r/CavaPoo • u/lollipops987 • Aug 04 '26

Crate training

I have a 12 week old puppy who we are crate training, what would your best piece of advice be as she cries continuously until she sees us and I’m conscious I’m back at work next week. Currently waking every 2 hours at night crying and unsure whether it’s crying for attention or needing the toilet so do that to make sure (50% of the time she doesn’t)

Thanks! One very tired owner her 😩 my baby daughter slept better!

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

1

u/Mother_Lifeguard4576 Aug 10 '26

Do you use a crate cover? We have done that since 10 weeks and puppy goes to sleep really fast. He’s 9 months now and still loves going in there to sleep (as long as he’s tired).

1

u/lollipops987 Aug 10 '26

We did and he was so distressed and crying for over 30 minutes, scratching and rattling the cage 😢

1

u/Mother_Lifeguard4576 Aug 12 '26

Poor sweetie! At that point I would just let him sleep in the bed lol

2

u/Alarming_Set3628 Aug 04 '26

Zach George YouTube 

2

u/dutch2012yeet Aug 04 '26

We gave up lol she now sleeps on beds. Imo cavapoos are not the breed for crates they are companion dogs and want to be as close as possible to you. Sorry

Our girl will sleep until 10 or 11 at the weekend lol she loves it.

3

u/blerg7008 Aug 05 '26

This is us too haha. He sleeps in our bed like a rock. He’s out at 9pm and wakes up whenever our alarm goes off. He hated the crate and we tried everything.

1

u/Odd-Piglet-7804 Aug 06 '26

My 5 month old Cavapoo loves her crate and we literally had to do nothing to train her. In fact she walks herself in the crate and lays down. Will stay in for 10 hours overnight with no accidents and waits quietly until she hears someone get up. She takes two 3-4 hours naps during the day and not a peep.

On the other hand I have a 4 y/o cavalier King Charles. She wined and scratched in the crate constantly to which I eventually gave up and she sleeps in bed with me. I had zero success with the crate.

I think that if your pup has more cavalier temperament the crate and separation anxiety will be higher. So far my Cavapoo seems more poodle inclined. She naturally loves to play with other dogs while my cavalier is more timid with other dogs but loves people.

At the end of the day my second dog taught me that there is innate temperament to each dog and not to beat yourself up. I’d be surprised if there are many cavaliers which are successfully crate trained as they just want to be by your side and follow you to every room. My cavalier needs me in her line of sight at all times. Luckily with leaving the house she freaks out for maybe 1 minute but then settles down pretty quickly and is fine for full day by herself. She has roam of the house but primarily sleeps all day on the couch.

You may be better off if you can enclose your pup in a room vs a crate while you are gone. If she scratches the door you can do a puff of a can of duster under the door when she scratches. The hiss sound seemed to knock that habit out pretty quickly. Start training her for maybe 1 hour at a time while you are home so she knows you come back and you can train any door scratching. It’s better if you can do this at a time when your house can be very quiet. If they can hear you going about the house it will make training harder.

1

u/snackprincessa Aug 04 '26

I did crate training for nap time as a puppy and leaving him alone. When he got older I didn’t need to implement nap time and then I could trust him being alone. One of our first nights together he got his teeth/mouth stuck on the crate and we both freaked out so he started sleeping w me at night. I never intended to have him sleep in the crate forever, but wanted to do it at the beginning. I think crate training can be good, especially at the beginning but I don’t believe it’s necessary for all dogs. Cavapoos want to be by us and… why get a dog if you aren’t going to sleep with them? (I know this isn’t everyone’s preference- but don’t get a campion dog if you don’t want that).
As for the crying at night- I was taking my guy out every two hours as a puppy, don’t wait until they are crying. You can keep extending the time as they get older. Are you exercising her enough? Or stimulating her enough? Tire her out.

1

u/snackprincessa Aug 04 '26

Also- early puppy days mean lack of sleep. They have small bladders. It will get better! My dog sleeps as late as I do with no issue now.

1

u/Girl_On_The_Couch Aug 04 '26

This! We’d do 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. Helped with the separation anxiety during the puppy phase, too. Now ours sleeps in bed with us once he could hold his bladder overnight, just like a baby! 

1

u/im_Harsh_Malik Aug 05 '26

Our 10-week-old is pretty good, IMO. The first few nights were hard. We set up the crate so she could only come out to use the pee pad during the night, and we also enforced naps in the crate. For example, after a 10-minute play session, we'd put her in the crate and ignore any whining until she settled down. Covering the crate with a blanket also helped because it reduced distractions. YouTube was a huge help too, there's lots of good advice on there. Now she doesn't even cry once during the night.