[GerMutt]

Hi all!

For a bit of background: We have a 2 y.o. female dog that we got when she was about 3-4 months old. I crate trained her from the first day home and she learned about potty training very quickly. That said, she had some issues with the crate at first, as the foster family didn't crate her and when they tried and she cried, they brought her in the bed with them. As much as I appreciate the good work they did overall, obviously this was not the easiest situation to remedy. Anyway, when she began her crate training here, I completely ignored her crying and fussing since I didn't want to encourage this behavior...but now she does not whine or fuss when she REALLY has to go outside either. Luckily it is a bit easier since she is fed meals and so I can predict when she needs to go out. Buuut...when she has an upset tummy, she will sometimes still go on the floor. Totally understandable - it happens very rarely and it is very obvious that her tummy was upset when it happens.

Fast forward to our new little dude: 10-12? weeks, male, GSD mix (of some sort). He has been much easier to crate train, but he also has different patterns to which we are still adapting. The question I am dealing with is whether or not we should let him out when he whines in his crate? I don't want to "reward" the fussing and noise, but I would REEEEALLY appreciate a dog that wakes me up to go outside rather than going in his kennel or on the floor (in the future). So I am torn! Do I respond to the cries and potentially encourage it even when he doesn't really require attention...or do I ignore him and deal with the messy consequences???

Thanks for any help you can offer!