The 14-Day Crate Training Schedule That Actually Works

A crate isn't a cage; done right, it's your dog's bedroom — the place he chooses for naps with the door wide open. The difference between a dog who loves his crate and one who screams in it is almost always pace. This crate training schedule takes 14 days and never forces a single step.

Before day 1: setup

• Size: big enough to stand, turn, and lie flat — no bigger for a puppy in potty training (too much room invites a bathroom corner).
• Location: where the family lives, not the garage. Dogs are social; isolation is punishment.
• Contents: bedding, a safe chew, water bowl if crated over an hour.

Days 1–3: the crate is a treat dispenser

Door stays open, always. Toss treats inside and walk away. Feed every meal just inside the threshold, then at the back. Never close the door. Goal: your puppy enters on his own hoping the crate pays out again.

Days 4–6: the door swings

While your puppy eats in the crate, swing the door half-closed, open it before he finishes. Then closed for five seconds, treat through the bars, open. Build to one minute — while you sit right there. If he fusses, you moved too fast; go back one step. Fussing is information, not defiance.

Days 7–9: duration next to you

Give a frozen stuffed Kong in the crate, close the door, and sit nearby doing something boring for 10–20 minutes. Let him out while he's still calm — never mid-cry, or crying becomes the door-opening cue. (If he cries, wait for a two-second gap of quiet, then open, and shorten the next session.)

Days 10–14: you leave the room, then the house

Same Kong routine, but you walk out of the room for 2 minutes, then 10, then 30. By day 14, run a real errand. Keep departures and returns boring — no dramatic goodbyes, no party on return. Calm is the message.

Nights, from night one

Nights run in parallel: crate next to your bed (moved gradually later if you prefer), last potty trip at lights-out, and one silent middle-of-the-night potty run for young puppies — out, potty, straight back, zero playtime. Puppies can hold roughly their age in months plus one hour.

The potty connection

The crate works because dogs won't soil their bed — which makes the schedule your potty-training engine: crate → outside → success party → free time → crate. Out after every nap, meal, and play session, plus every 60–90 waking minutes for an 8-week-old.

The two rules people break

1. The crate is never punishment. One angry "go to your crate!" undoes a week of treat-tossing.
2. Don't outrun the clock. A 10-week-old cannot hold it for a workday, crate or no crate. Arrange a midday break.

Fourteen days of this and the crate becomes what it should be: the spot your dog picks on his own when the house gets loud. New puppy? Our week-by-week first-month plan fits around this schedule perfectly.

Ready for the full system? The Puppy Starter Course — 8 modules, 25+ short videos, 5 printable guides — is $49 with a 14-day no-questions refund.