Tuesday 3 January 2012

Introducing Your Puppy To His Crate

Your puppy will most likely not have spent much time in a crate before he comes to live with you (except perhaps during travel, or if his breeder started him on housebreaking) so crate training will be new to him.

The main reason why crate training a puppy is so effective is that it taps into your pup's natural desire to keep his 'den' clean.
In the wild, puppies would toddle out of their den to eliminate - even if it's only two tiny puppy-sized steps outside! This is instinctive behavior and is hard-wired into their little brains.
Now, your little guy has never seen a real 'den', but being in his crate will trigger that deep-seated instinct and he'll naturally do his very best not to pee or poop until you let him out.
Although crate training a puppy will help make housebreaking much easier for you both, your puppy is a baby and has other natural instincts to deal with too. One of them is that he instinctively wants to be right next to his pack - and that pack is now YOU.
He feels anxious and worried if he's away from you (because in the wild a puppy who gets separated is vulnerable and in great danger). This is why he will cry and complain and fuss and whine at first.... not because he hates his crate!
Of course, he's perfectly safe... he just doesn't know it yet. And as he's a domesticated dog and not a lone wolf, he needs to get used to being separated from you from short periods, so it's okay to ignore the fussingclick here for more on this
When you're crate training a puppy, it makes the whole process a bit easier if you let him get used to his new crate, and feel comfortable around it, before he has to spend much time actually inside it.
Something worth mentioning here is that you should never use the crate as punishment. Fido needs to think of his crate as a safe, happy place where he gets the chance to chew on his very favorite toys! Putting him in his crate as a punishment or when you're angry with him will undo all the hard work you invested in the first place.
Here are some basic rules of crate training and a few ideas for ways in which you can help Fido get accustomed to his new crate and learn that it's a fun place to spend time -
Open access
When you begin crate training a puppy, leave the crate door open and throw some really tasty treats inside, all the way to the back. Puppy curiosity will get the better of your little fur ball sooner or later and he'll venture inside to claim them.
Feed him inside
Give Fido his meals inside the crate (with the door open). This way he learns to associate one of his favorite things (food!) with his crate. If he seems scared at first try feeding him right outside the crate door a couple of times then try it inside again.
Play Hide & Seek
Make crate training a puppy fun by playing this game. Put a tasty treat or special toy inside his crate and then encourage Fido to 'find' it. Using a happy, friendly voice say something along the lines of"where's your goodie? Let's find it?".
Follow the search with praise, such as "Oh, there it is. It's in your crate (or bed, house whatever you want to call it). What a good boy, you found it!"

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