How To Crate Train Your puppy

How to Crate Train Your Puppy

One of the most important parts of puppy training is teaching your dog to be in a crate for long periods of time. When you are sleeping or away (though preferably not both), a crate is a great place to keep your dog to help it rest and not be destructive. Crate training is also one of the better ways to house train your pet.

Why a Crate?

From their origin as wolves, dogs are known to be comfortable in small, dark, enclosed areas. It helps them feel safer than they do in the openness of your home, where predators could conceivably come and attack them.

However, despite this instinct, dogs are still reluctant to be caged up, and a crate does not allow them to leave the same way they could from a cage, which is why crate training must occur and be done carefully.

Notes Before You Crate Train

• Crate training should never, ever be a punishment. Never. A dog that is even punished a single time by being thrown in the crate may forever see the crate as a place of punishment, and be upset about being put in there.

• Dogs should never be in a create more than 7 hours in a 24 hour period. If you put your dog in a crate when you go to work, they should not be in there when you go to sleep, and vice versa. 8 hours is acceptable if you are sleeping, but be sure and take your dog out immediately for a walk to give them a chance to pee and move their legs.

• One of the main purposes of crate training is to help house train your puppy. A crate teaches your puppy to hold in its pee. When you start crate training, never leave your puppy in there longer than it can hold its urine, because a single accident can set crate training back several weeks.

How to Crate Train

• Keep the crate near something your dog likes, such as its food bowl. Keep the gate open.

• Let your puppy spend a day or so eating food near the crate.

• Occasionally during the day, pop a treat in the crate so that your dog discovers it.

• With each passing day, put the food bowl closer and closer to the crate.

• Continue to put treats in the crate as surprises.

• Put the food bowl in the crate. When your dog goes in to eat, praise your dog but do not close the crate.

• Move the crate elsewhere and put treats in the crate.

• Every time your dog goes in the crate, praise it considerably.

• After a while, begin closing the door of the crate with your hands – do not lock it.

• After a minute or so, open the crate so your dog can come out.

• Once your dog is used to the idea, take your dog for a long, long walk (they should be very tired), then come back and close the crate door on your dog and lock it.

• For the next 15 to 30 minutes, feed your dog treats and praise your dog considerably.

• Only open the door for your dog when it is not whining. A whining dog should never be released from a crate, as it will associate whining with being released. Then, the next time, when you do not open the crate, they will whine louder and louder hoping you will hear them.

• From the moment you open the crate door, take your dog outside for another walk until they pee.

• Try doing this again the next day for a full 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the success of the previous training. Give your dog treats and voice affection the entire time. Once again, make sure your dog is well walked both before and after the training.

Once your dog can reach an hour without considerable whining, it should be good to go for longer periods of time. It is not a great idea to skip from an hour to 6 hours right away, but over time it should be an acceptable length without issue. 

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