Crate Training New Puppy: The BEST Guide To Success
Crate training a puppy takes use of the dog’s innate desire to find a cozy, peaceful, and secure location when the environment around them grows too demanding or overwhelming. Learning to crate train your puppy is a crucial tool for keeping small dogs from chewing on anything inside the house or for house training them. Additionally, the safest way to travel your dog in the car is in a crate.
Introduction
Crate Training A New Puppy
When carried out correctly, crate training can be a useful technique for pet owners. It not only gives your new puppy a sense of security and stability, but it also gives you, the puppy’s new owner, a way to establish law and order in your house. Crate training, when implemented and carried out properly, benefits all parties, especially your puppy.
Crate Training Philosophy
Dogs, adult dogs and puppies, are by nature den creatures. A dog’s den serves as their home in the wild, and den animals have a secure location where they may rest, hide, and raise puppies without worrying about outside threats or danger.
Puppy Training
Puppy crates provide a domesticated dog with the safe shelter that they naturally crave. If introduced and used properly, the crate will become the place where your dog voluntarily chooses to sleep, hide during storms, and possibly just laze around because it’s their very own space.
Why Is Crate Training Your Puppy Beneficial?
There are a few great reasons to crate train your puppy.
House Training
Your domesticated dog won’t want to soil their resting area since he will treat their crate the same way a wild dog would treat their den. As a result, you can be confident that your dog won’t have an accident inside of the crate if at all feasible. When you let your dog out of the crate to go outdoors, he will naturally take advantage of the opportunity to relieve himself. The dog’s crate makes potty training your puppy a lot easier.
While there are various ways to potty train your puppy, this transition is fairly instinctive and only requires you to let your dog out of their box at regular intervals. This will help your puppy understand that it is expected of him to relieve himself outside and not inside.
Transporting
Early crate training gives your puppy a chance to acquire accustomed to their future mode of transportation while also providing an easy method for housebreaking. Whether it’s a quick trip to the vet or a lengthy cross-country transfer, a crate is a terrific method to transport your pup. By introducing your pup to a crate at a young age, you’ll make travel much simpler and more comfortable for your canine companion.
Teaching
Dogs also require rules to help them understand their place in the world and their boundaries, just like humans do. While your puppy is still figuring out what he can and cannot do, crate training is a great method to create a hierarchy in your home. When you confine your dog to a crate when you’re gone or when you’re home but can’t be as watchful as you should be, you prevent your dog from having access to your furniture or having accidents on the rug in your living room.
As a result, when you do let your dog to roam freely throughout your house, it will be when you can discipline him appropriately if any inappropriate conduct arises. Your dog will rapidly learn that one room with their crate is their very own domain and that the rest of family room in the house is their Alpha’s dog safe space.
Choosing A Great Crate For Your Dog
Dog Crates For Puppies
Not every dog crate is made equally. Although there are many different kinds of dog crates available, you should make sure the one you pick is the right size and shape for your pet. Metal crates and plastic crates are the two most common types of puppy crates.
Plastic Dog Crates
Plastic cages might not be the first option for pet owners for the best crates for an in-home crate because the dog that calls it home has less visibility, but if you plan to travel by plane a lot, this crate is a perfect crate option because all airlines require this kind of crate to transport your pet.
For dogs who require a little more protection or for homes with greater activity (think of active kids), plastic crates are wonderful since they allow your dog a little sleeping space and more seclusion.
Metal Dog Crates
For puppy training, steel mesh wire, and metal containers are a popular choice for various reasons: When created, their collapsible, mesh-like design offers maximum visibility and ventilation for your dog within the same crate size, and it also makes them easy to clean tray make them simple to disassemble and transport. Wire crates are a classic dog crate design. In case your dog has an accident inside their house, metal, wire crates are extremely simple to clean out.
These dog’s crate, which are sturdy and frequently escape-proof, are a terrific choice for growing dogs because you can buy the crates with a crate cover in larger size and easily divide the wire crate sizes for extra room with a divider when they’re smaller, removing it or changing it as they grow.
A Note On Crate Size
No matter which style of dog crate you choose for your dog, you should make sure that it has enough space for them to stand up and turn around without being too spacious so that they may sleep on one side and soil the other, since it would undo whatever house training progress you have made. The larger room you buy for them as a puppy will fit them as an adult, unlike a plastic crate that you would likely need to replace as your pup develops. Newer wire, metal cages are configurable with a built-in, moveable divider.
Your dog should be able to stand up and turn around inside the dog crate easily. Choose a dog crate size that will accommodate your puppy grows your dog’s adult size if they are still growing. Puppy crates might be rented from your neighborhood animal rescue. Renting two door crate allows you to upgrade soft crate to the right size for your puppy until they reach adulthood, at which point you can buy a permanent crate.
Crate Training Guide
It’s time to consider how to crate train your dog once you’ve determined that it’s right for you and which crate will work best for your dog. The time it takes to crate train an animal will vary depending on the animal’s temperament, age, and prior experiences, but one thing is certain: you always want your dog to connect the dog crate with positive things. Baby steps are the greatest way to achieve this, even with the best canines.
Step 1: Make The Introduction
Place the dog crate in a room where your dog spends a lot of short periods of time before attempting to get him or her to enter the crate or even come close to it. To give your dog the confidence to explore their new crate and their future home, remove or open the crate door.
It’s okay if your new puppy is naturally shy. Instead of trying to force your dog to become accustomed to the crate, consider sitting next to it and speaking to your dog in a nice manner while offering treats around the cage and eventually inside until he enters. Another fantastic approach to get them into the crate is to put a familiar blanket or toy inside.
Step 2: Make It A Dinner Date
Start feeding your new dog from inside their new home once they are comfortable going in and out of the dog’s crate and spending some time within it with the doors open, of course. Place plastic tray with the food in the back (for dogs who are quite comfortable) of double door crate’s size, or in the middle (for dogs who are still a little on the guard).
When your dog is eating comfortably inside, start closing the door—just while he’s eating—and reopening it as soon as he’s finished. After finishing dinner, gradually work your way up to letting your dog spend up to 10 minutes in their crate with the door closed.
What About Whining?
At this point, whining from your dog can indicate that you moved too quickly. Your puppy should not have separation anxiety and be able to sit quietly while you are gone. Go back to the time he can tolerate without complaining and carry on from there. If your dog whines, don’t let him out until he stops or he’ll start to equate whimpering with getting to go outside. You shouldn’t establish or maintain a habit like this.
Step 3: Make It A Short Stay
It’s time to start crate-training your dog when they are eating and spending a brief time in their crate after a meal without displaying any signs of distress. Once safely inside the dog’s crate, give your dog another reward, close the crate’s door again, and sit calmly with your dog for a few minutes before letting them out, giving them praise and another treat. Many people use the commands “kennel” or “kennel up.”
From here, gradually increase the amount of time you spend away from the crate until your dog feels at ease with you being gone for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. From this point on, you can start taking brief trips outside with your dog in a box.
When You Return Home
Keep it low key when coming home to a crated dog. Don’t react to them the same manner in order to feed their excitement. Come in gently, wait a few minutes before going to your dog’s kennel, and when you do, do it in a relaxed manner.
Step 4: Make It An Extended Stay (Or Even Overnight)
Whether it took you seven days or seven weeks to get your dog to this degree of comfort, as long as he or she exhibits no signs of nervousness, you can now start putting your dog in the crate for lengthy amounts of time or overnight. Other than sticking to the system you already have, here are some suggestions for longer stays:
- Occasionally cage your dog. Your dog might start to link their kennel with being alone if you always “crate and leave.” Your dog will be reminded that’s not always the case if you crate them anywhere from right before you leave to up to 10 minutes before you depart.
- During the night, keep them close by, at least initially. You can progressively transfer your dog’s kennel to the place you desire once they’ve learned that being crated at night is not a punishment or a means of social isolation and that you’re still around.
Best Puppy Training Crates
We’ve found some of the best dog crates available for puppy training.
TODO
Video: Crate Training Advice From An Expert
Here’s a quick one-minute video from The Dog Whisperer himself, Cesar Millan, who demonstrates a few tricks to help.
TODO
Additional Tips To Keep In Mind
- Take your puppy outdoors to relieve themselves when they whine in the crate, not to play. If he doesn’t use the restroom, ignore their cries until he does. Otherwise, you risk teaching your dog to whimper in order to play or escape the dog crate. This will make potty training easier.
- Never use the crate as a place for punishment.
- Avoid shouting or shaking the dog crate violently.
- Puppy crates shouldn’t be used for longer than a few hours at a time. More than that would require them to pass their bowels and bladder.
- Puppies shouldn’t be kept in puppy crates all day and night. They require human contact. Try incorporating doggie daycare or a dog walker into your pup’s routine if you discover that your schedule forces him or her to spend more time in the crate than is appropriate.
If your yard is larger, pet owners might want to think about getting a dog playpen or something else that keeps them more contained. And once your puppy has finished, employ these canine crate training methods to keep them disciplined far into adulthood.
Related Posts
TODO
FAQs About Puppy Crate Training
When Do Dogs Stop Growing? Factors That Affect Size
Puppy Vaccine Schedule: What Shots Do Puppies Need?
Dog Size Prediction: How Big Will My Puppy Get?
Conclusion
Crate Training Process For New Puppy
Congratulations pet parents! A dog is on the way! Pet owners must get ready, though, before the small fluffy infant pup makes its way into its new house! Would you bring home a newborn human without a bed or car seat available, after all? The same reasoning holds true for canines. But they’ll require a puppy training crate rather than a crib. Potty and behavior training for pup, will be much more challenging without one.
And don’t worry, crate-training puppies is not cruel, harsh, or even evil. To begin with, canines have a innate tendency to seek out cozy, protected dens. Prior to domestication, their ancestors slept in caves, tunnels, and small crevices while raising their young. To reduce the likelihood of predator attacks, they deliberately chose small spaces.
Crates are not an instrument of confinement, as we have explained. Even puppies can benefit from it. Some of these advantages include:
- When faced with stressful circumstances (such as loud noises, crowded spaces, or unfamiliar locations), crate-trained dogs can retreat to their crates or dens to feel safe and secure. For them, it acts as a secure location.
- Crate training your dog when they are still puppies is simpler than when they are older, claims a Brown University study. However, you can still train an adult dog to use a crate; it may simply take more time.
- Traveling might benefit from crate training as well. Puppies that are not crate-trained puppies may become extremely anxious and stressed out while traveling or in a vehicle.
Crating can, however, lead to issues if done incorrectly. Some of these issues include:
- Depression and anxiety: Crating your puppies for an extended period of time might be detrimental. They may experience mental health issues including depression and anxiety as a result.
- Hazards for choking: Avoid collaring or leashing your dog while they are in their cage because it could smother them. Additionally, containers made of subpar materials can result in choking.
- Reverse effect: Instead of viewing a crate as their safe haven, a dog may grow to dread or be anxious about one if it is used as a form of punishment.
Given the aforementioned issues, it’s crucial to carry out crate training correctly. And selecting the appropriate crate for your puppy is one of the ways you may accomplish that.
Crate training a puppy takes use of the dog’s innate desire to find a cozy, peaceful, and secure location when the environment around them grows too demanding or overwhelming. It’s a crucial tool for keeping dogs from chewing on anything inside the house or for potty training them. The safest way to travel your dog in the car is in a dog crate.