home Zone Dog Crate" pictured above or you can choose an open style like the Midwest Heritage Pet Enclosure" see below. Styles like these not only look like a pieces of furniture... they are and will blend into any room decor.

Next, Place that environment near to or directly next to wherever you sleep or where you spend most of your time. It can be your bedroom, living room, kitchen or your family den, etc. Just remember that this will not be the place you will be using to potty train your puppy but merely the place where your puppy will go to when inactive. This is his special place. A sanctuary if you will. The place he will retun to when he wants to sleep, rest, nap, or hang out, for example. This is his living quarters, so to speak, and will not be the place where puppy pees or poops---get it! And if he gets it as well, he will keep it clean automatically. Enclosures like the ones shown here also have other purposes. Besides the obvious like using it as an endtable or nightstand, special enclosures like these can also be used to keep your new puppy safe and separate from young children or from the other pets in your home, if you have other pets.

Giving Your New Puppy a Direction

Okay, now that you have set up puppy's living space you will now have to give your new puppy new directions. You have to to assign a place for it to do its business. So here is a simple solution: Go to any grocery store or hardware store and purhase a thin all-purpose laundry clothesline (approx. 1/4 inch in diameter) or something similar. I choose a thin laundry rope at the time because it is light enough for a puppy and won't interfer with his movements... or yours. It was also redily available to me, because back then, we actually put our cloths outside to dry. Not all of us had an electric dryer in those days. I mean, I am talking about the dark ages here, folks. Anyway, cut off a piece, oh, about 6 feet in length. Longer if need be because you want to allow for your body movements as well as puppy's while both of you are sleeping. Do not make it any longer than 10 or 12 feet in lenth, however as this will prove self defeating. In other words, this is not meant to ensnarl or entagle but should be free flowing.

Then, do the following right before you go to sleep: Tie one end to the puppy's collar and tie the other end around your own hand. Why? because as soon as the puppy begins to stir, you will have approximately 30 seconds to get him either to his cage to evacuate or outside if the weather permits. If you don't believe me, just sit back and observe your new beagle puppy. As soon as they wake up, they will take a few steps, stetch their legs, or perhaps they might shake their head, and if left to their own natural devices pee within 20 or 30 steps from where they had been sleeping. The reason for this behavior is rather simple: While in the kennel or pet shop, they were kept inside of a small space and because of this, they will not go far in order to relieve themselves. All of its prior behavior will have to be undone and it will be up to you to retrain your puppy so that it can adjust to its newer environment. That means you will not have any time to get dressed... so forget about changing your cloths, going to the bathroom or even putting on your shoes. When puppy stirs he must be taken to his place so that he can do his business. That means you might have to lift your puppy up and actually carry him. (He will not pee in your hands) for example, so don't worry about picking puppy up. The idea here is to train your new puppy to wake up and then to seek the out of doors or the place you have assigned to him. At this stage you will not be training him to hold it. That is a separate phase and will happen over time. But for now, we just want to show him where he should go. We are giving him a direction and nothing more.

Sound drastic... well, maybe it is, but with each and every passing day, as puppy's muscles develop he will be able to hold it for longer and longer periods of time. In a practical sense, it really takes a puppy about 6 month to develop good muscle tone. So your patience will be needed as urinary accidents are bound to occur; especially if YOUR timing is off.

Timing is Everything

Now, so far we have been talking about urination. So let's move onto pooping. Puppies as well as older dogs will develop their own little ritual for this; but very rarely will a small puppy wake up and then poop. More than likely they will always urinate first. Depending of course upon your feeding times, puppies will poop either before their next meal or directly after eating. Watch and observe your puppy and then get into the habit of taking your puppy to the place you have assigned to it during those periods of time when he is most likely to relieve himself. To speed up this process, I would also suggest that you get into the habit of taking your new puppy outside prior to feeding him; and spend at least 15-20 outside. If puppy does not poop, then repeat this process as soon as he has eaten. In a short period of time, you will find his pooping time.

More than likely pooping accidents will happen because you will probably be experimenting with different puppy foods during the course of this time. And like humans, some puppies, and yes, even adult dogs will get diarrhea if their diet is not well suited to their individual body. Some may even develop a case of diarrhea just by changing from one kind of food or from one manufacturer to another. In other words, if you using a puppy lamb and rice from one company and then switch to another brand, you just might find that your puppy cannot adjust. It is all so strange, but it does happen. If you are in doubt about what product to buy, just ask the pet shop what kind of food your puppy was eating and if they did well on it. If they did okay, then stick to that brand for the first few months. Might save you a lot of headaches if you do.

All this having been said, if you are an extremely light sleeper, you can forego the above and just purchase a puppy collar that has a couple of small bells attached to it. Or, you can tie a couple of bells around your beagle puppy's collar, so that, when your beagle begins to stir, you may hear it and wake up. That is to say, if you have been trained yet to listen to the sounds of your puppy. Drastic yes, but no different than dealing with a newborn baby. Except in this case, dads and other family members can participate also. Besides, bells attached to puppy's collar will let you know where he or she is at all times, and will help prevent you suddenly bunking into or stepping on poor little ol' puppy. You see, this is as much about training you as it is your puppy. So listen for that bell next to your door. It's probably puppy saying: I need to go out. It is the small steps you take that will determine just how fast your puppy gets housetrained. You will find also, that attaching bells is a great way to let your other pets know where puppy is. And believe it or not, your new family member will actually feel a sense of pride as he walks. Lastly, puppies do not get their veterinarian tags until they are at least one year old---the time when they get their rabbies shot. Our township requires that we place a dog's license on our dogs, and this in conjunction with the vets tag makes for a distinguishable metallic sound as they move about. But when your bring puppy home, chances are it will only be six weeks old...way too early for tags. Not so for bells. Just make sure they are secure and that puppy does not swallow them.

To recap: If you have purchased a metal training cage... don't put the puppy in the cage to sleep... let him sleep near your bedside. You see---this method is, in a way, training you, as well as your new puppy. You may have to place yourself into a light sleep... but you will only have to do this for about 3 days. If it takes any longer than a week, or if you find your puppy pooping more than the number of meals you feed him (usually 2 or 3 per day), then chances are your new puppy may have a case of the worms, and will need additional veterinarian care. If you suspect worms don't delay and get that puppy to the vet immediately. They will not survive more than a couple of weeks if you do not get them dewormed.

The Secret to Cage Training

Getting back to the metal cage and the use I have assigned to it. By taking your new beagle TO the cage as soon as he stirs, chances are he will at least urinate. When he does, get him out of the cage, praise him, pet him, give him a treat if you want. In other words, reward him by NOT keeping him in the cage. The cage becomes a place to pee and poop... He will not think of it as a place to rest or sleep. Now, why is this important? It is important because puppies and dogs in general don't like to mixed the two. In this regard they are rather like people and actually prefer clean living quarters. Best advice: Unless you are forced by circumstance, buy two, one to potty train and another as living quarters. I am here talking about couples or dog owners who may have to leave their puppy or dog alone for extended periods of time---a topic we will cover later on.

Now, I am a home owner and am fortunate enough to have a kitchen which faces our backyard. It also has a door. In puppy language that means easy access to outside. In people language it means being able to cook or eat while still watching your new puppy. Your household setup might be different than mine so make adjustments to what I am about to say and make adjustments accordingly. While both you and your puppy are in training, during the daylight hours stay in that room that has the backyard access and simply obsever your new puppy. I have found for example, that each dog will perform its own ritual before pooping. To give you an example: Some dogs will lower their tail; while other dogs move in a circular motion. Others may begin to sniff their way around before they find a place to poop. Watch for those tell-tail signs. When they begin to surface, once again, take your puppy to his cage to poop or bring him outside. And again reward for good behavior. If you do, you will soon find that the puppy will go willingly into the cage, pee, poop and exit while he awaits his reward. In the beginning you may want to give a small treat, but after awhile that reward can be as simple as a verbal good doggie. Even a brief pat on the head will do. So here is the big secret:

When we first purchased our new puppy it was in late fall and I simply did not want to go outside in the middle of the night. Hence, the use of the metal cage became my salvation. Puppy pees or poops and then I can clean up the cage as soon as it gets messy. No smell, no odor, and no more mess. I liked it and puppy liked it as well.

Removing the Cage

The next phase to puppy training is a bit more difficult if you have been using the metal training cage method because it requires its removal. Yep---that little old cage is going bye-bye; but little puppy will stay because he is now a member of the family. Only thing is, he does not have a human brain and will be very confused when his cage is gone. So before you remove the cage from whatever room faces your outside entrance and exist, try the following: a). Remove the cage but leave the metal pan. Continue to line it with newspaper and yes, continue with your rewards. The idea here is to show puppy a scent rather than the cage. In other words, your puppy will be following the scent of the newspaper. b). Either move the cage or the metal pan closer to the door. c). When the weather outside become tolerable, simply move the metal pan outside, and if you can, leave your back door open so that puppy can go in and out as he pleases. When he does his business bring him indoors and close the door. We do this because we do not want the puppy to think of the out of doors as his living quarters. In other words, while they are still puppies and still in training if you allow them to stay outside for prolonged periods of time, you will, in effect, undo everything you have accomplished up until this point. Dogs are not people, and by nature they will prefer staying outside in the nicer weather. And since dogs like to separate their living space from the place they mark, well now, what can I say... in effect they already have their scent inside of your home now, don't they. And should they begin to think of outside as their home, then they will just as easily think of your home as their place to return to to pee and poop.

This is the time when your keen observations of your dog's behavior will be needed the most. You should know your dogs signs by now. And when he begins to display them, it will be up to you to open the door. So learn how to look and listen. Remember, your lifestyle has changed and to a large degree you are now responsible for puppy's behavior. Puppy dogs need our guidance at this stage of the game. In other words, you cannot just buy a puppy and then expect it to just fit in with our human lifestyle. Nay---just the opposite be true---we must make room for them and adjust our way of living to meet their needs.

Developing a Permanent Ritual

Develop a permanent ritual. When your dog is still a puppy, it might be helpful for you to develop some kind of little ritual or to invent some training tool as an aid so that puppy can begin to tell you when he needs to go outside. For example: You can loop a dog's leash over the door knob and move it everytime you open the door. This way you will be teaching your puppy to respond to sound instead of to scent. If it's Christmas time, you can purchase some bells and place them around the doorknob. Just cut off another piece of that laundry rope I mentioned earlier. Out of season, you can get a set of Poochie-Bells seen here. Also cue yourself into your dog's behavior. Some may go to the back door and just sit while they wait for you to open the door. Others may begin to whimper especially if their need is urgent. If you take your dog out for a walk, you might want to teach them to fetch their own leash. Some may even do this on their own. Others will come and get you especially if you play fetch or do some other kind of activity while outside. So if your puppy picks up that toy ball, chances are they are saying in their doggie way: Hey, take me outside so we can play. And if your timing is right, they might just pee and poop also. If your beagle is like ours, he might just sit in front of you as you are watching TV or eating you dinner, or, they might attempt a begging mantra. Our third beagle KC, does this... not because he is begging for food or a treat, but because it is his way of telling me, in pictorial form: Hey, get up and take me out. In other words, my dog has learned how to communicate with me; and in a way, he is actually giving me commands. Yours will too, if you make going outside an enjoyable event. Whatever method you or your puppy choose avoid teaching them how to jump or to scratch on the door as this will damage most wooden doors. Repeated painting need not become part of the training process. Then again... if you really wanted to, you could screw a metal plate to the bottom of your door. This will prevent wood damage but it is not very attractive looking.

Doggie Time Guided by Your Family's Schedule

Last, but not least, develop specific scheduled times for taking your puppy or dog outside. You will find that developing a ritual works the best because puppy will be cued into your own living habits and be guided by your own particular schedule. Once fully trained, and after their body has fully develped, besides your already established mealtime ritual time to go out may also revolve around your daily schedule. The morning hours after you wake up, shower, and then after you eat your own breakfast may be one schedule for taking your dog out. Or, doggie time might be after the kids come home from school and then again just after the TV gets turned off for the night. In my own family for example, my husband is the first one to wake up, and he prefers taking our beagles out before he takes his shower. Since I am usually the last person to go to sleep, I take them out right before I go to bed for the night. And while our children were living at home, they took out our beagle as soon as they got home from school. All of the above not only requires your family's active participation, it also requires you and your other family members making certain movements and sounds... movements and sounds your dog will cue into. To give you another example here: Our beagles are also cued into the time my husband pulls up the car into our driveway and they will even begin to bark to let me know that my husband is home. Our second beagle, Barum, was, in my opinion psychic and had a remarkable hearing ability. No matter where he was in our house, even if he was sleeping, he would always wake up and go to our hallway whenever my oldest son was 10-15 minutes away from home. He did this because he was actually our son's dog, and he, unlike his parents would take him into the woods for an hour or two and that was something Barum really liked. In other words, it wasn't just a walk, it was time to pal around... a time to bond. And since he liked it so much he patiently waited for his master.

Puppy and Dog Training for Working People

The best advice here is to think of your new puppy in the same way and manner you would were you to give birth to your own son or daughter. That is to say, take some time off to be with your new puppy. If you are acquiring a new puppy from a litter, you will have 6 weeks to plan. If you are a husband and wife team consider taking separate vacations during this time period. You can take one week off and on the following week your mate can stay home. That is two weeks combined... Time well spent because you can train a puppy inside of that time. What you cannot do is to quicken its muscle development. If you find yourself in this situation, there might very well be accidents, accidents you might have to accept and with a joyful patience. You might have to come home and clean up a cage or a puppy, or both. This should be expected. Raise your voice as a mere teaching tool because dogs and puppies will respond to tonal quality, but please, whatever you do, do not scold the dog because he cannot adjust to your lifestyle or meet with your human standards. He is after all a member of the canine family and is only a member of yours by proxy. But try as you might, you will never make him into a human. Nay, if there is anything I have ever learned about raising dogs is that it is we who ought to be more understanding of their species, but only because we have the mind and God willing the heart to do so.

They say that dogs left alone will get spiteful. Well, I say that there is no such term in doggie language. Instead, dogs left alone to their own devices will revert back to their natural ways and many tend to get bored. They will lick their own paws, bite their own tails and seek their own food source. All this, and the fact that puppies will be teething for the first year of their life and actually do need something to chew on. And when none of the above is available they will find a substitute in a shoe or a glove or a piece of furniture. And because they are not aware of the many household dangers some may resort to chewing on or even eat electrical cords or toxic plastics. There are several ways to avoid this: a). Keep your new puppy in a cage or mini kennel while you are away; or b). Keep your new puppy in a self contained room (if you have one); c). Keep plenty of chew treats around. d). And lastly, provide your puppy with doggie toys.

A dog, and yes, even a puppy who is given proper exercise and who is well fed will be only too glad to hang out while they await your return. Depending upon the method you are using or their age, puppies can remain alone for a couple of hours unattended; while older dogs can stay alone for 8-10 hours, long enough for you to complete your work-a-day. Any longer than that is risky and I would not advise it, especially if you still have them in a cage. If pooch is freely roaming your house for longer than 10-12 hours and you come home to find a mess, don't blame the dog for your neglect, blame your boss for giving you overtime. Remember though, that also means leaving them plenty of water to drink and food to nibble on while you are away. Many bowls can tip over or become dislarged which means your little puppy will go thirsty and hungry for the day. If the dog is roaming free get the kind of bowls that will not tip over. You can also provide your puppy with a water and food dispenser. If you are using a metal cage make sure it is sturdy, does not have loose parts or parts that can be torn off or swallowed. The Stainless Steel Coop Cup shown here can be bolted to the cage itself. Avoid bowls that are attached to the cage by hanging wires.

Using a Cage as a Mini Kennel

Also, if you fit into the category of being a working person, or a person who will be leaving your new puppy alone for prolonged periods of time, please consider the following. When you purchase your cage or kennel get one big enough to allow for growth. If you do not, then every few months you will have to replace it with a bigger size. So pay attention to the average height and weight of an adult dog. If you are purchasing your puppy directly from a kennel, insist on seeing its parents. In other words, think beyond the puppy stage. When most people buy a cage, they will measure their dog and as long as their dog fits in it they think it big enough for the dog. Well, this is not always the case. Puppy or dog will be needing room to stetch out. They will also need enough room to turn around and/or to pee or poop. And if you do not get a cage or kennel large enough to suit these needs puppy or dog will be stepping, sitting, and yes, laying in its own waste.

What Not To Do

Pets may not be people, but like our children they are deserving of our love and protection. That means taking care of their basic needs lest we neglect or abuse them. Those basic needs include their basic rights to air, water, food, and yes, we are even responsible for their safety. So here in this last section I will be briefly cover the things we should not do. One of cruelest things I have ever seen or heard of dog owners doing is not to provide drinking water for their pets either while their owners are asleep or while they are working simply because they do not want them to pee or come home to have to clean up afterwards. Another form of neglect is to deny them food or access to food and for the same reason. Still another is to leave your puppy or dog tied up for extended periods of time. Ropes, chains or leashes have been known to get tangled around the dog and can cause considerable harm. At the very least, a tied up dog can become troublesome to others. This is especially true if the dog is left outside while you work. Not only will they bark the whole time, but will be a real nuisance to all of your neighbors. Where we live for example, there is a township ordainance that states that dogs cannot bark continually for more than 15 minutes. If they do, any of your neighbors can report you and you will either be given a monetary summons or your dog will be removed from your home and placed in a dog shelter. So know your township rules and regulations. But the very worst, is to take your puppy or dog with you when you go to a store, and then leave them in a car unattended. This is especially problematic in the hot summer months. Even if you were to keep the window rolled down, still, infants, children, puppies, and dogs have been known to suffocate and die, even after being left alone for more than 4 minutes.