Probably the best thing you can dog for your puppy early on is to “crate train” him/her. This begins by placing the puppy in his crate the first day you have him, preferably on the way home. The puppy should be placed in his crate each night to sleep. Young puppies will often whine and cry throughout the night, and they will need to be taken out periodically to use the bathroom. When you take them out at night, don’t let them play around. The general purpose is that they should learn to go to the bathroom when they get out of their crate, or they are going back in there. This will be tough at first but eventually they will get used to it. Puppies will usually not want to use the bathroom in their crate (providing it is small enough) and will wait until they are let out. This is the first step to potty train them.

It is also important to feed them in their crate. Instruct the dog to “kennel” prior to feeding each day. At first you will have to place them in the crate, but eventually they will start going in their on their own. After they go in the crate, give them the bowl of food and make them eat while in the crate. It doesn’t take long for the dog to start running into the crate as soon as you say “kennel.” The dogs will soon start to view the crate as a kind of shelter and it will give them a sense of comfort. They will associate positive feelings with the crate and you won’t have any problems putting them in the crate when needed.