Training your puppy to use a crate is not a form of cruel and unusual punishment! Quite to the contrary. When puppy is crate trained properly, before long she will consider the crate her "den" and go there automatically when she is tired or just wants to be alone. A crate should never be used as punishment.

If you purchase a large crate that will fit your puppy when it is full grown, partition part of it off. If the crate is too large, she will live on one side, and she will use the other side to go potty.

A puppy should never be confined to a crate for longer than two or three hours at a time.

Whenever your puppy cries or whines, you can safely assume she has to go potty! You can also assume your puppy needs to go potty immediately after waking from nap time...

Don't focus your effort on teaching your puppy not to pee or poop in the house ... teach your puppy to go potty outside. The former strategy is trying to convince your dog NOT TO DO something, and the later strategy is training your dog TO DO something. There is a big difference.

It is best to move the crate from room to room with you, which allows your puppy to sleep in her crate in your bedroom at night. This gives her a sense of security, and she will calm down when she is secure in the knowledge of knowing you are there. It is important to keep your puppy's crate in the same room with you. This will keep your puppy from thinking that she is being punished. Remember that crate training works best when your puppy does not view it as her "punishment" for being a BAD DOG!

It is important to make sure crate training is "fun" for the puppy. This is easily enough done by tossing a couple of treats into your puppy's crate and praising her when she enters the crate to get that treat. GOOD GIRL! Continue training your puppy by closing the door for a few minutes. If she is quiet and well behaved, praise her some more. GOOD GIRL! If she is loud or behaves poorly, wait until she settles down, and praise her some more. GOOD GIRL! Remember, she will learn fastest if you make it fun. NEVER make going into her crate as punishment!

Your puppy's crate is her den, and puppies avoid using their den to poop and pee, if it is at all possible. When you first open the door to the crate to let her out, always use the same phrase, such as "Let's go!", and take her outside so she can poop and pee outside. Do not stop to play. Do not let her jump in your lap for petting. He only priority when first going outside should be going potty, but you have to give her an opportunity to go potty. Once she has done her job, praise her again. GOOD GIRL!

Take your puppy to the same spot every time you take her out to go potty. The smell of the urine from her previous efforts will encourage her to use that same spot. Do not clean up old poop at this spot until the dog is completely potty trained. Praise your puppy when she pees poops in the right spot, and GENTLY scold her when she goes in the wrong spot.

Completely clean up any potty accidents in the house. The smell of urine in the carpet will encourage her to go there again, so you must remove the smell entirely. And remember that a dog's sense of smell is about a hundred times better than yours... so if you think running a damp towel over it is going to do the trick, you are sadly mistaken.

Once your feel she has peed and pooped herself empty, you can take her inside your house for some play or petting time. Start with short lengths of time, and as she becomes more trustworthy, you can extend the length of time she is allowed inside without being in her crate.