How to Crate Train a Puppy?

Today’s articel is sponsored by Midwest homes for pets and today I'm going to show you how to use a crate to keep your puppy happy safe and trained. It does not get any cuter than this meet Magnolia she is an 11 week old American cocker. I'll have a link to that and I'll have a link to my playlist that will show you how to teach your dog all of the basics in order in the description. If you're new to training a dog, you're very likely making the very common mistake of not controlling your puppy's environment sufficiently. It’s really easy to underestimate how important this is, since you're in the communication building. Base with your dog you're not going to yet have reliable communication because you haven't trained them yet and it takes many months to have a well-trained dog.

Crate Training A Puppy Crying

So you have to strictly control their environment in the mean time. Now broadly speaking there are 3 ways to control your dog's environment. The best way is by having them on leash and attached to you anytime you're home. Next you can have a large puppy proofed area like a bedroom, bathroom, or laundry room and finally a crane. Now all three of these have their own unique advantages. When used in moderation crates can be a fantastic way to help with overall training. They can give your dog a secure place to rest save your property assist with accelerating house training time and give you some freedom when you're distracted from puppy training. Of course not all dogs will love being in a crate and crates are not for every dog. But if you go out of your way to make it an awesome place there's a really good chance your dog will chill out, in the crate with a door wide open simply because it's their absolute favorite place in the house to be.

How many of you at home already have dogs like that? tell me in the comments below. This is the latest innovation from Midwest homes for pets, it's called the contour crate. Let me show you why it's special? it's loaded with features like this. Really clever lap locking technology with multiple lock points that will keep your pup extra secure. It also comes with the option of two doors. If you need to fit it in a certain space, or fit it in the back of your car. I love dog crates that have two doors personally. A divider panel is a must-have if you have a puppy and you'll get that with this crate. It allows you to adjust the crate size as your dog grows and that's really handy for house trading at first.

How Long Does It Take To Crate Train A Puppy?

In the event that your dog does have an accident in the crate this leak-proof plastic pan is really easy to clean and this is a real thick, one right here it's common to find like real cheap plasticky ones and other brands. The contour crate comes fully assembled, so no tools required and it folds for easy storage. I recommend that you get an oversize crate for your dog for maximum comfort as your dog mature. Since the contour crate is available in six sizes well that's pretty easy. The better you are controlling where your dog can and can't go, the faster your overall results will be. But for those times when you're cooking, sleeping, or working and not directly supervising, your dog still needs to be in a controlled setting and crates are great for keeping bad habits from emerging and keeping your pup safe in those instances.

Minimize the amount of time though that your dog spends in a crate. So 15 minutes to an hour here and there and overnight are generally recommended. In cases where you have to work though, avoid leaving your dog in a crate more than 4 hours at a time and less for dogs under 4 months of age. If this is you make arrangements to come home and exercise your dog at lunch, or get someone to help you with your gone longer than. That dog walkers and doggy daycares are an option too. Before creating your dog for any significant period of time, or even introducing the crate to them, exercise them. In fact you should almost never create your dog for several hours without thorough exercise beforehand especially with energetic dogs. Exercise almost always reduces anxiety and makes for a more cooperative dog and virtually all instances if your dog doesn't like the crate. Now you can start over by making it a fun enjoyable experience like we'll do today. This is often the case with adopted adult dogs and that's okay just go slow with these guys.

First thing we want to do to get our dog comfortable with the crate is let them sniff, it walk them around it and just let them check it out. Feel free to throw them a good treat anytime they react well since this crate has two doors. Let’s go ahead and use that to our advantage and make it a nice open area to be explored. I'm really comfortable that Magnolia is accepting of the crate. At this point I want to encourage her to go in the crate. I'm using really tiny pieces of meat here about the size of a grain of rice. I'm gonna place it in there and look at that right in there and this is typically how our will go. If your dog has never seen a crate before really good job. The idea is to make it as fun of an experience as we can and even consider using toys. When introducing your dog to the crate tube because nothing says fun like toys go Gator.

Crate Training Puppy First Night

There it Is, I love this low threshold to makes it easier to climb over. Look at that think about it like this we're trying to make the crate kind of like a bedroom for Magnolia. We want her to feel comfortable in it to go there. When she just wants to relax this is her personal space and dogs really tend to like that and the reason I'm continuing to treat her while she's in the crate. crate training a puppy crying Is eventually I'm gonna want her to be comfortable in there for extended periods of time and in general when you're putting your dog in the crate you really shouldn't have a leash collar or harness on them. You want to have them as safe as possible. So now that she's comfortable going in the crate coming out of the crate. I think it's time now that we show her that these doors can actually close. I'm gonna go ”nice and slow". Oops sorry she seems okay with it.

I'm giving her a little treat there just to let her know. Hey, she's having a good time. We’re making it kind of a fun game, for so let's try closing the other door here. See, what happens? we're gonna pull up here and then let it come down. Close right there. Really clever feature as you're just hanging out with them watching TV, doing your thing have the crate out like this and just kind of treat them. Make sure they're extra comfortable, feel free to open it like this and just let them know. “Hey look you can come out anytime, you want it's cool? come here". "Yeah that's good”. So as your dog gets comfortable with being in the crate give them some safe chew toys to chew on just to kind of minimize boredom.

How To Crate Train A Dog For Potty Training?

It’s just really critical to take your time. Now you can take anywhere between a few minutes and a few weeks to get many dogs comfortable with the crate. In the meantimeys, that I mentioned earlier until you're happy that they're happy in the crate and don't forget about exercise. This is perhaps the biggest thing that most people forget about when getting their dog comfortable with the crate.So for example wouldn't be reasonable to wake up in the morning. Let your dog out to do their business and then just put them in the crate while you go to work. You’ll have to thoroughly exercise them before doing that. Ideally we just want our dogs going in the crate, chilling out passing out and being comfortable until you get home for lunch. you can use crate training to take your overall general training to the next level as well, for example say your dog gets really excited when guests come over.

Now naturally your attention is divided in that scenario and you can't focus on your dog having them in a crate so that they can experience being around people. While still in a controlled environment is a great way to phase in distraction train and once your dog has settled down, you can let them out of the crate put them on leash and allow them to interact with your guests because you'll be more focused. Another valuable way to use crate training a puppy schedule. I'll have a articel in the description that will show you how to get that done. I'm also gonna have a link below where you can pick up your contour crate by Midwest homes for pets.