Quote:
Originally Posted by changa 
He is in the crate for certain periods because I read it was of great importance to get him on a schedule for housetraining, so I was using the crate for that. Also, I am currently on summer vacation and will be teaching soon, and I was afraid if I left him out of the crate all day he would get separation anxiety once I start back to school. Should I go ahead and leave him out of it all day and then start him back on the crate when school starts?
|
I think it's important for puppies to be on a schedule in that they should be fed roughly at the same times every day. They should be taken outside once an hour, when they first wake up from a nap, and immediately after eating.
But I think they should spend most of their day out of a crate. Obviously if you can't keep them under close supervision, then they need to be crated during that time. If you're out running errands, they should be crated. I wouldn't ever crate a puppy just for the sake of crating it to keep to some arbitrary schedule. That's not training, that's merely containing..there's a difference.
Puppies tend to have a period of activity in the evening before they go to bed for the night. But I bet you'd find your pup would be a bit more controllable during those times if he was out of the crate more during the day...like I said, you can't blame him for being wired for sound if he's been cooped up for a significant portion of the day.
If he's on the furniture you can tell him "no", or you can tell him "off"..it doesn't really matter which word you use. What matters is that you say what you mean and mean what you say-and follow through with enforcing that command after the first time. Repeating a command over and over again only teaches the dog they don't have to do what you say the first time.
In effect, what you've taught them is how inconsistent you are.