puppy crate training | puppty crates

crate training your dog or puppy

crates come in many shapes and sizes and must be the right size for the age and breed of your dog they are usually portable if your dog is small enough , even if you have a larger dog you can buy crates that will fold down and can be put in the back of an estate car or van

A crate is a secure safe place for your puppy to go when he is tired or needs space to himself, crates should be a reasonable size but be small enough to transport your puppy to places such as vets, a crate should be big enough for puppy to fit in comfortably with room to stretch out and room for his water bowl and chew toys.

Crates can also be extremely useful in house training as it is possible to use the puppies inbuilt instinct not to soil their living area to train them more effectively, it is useful to use newspaper inside the crate as a base away from his sleeping area, he will use the newspaper to toilet just make sure you change the paper once it is soiled.

Initially you can leave the crate door open and make sure your puppy is comfortable in the crate and that he is used to using the crate as his sleeping area.

You can gradually introduce a command such as bed when you want the puppy to go to the crate use treats when he responds to the command.

Don’t force your dog into the crate as he will resist and reject the crate and it will not be a safe and secure environment for him, but rather entice him into the crate leave the door open feed him in the crate and leave tasty treats there, soon he will come to realize it as his home once he is settled you can start to close the door but never leave him there too long at once.

If you select a good toilet area outdoors “or indoors if you are pad training” then use the crate to train your dog quickly, put him in the crate for short periods then take him to the toilet area regularly, praise him when he toilets there, if you see him start to toilet around the house pick him up and take him to his toilet area, again praise him if he goes. setting up a schedule so that the puppy knows that as soon as you wake you take him from his crate to his toilet area and after meals and several other times during the day enables the puppy to associate the crate with his home and the toilet area as a place to toilet, puppies are instinctively reluctant to soil their sleeping and food area so your puppy will learn where to toilet and when and it will soon become a habit for him.

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