Introduction To Crate Training

Lesson Table of Contents

• Why Crate Train Your Puppy
• Top 7 Mistakes Owners Make When Crate Training
• Important Things to Know About Using Crates
• Key Tips For Using a Crate
• Confining Your Puppy in a Crate Before It's Crate Trained
• Confining Your Pup At Night Before It’s Crate Trained
• House and Crate Training At the Same Time

Every dog training book and website tells you that dogs like their crates. Trainers and friends regale you with tales about how much their dog loves to be in its crate. They say that, like wolves, dogs are den animals and are comforted by small spaces.

So why is your puppy crying, barking its head off in the crate? Is everyone lying to you or do you have the only dog in the world that HATES the crate?

Neither! The real answer is that puppies and dogs quickly learn to like their crate, if given the chance, but it takes some effort.

Your friends and trainers probably do not remember the week or two that it took to make their puppy relaxed and quiet in its crate. They just remember the outcome, a dog that loves its crate!

This course will teach you how to turn your howling little puppy that is demanding to be let out of the crate into one that happily goes into the crate and quietly relaxes there until it either needs to potty or you let it out. This will not happen overnight but with training, consistency, and patience your puppy will learn to happily spend time in its crate.

Each lesson in this course is broken down into small steps so you and your pup can achieve success. Try to do them in order. The first six lessons can go quickly, in a week or so, if you train your puppy for short periods, multiple times each day.

Why Crate Train Your Puppy?

If your puppy doesn’t particularly like its crate, why should you put the time and effort into changing this? Because crate-trained dogs are:

• More comfortable, relaxed and safe at home while you are away
• Less destructive
• More welcome in the homes of family and friends, as well as hotels
• Safer while riding in the car
• Less anxious when kenneled in the animal hospital or boarding facility
• Better at self-control than dogs that aren’t crate trained

The Top 7 Mistakes Owners Make While Crate Training Their Puppy

Although crate training is straightforward if you know what you are doing, it can be a total mystery if you do not. Owners often make many mistakes while crate training their puppies and dogs. Here is the countdown to the seven most serious mistakes that we have seen over the last 40 years.

This crate-training Course will enable you to fix these mistakes if you have already made them or avoid them in the first place.

Here are the top 7 mistakes owners make while crate training their pup!

7. They talk to their puppy while the puppy is barking when confined.

Puppy: “Bark! Bark! Bark!”

Owner: “It’s okay, baby. You are fine in there.” (Canine Translation: You are such a good dog for barking. I like it so much!)

Puppy thinks: OK, I’ll bark some more. “Bark! Bark! Bark!”

Owner: “Honey, you have to be quiet in the crate. Shhhhh! Be quiet! Hush!” (Canine Translation: I’m not sure what you want, Puppy. Can you say it again?)

Puppy: “BARK! BARK! B-A-R-K!”

6. They confine their puppy without any introduction to the crate.

Most puppies need an initial introduction to the crate so they know it is safe, that they will not be left in it for hours, and that it is a good place for a nap. Timid puppies or those that have had bad experiences may be frightened by the crate. With all pups, tackle Lesson 1 as soon as you get your pup so you aren’t crating it without a plan or introduction.

5. They do not potty their puppy before putting it in the crate.

Any training, including crate training, is exciting for puppies. Excited puppies usually need to pee. Owners that do not potty their puppy before crate-training sessions often end up with confused and anxious puppies or even worse, pups that potty in the crate during the session.

4. They teach the puppy that crates are only for nighttime and never teach the puppy to be relaxed and quiet when confined at any time.

We want your pup to be quiet in the crate during the day, while the family is home, while the family is away, while there are other pets around, etc. Puppies can be calm in their crate under all circumstances but owners have to teach this.

3. They put the crate in the basement or other place where the puppy is completely isolated.

Not only are dogs social animals that need company much of the time, puppies know that they are helpless without their family. Isolated puppies will cry not only due to loneliness but in desperation and fear.

2. They prioritize crate training over house training.

House training must ALWAYS come first! If you aren’t sure if your pup needs to potty or just wants out, err on the side of house training, put it on a leash, and take it outside.

And the top mistake that owners make while crate training?

1. They let their puppy out of the crate after it has barked for a long time.

Each time you give in and let your pup out of the crate while it is barking, you are teaching it to bark in the crate. The longer you hold out before giving up and releasing your pup, the longer you have taught your pup to bark. And, just so you know, dogs can bark for hours and hours and hours so if you let your pup out of the crate while he’s been barking for 4 hours, he now thinks he needs to bark for 4 hours to get out.

The ONLY time you should let your pup out of the crate while it is barking is if you are going to take it outside to potty. If you do this, you must follow all the house-training rules: put it on a leash to go out and, if it doesn’t go to the bathroom when you take it outside, put it directly back in the crate. No play outside, no fun in the house!

So let’s get started creating your puppy’s love for its crate!

Important Things To Know When Using A Crate

Crate training puppies is simple but not necessarily easy. Like children, puppies like to be out and about. They express their dissatisfaction by whining, barking, and crying, which is not only loud and annoying but also heartbreaking.

We love our puppies and want them to be happy but we also know that learning to accept confinement is a short-term price for a lifetime of freedom and involvement with you! Dogs that calmly and quietly accept confinement can join you almost anywhere.

We always need to use the crate fairly, too. Here are ways to ensure you are doing that!

Key Tips For Using a Crate

• Never use the crate in or with anger! If you are upset with something your puppy has done do not throw it in the crate in anger. You want to develop your puppy’s love for the crate rather than have the pup associate it with your anger.
• Once crate trained, you can use the crate for time outs. Once you have completed Lesson 1, it is fine to use the crate to give your pup a time out when it’s become incorrigible or you are at a loss as to what to do. Your pup may be biting you, stealing items, or generally running amok. This often happens when pups have gotten over-tired but just can’t settle down to sleep.
  Cheerfully put your pup in the crate, give it a treat and a chew, and breathe a sigh of relief. Use the methods in Lesson 2 to quiet your pup if it starts barking. You can’t ignore the pup completely but your arms and legs can get a break from those teeth.
• Limit the time your puppy is in its crate. Your pup should not be in the crate more than 4 hours during the daytime and another 8-9 hours at night. Always take it out to potty before putting your pup in the crate for training or a long period.
• When using the crate be sure to latch all of the latches on the crate. Your puppy may try to figure out a way to get out of the crate. If it is successful, it will likely check every time it is crated for the rest of its life. To avoid this, make sure the crate is securely locked so your pup cannot get out. In addition, a partially secured door may be a hazard if your pup should get stuck or caught while squeezing through it.
• Remove the puppy’s leash when you put the pup in a crate. Bored puppies are likely to chew anything hanging from the collar. (We also remove collars so they won’t get caught in the crate.)
• Older dogs can be crate trained. Avidog’s Crate Training Course will work as well for older dogs as it will for puppies, however you should expect to spend more time on each step.

Confining Your Pup Before It’s Crate Trained

Since confining your puppy to small spaces is essential to keeping it, your house, and belongings safe, do your best to speed up crate training in the first days you have your pup. Hopefully, your breeder has started this process for you but even if she has not, you can work this out. Until your pup is quiet and calm in the crate, try three methods to contain your puppy when you cannot be directly supervising it.

• Tethering — to tether your puppy, use a short leash to tie your pup to you, for example your belt, or near you, for example to a chair leg or doorknob. Tethering to yourself is a great way to bond your pup to you. Most pups accept tethering well, although start off giving treats for hanging out with you.
  When you tether to a chair or door, it is likely your pup will chew on anything within reach so be sure to give it a great chew item during this time. You can use some stuffed Kongs, marrow bones, etc.
• Exercise Pen — these portable pens are wonderful ways to contain your puppy nearby, without allowing it access to the rest of the house or room. The ex-pen should be where your pup spends most of its daytime until it is trustworthy in the house.
• Crate — you may have to use the crate before your pup is crate trained. Definitely use it at night for sleeping and use it during the day when your pup is tired and most likely to fall asleep. When you use the crate during this period, stay close by until your pup goes to sleep.

Confining Your Pup At Night Before It’s Crate Trained

Puppies are safest when crated at night. Unlike humans, puppies sleep in short periods, even during the night. We have to teach them to remain quiet through the night, whether or not it is asleep.

You can use the crate at night from the first night you have your pup, whether or not you’ve had time to crate train. Here are some suggestions for getting a good night’s sleep.

• Place the crate next to or even on your bed so you can dangle your fingers in the side or door without getting up.
• Use the lightest sleeper. If you are still house-training your pup, put the crate next to the person most likely to wake up when it cries. Most children sleep too deeply to handle this duty.
• Drape the sheet over the top and sides of the crate so it is more denlike. Leave the front uncovered unless you find it makes the pup more comfortable to cover it.
• Have your pup’s leash, treats, a poop bag (if needed), and a flashlight on top of the crate so you can grab and go in the middle of the night.
• Put a Snuggle Puppy with the heartbeat on in the crate before you put the pup in.
• Avoid squeaky toys or hard chew items in the crate or your pup may wake you up while it’s playing.
• Make the room cool or even cold. Cool pups sleep much better than hot ones.
• Stash treats around the inside of the crate so your pup will have something to do when it gets in. Close the door until bedtime so it can’t steal the treats while you are brushing your teeth :-).
• Don’t put your pup in the crate until you are ready to turn the light out. Have the pup with you while you brush your teeth, prepare for bed, watch the news, check social media, etc. Only when you are ready to go to sleep should you put your pup in the crate.
• It’s okay if your pup cries a little–a minute or two–right after you’ve turned the light off. Dangle your fingers in the crate so the pup knows you are there.

House and Crate Training At the Same Time

If you are balancing these two training goals–house and crate training — together they will be two of the early challenges you will face with your new puppy. Why? Because you must keep both in mind while you interact with your puppy since what you need to do to successfully train one behavior can untrain the other.

Like babies who cry, puppies bark and whine when they want something. Puppies bark in their crates when they:

• have to go potty
• are feeling lonely/lost/frightened
• want to get out to play or be with their owners
• are annoyed at us for confining them

Your challenge is that you must respond differently to these four situations and you must do so relatively quickly. If your pup is barking because it:

• has to potty, you must take the puppy out immediately and not correct it for barking.
• is feeling lonely, lost or frightened, you need to reassure the pup by dangling your fingers in the crate and reassuring it but NOT take the pup out of the crate.
• is demanding or annoyed, you must NOT release it from the crate or even talk to the pup.

Oh my goodness! You have to respond three different ways to the same barking puppy? How can you tell the difference between the barks? Well, when you first bring your puppy home you likely can’t. You don’t know your puppy well enough to differentiate between when the puppy is barking to tell you it needs to potty, is feeling lost or lonely, or wants attention. The good news is that most puppies adjust to their new homes in a few days so they no longer feel lost or frightened. You should be down to two reasons for barking in short order.

• If you have just pottied your puppy, you can most likely eliminate that as an option. If you haven’t taken your pup out in the last 20-30 minutes, assume it needs to go out. Put it on leash and take it out.
• If your pup has been with you for a few days, you can eliminate your pup feeling lost or lonely, especially if you are right there next to the crate.
• Most often, your barking pup simply wants to get out of the crate. Do Lessons 1 and 2 to change this.

If you pay attention, you will be able to tell the difference between barks in a week or so. If you are struggling to balance house and crate training, take Avidog’s Puppy Potty Training Solution, which is part of the Avidog’s Puppy College and available separately, will teach you how to do this correctly.