Crate Training Your Puppy Fundamentals
Crate training is known to be the most efficient method for puppy house training. Puppy crate training certainly involves a crate. A crate basically looks like a cage, and is used to temporarily restrict your puppy’s movement to a specific area when you’re unable to keep an eye 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
Picking the right size of crate for your puppy is crucial. 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!
When it comes to choosing the crate, get one that is big enough for your puppy to comfortably stand up, lie down or turn around. Don’t worry, though, as you don’t have to keep getting new crates to fit the size of your growing puppy. You’ll be able to save money if you buy a crate that can last till your puppy grows up.
Buy an adult-size wire crate and partition the inside space with dividers while your dog is a puppy. You can use boards or wire grilles as dividers. When your puppy grows and requires more space to move around, you can enlarge the space by adjusting the dividers. 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 inviting
Try to make the crate as welcoming as possible to invite your puppy in. You may lay a layer of thick blankets in the crate, and also place inside a chew or some toys for your puppy. The door should be always opened when your puppy is out of the crate, but must be firmly closed when she’s in the crate.
Remember: before your puppy is fully house broken, you wouldn’t want to give her total freedom in the house to avoid soiling incidence. 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. And every time she does this, it’ll be easier for her to do it again.
Where to place the crate?
When you are crate training your puppy, have the crate nearby. The ideal place for the crate is the hub of the family: usually the kitchen, or anywhere the family gathers. Having the puppy crate near to you makes puppy house breaking easier for you, and at the same time helps to create the bond between you and your four-legged friend. Your puppy needs to feel that she’s a part of the family now, and that she’s not isolated from everyone.