Crate Training For Your Puppy ©2005 by Dy Witt

Teaching your puppy crate training is the first and best step in his life. It makes all the other steps in his training go so much smoother, much like a solid foundation makes for a superior wall. Establishing you as the Alpha member of his “pack” is one very good reason for starting your puppy in a crate when he is very young.


Another reason for crate training is that dogs love predictability. To know what is going to happen in any given situation makes him happy, and more apt to be the best-behaved dog he can possibly be.

Leave him gradually longer, slowly and carefully.

Q. Why do I want a crate for my puppy? A. Because they love it is the best reason. They feel very safe and secure in there. Here
are some more:

   When you leave a puppy alone, he always has some measure of separation anxiety. This leads him to any behavior
that brings him comfort, which is chewing, digging, or when it is severe, voiding his bowels.

   When placed in a crate, he feels safe because nothing can get to him, nothing can harm him. He will sleep and
chew and wait for you to return

   When leaving him overnight at the vet, if your dog is not crate trained he will cry the entire time, feeling lost
and abandoned. With crate training, he is sure you will return, you always do. Of course the vet’s office is strange and will
cause him some anxiety, but nothing like the pure terror he will feel without experience in being locked in.


NOTE: About crate-training, do not make a prison of his crate. Do not use it as punishment. Do not leave him there for more than 2 hours, just time for a long puppy nap and some chew time. After that he will cry. Do not remove him while he is crying. This will make him think he has to cry to get out. No matter what, make sure he is being good when you open the door. He will learn he has to be quiet to get out.
Do not make a fuss when you are letting him out, just quietly open the door and take him out to potty. When he potties, praise him to high heaven! Dogs naturally do not go where they nest, but sometimes it happens. Do not scold, just clean it out with a bland face. He will learn the lesson. If possible, try to clean it while he is outside so he returns to a clean crate


. In 25 years of training dogs, I have never seen any one thing more critical for a dog's well-being than good crate training.

Author Dy Witt Click Here For More Information From Dy!