Why Crate Train Your Puppy?
Crate training helps your puppy’s journey in so many ways.
- It prevents your pup from chewing through electric cables or your favourite rug while your back is turned!
- It can help them get enough sleep.
- A crate can help with house training (dogs rarely want to toilet in their bed area).
- It can help protect the pup from being pestered by children or other dogs.
Rather than thinking of a crate as a prison think of it as being the equivalent of our 5-star hotel in the Seychelles! It needs to be as comfortable as possible. How your pup views the crate will be down to how you introduce it to them.
Choosing the Right Crate
There’s not a lot to be picky about when choosing puppy crates. Just make sure you choose one that is:
- The right size: pick a crate which is easy for your puppy to stand up, turn around and lie down in…but not so large that they’re able to walk a few steps around in it because then they tend to turn one end into a loo.
- Easy to clean: just in case there are any accidents, which let’s face it there probably will be!
- Portable: you’ll need something like this if you want to take them on your next holiday.
How to Get Your Pup Used to the Crate
- Make it the cosiest place to be: a cosy nest of blankets or vet bed, or something similar so that it’s absolutely the best bed in the house. You can also drape the crate with a blanket or towel to make it feel enclosed, or you can leave one side open so you can keep an eye on your pup!
- Provide fun things to do in your puppy’s crate, and hide treats and toys for your puppy to find on their own.
- Ideally, for daytime use, the crate should be placed somewhere that you can keep an eye on it, and the pup can see what’s going on too, but not right in the main path of household traffic. It’s important that you place it somewhere where it can be constantly accessible with the door ajar – that way your puppy can choose to go in it when he is tired – and leave again when he wants to – this choice is an important factor in the training process.
Never in Anger
The crate needs to be a happy place and not somewhere that your pup goes to as a punishment. When you pop your pup in the crate give him something to do: a Kong, snuffle mat or chews are great ideas. Always, always take your pup’s collar and harness off when you pop him in the crate.
Sleepy Pup
Each and every time your puppy looks sleepy or falls asleep somewhere else during the day, gently pick him or her up and put him in the comfy crate. When he wakes up he will find himself in the crate – making it a familiar place for sleep when it comes to night-time.
Meal times
Prepare your pup’s meal, or use lickmats and Kongs and let your pup see it and smell it, then put the food inside the crate, and close the door, with your puppy on the outside!
- After a few seconds, open the crate door. Your puppy should shoot in, keen to eat the food – his desire heightened by a little frustration.
- Close the door and allow him to eat in peace, then as soon as he’s finished, casually open the door, let him out and take him out to the toilet.
Shy puppy
Some dogs don’t want to go into a crate because there’s no clear exit. If yours is one of these, then choose a crate with two doors.
- With both doors of the crate open, pretend that you are teaching your pup to run through a tunnel.
- With your pup watching, drop a food treat into the crate through the bars at the top, so your pup has to go in to eat it. As soon as he has, lure him out through the other door – so he’s effectively moved through the crate like a tunnel.
Home alone:
All these starting strategies are designed to teach your puppy to be confident at entering the crate and associating it with good things. Now, you need to work on making sure he’s happy to stay in the crate for short periods, even when you aren’t around.
This can only be done by gradually building up the time that your pup is in the crate – either sleeping, eating, or chewing something wonderful.
Take this at your dog’s pace. It’s worth spending a bit of time on this in the first couple of weeks, as it will pay off for the next decade!
Remember, the three rules of teaching your puppy to enjoy being in the crate on his own are:
- Good things happen in the crate. These things are no longer available to your pup when he comes out.
- You act before your puppy whines, barks or cries and remove him from the crate. That way you never have to tell him off, or accidentally reinforce his demands to be let out.
- Build up slowly in the first couple of weeks. Be within sight, to begin with, then gradually move away until your pup is effectively alone for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes and so on.
If you need any help at all with crate training please get in touch.
