Raising Puppies

Because of your work schedule, you may need to leave your puppy during the day for long periods of time soon after you bring her home. This can be unavoidable. Just be sure that you are keeping to a realistic schedule.

You can still teach your puppy to enjoy confinement for longer periods of time. Start this training after she is readily going into her crate when you give her the cue.

Step 1:

a) Cue your puppy with "Go to kennel!" Give her a food-stuffed rubber toy and praise her when she enters the crate. Shut the crate door, then leave the room or just go about the house as you normally would.
b) Wait a few minutes, then walk by her crate. If she is behaving and not whining, pawing at the crate door, or barking, praise her and give her a treat through the crate door. If she is acting up, ignore her and walk past.

Step 2:

a) Repeat, gradually working up to longer periods of time in between treats. You're teaching your puppy that good things happen when she's in her crate.
b) After about ten minutes, if your puppy is calm, open the crate door. Be relaxed and don't praise her for getting out of the crate.

Step 3:

a) Gradually work up to longer periods inside the crate.

Tips:

The longer she's in her crate, the better the treats should get. Start with regular kibble, then work up to liver or other tasty treats. Your puppy will learn that the longer she's in her crate, the better it gets.
Vary her toys. If you only give her a food-stuffed toy in her crate when you leave, she could start associating that toy with you leaving and may not like it anymore.

Once your puppy is happily running into her crate when you give the cue, and staying there for longer periods of time, you are ready for these next steps:

Step 4:

a) You are going to stop using a treat to lure your puppy into her crate. Stand by the crate and give the cue "Go to kennel!" Point inside the crate as if you have a treat in your hand. This is not to trick your puppy. Her nose tells her it's not there. Instead, you are using the same hand signal that you've actually been teaching her all along. Dogs learn body language much faster than verbal language, so if you use your hands the same way, she will better understand what you want of her.
b) As soon as she goes into the crate, praise her. Shut the door, quickly get a treat from where you keep them, and give it to her through the crate door. This will teach your puppy that you may not always have treats with you, but she should still do what you ask because she'll be rewarded.

Step 5:

a) Gradually move farther and farther away from the crate as you give your cue "Go to kennel."