This article is written under the assumption that your pup hasn’t been exposed to crates and is coming home aged around 10-12 weeks. Depending on the method, crate training is a necessary precursor to potty training. Even if you plan to sleep with your dog (as many of us at Wise Woofs do) this is an important process to go through in the event that we need to use a crate to prevent our dogs from freaking out. The most important aspect of crate training is to make the crate a place where good things occur, a place our pups associate with pleasure. To begin, this means setting the crate up with blankets or a dog bed to provide a plush, comfortable base. We must give our pups a decent amount of space to stretch out if desired and allow them the ability to lay on the cooler base surface; Make sure to adjust the crate size to allow for some but not an excessive amount of movement. The reason we do this is to deny the pup a space to go to the bathroom in the crate. Our pups will not want to defecate where they eat and sleep. Crates should be set up before our pups come home, and should be implemented as a training tool and an area of comfort for them to be kept when necessary.
Here are some steps to introduce your pup to the crate, by creating a positive association and the basis for healthy use in the future. This can often be a critical aspect of puppy raising.
- First, the goal is to practice all sorts of fun, pleasurable, dopamine-inducing activities relating to the crate in order to increase your pup’s comfort. This includes throwing treats inside the crate at random times, serving all meals inside the crate with an open door to start and playing with your pup around the crate so the dog is used to it and not scared of its presence.
- Secondly, we want to begin to close the crate while happy-making things are occurring inside, like mealtimes and treat fetching! If ‘wait’ is already integrated into their vocabulary, it can be utilized inside the crate. During the beginning of this skill development, don’t latch the crate door closed. This is so our pups know they can come out if needed. Once they become more comfortable over time, latch the door during meals and make the pup wait inside until they are not whining or displaying attention-seeking behavior.
- The third and final step of this crate-training process is to leave the dog closed inside the crate. It’s up to each individual pet owner as to when to begin this step but sometime within the two week period after arriving at home is the recommended maximum. This should also be done in conjunction with a gratuitous number of treats. Our dogs are fast learners. They need continuous reinforcement and motivation in order to associate their crate with a fun/pleasurable experience and maintain focus on what is being asked of them. It’s not uncommon for pups to throw a fit when first locked in their crates for an extended period of time. It’s important that we don’t respond to these fits. When we don’t respond, we send the message that we don’t appreciate unruly behavior, and that being in the crate is not the end of the world. Gradually extend the duration of time in the crate and eventually move to overnights until the pup is acclimated. Throughout this process our pups should seek out the crate for shelter as it becomes aligned with their personal space, a hideout where they can zone out from the rest of the world and relax.
This positive conditioning and adjustment is very rewarding to see. It’s something that will happen over and over throughout your dog-training journey as a main process to reach a desired outcome.
