Puppy Crate Training – What About the Crate?
Posted on | March 10, 2010 | No Comments
Crate training is known to be the most efficient method for puppy house training. You certainly need a crate for puppy crate training. The crate is used to limit your puppy’s activity to a designated area when you’re unable to keep watch on her. Your puppy should stay in the crate except for when she’s playing under your supervision, eating, or going outdoor with you for a potty break.
The crate serves as your puppy’s den, which is a place where your puppy feels safe and secure, and enjoying spending time in, whether she’s sleeping, napping, or simply needs to be alone. Dogs naturally like to keep their sleeping or resting area clean, so your puppy will not like to soil her den. She will try to keep her pee and poop in until you let her out of her crate.
Choosing a crate
It is necessary to select the right size of crate for your puppy. If the crate is too large, your puppy will comfortably use one end as her sleeping area, and the other end as her toilet. This actually destruct the primary objective of puppy crate training, and certainly will impede the house training process for a few weeks!
With regard to choosing the crate, choose one crate that’s large enough for your puppy to comfortably stand up, turn around, and lie down. But don’t worry, you don’t have to keep purchasing new crates as your puppy grows and increase in size. You can save cost if you buy one crate that can serve as your puppy’s den until she grows up.
Get a large wire crate (for adult dog size), then block off some of its inside space with dividers when your dog is still a puppy. Boards or wire grilles serve well as dividers. As and when your puppy requires a larger area to move around as she grows, you can remove the dividers to give more space to her. If you prefer to build the crate yourself, that’s a good idea, too. You can later replace it with a larger model when your puppy gets bigger.
Making the crate welcoming
You can make the crate a welcoming and inviting place for your puppy to go. You may lay a layer of thick blankets in the crate, and also place inside a chew or some toys for your puppy. The crate entrance should be invitingly open at all times, but should be securely closed when your puppy is inside.
Take note: before your puppy is fully house trained, you shouldn’t allow her to move freely in the house to prevent soiling accidents. If you let her to move around in every corner of the house before she’s completely house trained, you’re actually encouraging her to eliminate wherever she likes. The more times your puppy does this, the easier for her to repeat it, the tougher to house train her.
Location of the crate
When you are crate training your puppy, have the crate nearby. The best spot to place the crate is the center of family activity, usually the kitchen or the living area. Keeping your crate puppy close to you not only makes your puppy house breaking process easier, since you can keep a close watch on your puppy’s movement, but also helps build the bond between you and your puppy. Your puppy needs to feel that she’s a part of the family now, and that she’s not isolated from everyone.
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