Sit down, you’re rocking the boat: Crate training continued
11.5 weeks old, 4lbs, and Adelaide is progressing on her crate and house training. This does not mean that she doesn’t have any struggles or that she doesn’t like to sleep on the edge (see photo for her “rocking the boat” adventures) but we are happy to see growth and the birth of some new habits. There are so many varying opinions about the topics of both crate training and house/potty training so we reached out to find the best routes for our Adelaide.
Read about our first experiences with crate training here: Crate Training - The First Night
Crate training was an easy decision for us as the alternative to having Adelaide sleep in the bed. As we mentioned in our first crate training post, iggies (Italian Greyhounds or IGs) are known to be very attached to their humans and often sleep in the bed. We also know that iggies are prone to leg breaks, so jumping from our bed at night could prove to be too dangerous. We started crate training right away when she came home at 8 weeks. Adelaide responds really well to treats, so we got her used to her crate/pen by slowly introducing her into the space with treats and slow feeding toys (Kong or licki-mat with peanut butter).
They might say the first week or night is the hardest... but we’ve found that it always depends on her activities during the day. If Adelaide is tired from walking or playing, she will successfully sleep from 9pm until 7am (this is not accident-free, but we’ll explain that later). She will let us know she is awake usually by crying. Adelaide is still finding her voice, so for the moment, her cries are soft and sweet. On days where Adelaide has been left for a couple hours, she needs extra activity to help tire her out. When she tries to sleep overnight and isn’t tired enough, she has discovered the joy of digging and ripping up her pee pads. Training sessions are often our other strategy for calming her and focussing her energy. We look forward to continuing this training and allowing our girl to feel safe in her pen.
Sleeping through the night is a wonderful goal, but we also are aware that potty training can be very difficult for iggies. We have decided to pee pad train her by lining the crate/pen with pee pads. We live in an apartment with carpeted hallways/lobby which makes it very difficult for a quick escape to walk outside when Adelaide’s gotta go! Another solution to this problem is our fake green grass patch on the balcony. It was hard to get her to go on the patch, but we had the most success after placing one of her used pee pads beside it.
We have learned the signs of when she has to go and it’s proven to be very helpful. When Adelaide has to go, she starts sniffing around vigorously and circling around. We’ve often been very good at noticing these signs and when she tries to go indoors, off the pee-pad, we quickly pick her up and place her on the pee pad. The first two weeks there were many mistakes. Luckily we bought a great spray that helps to remove the smell in the urine so she won’t be able to smell previous accidents and be tempted to pee on a previous spot. Another thing we’ve learned is that she likes peeing in corners and hidden places... this lady loves her privacy! I mean, who doesn’t, right? This means we’ve been able to catch her every time she ran away to pee off the pad.
After the first two weeks, we noticed some patterns. After every nap, Adelaide usually needs to pee. Often after meals, Adelaide has a play session and then has to poop. Seeing these patterns changed our behaviour. The second she wakes up from a nap, instead of letting her roam free, we encourage her onto the pee pads. After a meal and a play session, we guide her back to her pads. Overtime, something really neat happened! We gave Adelaide a little more freedom to roam and she chose to go on her pee pads of her own free will! This has been a huge win for us and while we still may work towards having her go outside first, we know that pee pads will always be a part of our game plan. The next step of our plan is the grass patch outside on the balcony. While she is not 100% successful yet, she has started to use it more and we are looking forward to getting her outside quicker.
No alarm clock needed, mom!
Another habit we see forming is the desire to go on the green grass patch after she has spent time on real grass. What does this mean? The more we put Adelaide on the grass during our walks and outdoor play sessions, the more she seems to like peeing on the fake patch on the balcony. We are hopeful that this will continue to encourage her to go outside. Another great sign of improvement emerged: Adelaide asked to go outside on the balcony by nudging her nose against the patio door. Our little girl is smart and we just have to keep up with all of her cues.
The next step of our journey will be to combat the ripping of her pee pads. Dad found reusable pee pads online and we will be testing them out, and reporting back here with their success (or failure). We look forward to all she has to teach us.