Crate Training a Puppy

Crate training your puppy is one of the best things you can ever do for him/her. It keeps him safe when you are not around to supervise and gives him/her his own space. Dogs and puppies need to feel safe and secure. Crates are a great way for safe travel too. A crate is a great training aid for toilet training too. 

Training your puppy to use a crate is the only option if you have young children in the home or children that visit frequently. Your dog must have his own space to keep both children and dog safe. Make sure children understand if the dog wanders into his/her crate (s)he is to be left alone.

Don’t just buy a crate, put your puppy in it, close the door and go out. I once had somebody come to me saying their puppy howled whenever they put him in the crate but they needed to use the crate when they were out so they just hoped he’d get used to it.

Further questioning discovered the only time they used the crate was when they left the puppy alone. ‘Pick him up, shove him in, close the door and off we go!’

Big mistake. What do you imagine your puppy is now feeling? What can (s)he do about it – oh yeah, he can howl and whine and bark and bark and ………..you come back. It must be all that barking that makes you come home.

 

The crate needs to become your dog’s place of safety and security. A positive and happy place to be. So how do we do we train a puppy to use a crate?

 

 

 

• Put pup’s crate in the place where he will sleep
• Put his bed in and leave the door open
• Throw a treat in to encourage him to go in and investigate
• When he goes in treat him, stroke him through the bars, play a game with him
• Feed him in his crate
• Don’t shut the door on him until he is happy wandering in on his own
• When you first shut the door, treat him through the bars, stroke him, give him some attention, don’t leave the room
• Gradually build up the time he is in the crate with the door shut
• Start moving further away from the crate, when the door is shut until you can leave the room
• Just do short stints of you leaving the room until pu
• Result – a happy contented dog that has his own place of safety

What size crate?

A crate should be big enough for your puppy/dog to lie down, stretch, stand up and turn around. To start with it should not be too big, so you may need to buy a smaller one and get a bigger one as he grows. Alternatively you can buy a large one and partition it off, expanding the space as he grows.

It is not ok for you to leave your dog in a crate while you go out to work for the day. A dog or puppy should not be shut in the crate for long periods of time except overnight when sleeping.

When you’re home leave the door open and let your dog wander in and out of the crate as he chooses but remember to train puppy to use the crate, with the door closed even when you’re home.

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