Crate Training a Dog

Crate training a dog is an excellent tool but easy to misuse. A dog will learn nothing about proper behavior, being social or how to toilet train when in a crate, although it will learn how to settle down and be quiet. That's important, but it's only a small part of what your dog needs to learn.

Uses for Crates
Crating a dog can be an excellent way to keep a puppy (and your furniture) safe when you are away from the house or you cannot monitor your dog. A crate also secures your dog during car trips. If you ever plan on doing dog sports or shows, your dog must be comfortable in the crate, and dogs used to their crates are less likely to be upset if they have to be kenneled at the vet or boarded. Some dogs with separation anxiety who destroy things or mark inappropriately in the house may need to be crated when left alone.

In most cases, the crate is not a permanent home for your dog but a transitional training tool. Ideally, once your dog is reliable and potty trained, it can have the run of the house, or part of it, quite safely.

Crate Training a Dog or Puppy
If you are crate training a puppy, bear in mind that dogs are social creatures and a new puppy is bewildered and missing littermates. Be kind and don't isolate the dog any more than necessary. Remember, a dog learns very little by sitting in a crate.

A crate should be set where the family spends its time, not in a basement or empty room. Dogs are social animals and it is scary to socially isolate a dog by caging it away from the rest of the pack. Leave the crate door open. Put treats and food in the crate. It is okay to feed your dog in there.

Let the puppy go in and out of the crate, leaving the door open. The crate should be a place where good things happen. If your puppy likes to play fetch, throw the toy into the crate for it to retrieve.

Come up with a command for the crate and use it each time the dog goes in. Reward with a treat, toy or praise each time. If you use a treat, make it an extra-special one that the dog only gets for going into the crate. Once the dog is used to going in and out, encourage it in and close the door. Sit next to the crate and tell the dog how good it is.

Gradually lengthen the time the dog is closed in. Start leaving the room for short periods of time.

Expect some barking and whining. Remember, this can be quite scary and confusing for dogs. Imagine how you would feel if you were randomly locked in a small, confined space with no explanation. A good time to start closing the door is when your puppy is already tired from play and you are sure it doesn't need to relieve itself.

If you really want to get your puppy acclimated, it is extremely important to ignore barking, whining and howling. Wait until the puppy is quiet, even for a few minutes, to let it out. When you do let the puppy out, don't make a fuss. You don't want to give the dog the idea that it is being let free, even though it is.

Leave the crate door open all the time. Many dogs will start going in there to sleep or to settle down with a chew toy, because it's a comfortable place for them.

When you leave your dog, make sure it has water. You can buy buckets that attach to the crate so they won't tip over, Also provide something to chew on.

An excellent and stimulating chew toy for crates is a Kong, one of those dog toys that you stuff with food that your dog has to work hard at removing it. Most pet stores have a wide variety.

Crating Don'ts
Puppies cannot "hold it" for more than three or four hours. Leaving a puppy in the crate too long often results in a willingness to soil the crate, something dogs will not do naturally, and coprophagia. Dogs and puppies who are left alone in crates too long become frustrated and bored. Make plenty of time for your puppy to be out with the family, learning and interacting.

Crates are for our convenience and for the safety of the dog. If your dog is stuck in the crate for eight hours while you're at work, then in the evenings when the family is out, then again all night, that is too much. Limit its use to when absolutely necessary.

Make sure the crate is large enough for the dog to stand tall, turn around and stretch out. Never use the crate for punishment. Always praise for quiet behavior. Never physically force a dog into a crate. Use encouragement and rewards, not force.

Once your puppy has finished teething and chewing and is houseborken and reliable, you can start weaning it away from the crate. Start with baby-gating one puppy-proof room. Leave the crate in there, door open. As the dog earns release from daily close confinement, let it have more room. At night, keep the dog in the bedroom. You can also use an exercise pen for transition; they are much less confining.

The goal is to have a reliable dog that has full run of the house. In all my decades of owning dogs, I have never had to crate one in my absence, although I have baby-gated puppies in safe rooms until they are potty trained and have learned not to reduce furniture to piles of sticks. Because I train and show, they are acclimated and comfortable in their crates when they need to be there. For many dogs, their crate is a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of a dog show.

One word of caution: If you adopt an older dog who may have come from a puppy mill, bear in mind that some of these dogs have spent most of their lives in crates and are understandably very stressed and unhappy in them. If you need to confine a dog with this sort of history, consider baby-gating a room or using an exercise pen instead.

Remember, your goal is making a crate a secure, pleasant and happy place to be for your dog.