Posts Tagged ‘crate train’

What You Should Know About Crate Training Your Dog

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

Dogs are naturally den animals and in natural settings they search out cosy, secure shelters for their dens. This is the explanation that providing a crate for your pet is such a common, successful tool for training. If you can successfully acclimate your pup to its crate your pet will have a familiar, secure “den” which will make housebreaking, travelling and bed time way easier.

Caution: Before you begin crating your dog be aware that if your dog spends lots of time in its crate it can cause all types of mental and behavioural issues. Your dog should not be left in its crate for hours in the day, let out in the evening, only to return to its crate overnight. Dogs in that situation can become destructive, panicky, unhappy and bark incessantly. If you have to leave your dog alone throughout the day while at work, there are alternative options to crating it. You can create a pen inside or outside, and/or have someone come by the house to let your dog out of its crate and take it for a walk. Dogs need stimulation and are extremely unhappy enclosed for long periods. Your dog may get panicky as it has no idea of when it will be let out again.

That being said, if you’re able to spend some time with your dog during the daytime and can let your dog out of its crate every couple of hours, crate training could be a positive experience for both you and your puppy.

To Start Crate Training

Dogs like predictability. They like being on a schedule and being able to know what’s going to happen. This improves their behavior and disposition. That is the reason why crate training can be a great way to house train your young dog. The crate can be employed as a place to snooze and rest between potty breaks and play. Creating a schedule for taking your dog out to eliminate and get exercise will improve the success of crate training.

Pick the Right Crate

The key to selecting the best crate for your dog is getting the right size. You need a crate that is large enough for your dog to stand, sit, stretch out and turn around in. Anything smaller than this could be really uncomfortable for your pet and will make crate-training impossible. Anything bigger than this is going to make it tempting for your dog to utilise a corner of the crate for its toilet. Dogs do not like going to the toilet where they sleep so they typically won’t soil the proper sized crate.

When setting up a new pup in its crate, consider a smaller crate or barricade part of the crate till it grows into it to avoid soiling.

Crate Location

The location makes a difference in your dog’s happiness being in the dog crate. When you are home and the dog is crated you should be close by the crate. If possible, while crating overnite place the crate in your bedroom. This avoids feelings of isolation and panic and allows you to be aware right away if there’s a problem.

Get Your Puppy Used to Its Crate

The crate training technique should start slowly so the dog does not feel punished, pushed or coerced into its cage. This would have negative results on crate-training. Make the crate inviting for your dog by placing pads on the floor, blankets, toys and treats inside the crate.

The dog should be encouraged into the crate while you talk to it and reassure it. You might like to lead your pet into its crate by placing treats inside . Do not close the door on the crate the first couple of times your pet goes inside. You want to establish the crate as a relaxing refuge, not a cage. Praise your puppy for going into the crate. Teach them it is a positive place.

Once your dog feels more comfortable in the crate you can start closing the door. The ideal time to do that is after they go to sleep inside the crate. Ideally you would give your dog a few experiences limited to its crate while you are home. Praise the dog for good behaviour and give it lots of treats. Begin with short amounts of time confined. Work your way up to a full half hour left in the crate. Once the dog is ok in its crate for this long without incident, you can begin leaving it in for longer periods, such as overnight.

Always make a calm exit from the room and don’t drag out your leave-taking. This may only make the temptation to whine and try and escape worse. Simply praise the dog, give it a treat and then leave. When you return do not create excitement by being loud or excessively enthusiastic. Let your dog out of its cage and praise him. This prevents unnecessary anxiety over the crate.

When Your Puppy Whines Or Barks

This behaviour is common and can be very hard on both you and your pet. The secret is to avoid awarding barking or whining by letting the dog out of its crate. Doing this tells your dog that if they bark or whine they will be let out of the crate - which is the opposite of what you are trying to do. Instead wait patiently for it to stop fussing for one or two minutes. Then you can let the dog out, praise them, give them a treat and spur the good behavior. It is important that each training session ends on a high note.

Words of Caution

  • Don’t use the crate as punishment. This creates a negative feeling towards the crate as a cell and not a comfortable, safe place. When necessary, use the cage for brief time outs for aggressive or destructive behaviour. Be certain to let your dog out as soon as it has calmed down and praise good behaviour.
  • Crate-training occurs at different rates for different dogs. Depending on your dog’s age, disposition and previous experiences, crate-training can take anywhere from several days to a couple of months. Some dogs will simply not take to crate training, particularly older dogs who have been badly crated in the past.
  • Remove any collars or tags before placing a dog in a crate. These can be choking/strangling risks.
  • Be aware of the environment where the crate is placed. Do not leave your pet in a crate where there are warm or cold temperatures, or it is exposed to the elements in any fashion.
  • Avoid using ammonia-based cleaners in a dog crate, carrier, or pen as it will inspire your dog to urinate.
  • Never leave your dog in its crate for longer than 3-4 hours at a time.
  • Crate your dog only until it can be trusted to wander freely in your home without any safety or destruction issues.

Pamela Noble writes helpful articles on pet topics for DogFolks.com . You will find info on great pet products on the Dog Folks website.

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Quick Tips For Housebreaking A Puppy

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Housebreaking a puppy is not difficult if you are committed and patient. Remembering that you are working with a baby that is in a stage of development where they can pick up bad habits will help you when you are trying to plan your potty training strategy.

Puppies can learn to go potty outside very quickly cialis without prescription if you are consistent and do not over-react. When you want to learn how to potty train a puppy quickly and easily, following a few simple tips will get you started. It will be important that you not yell at your puppy or rub their nose in a mess. Puppies do not learn from this kind of discipline. They often will get more confused about where they are supposed to do because everywhere they sniff, they will smell the mess, which tells their brain that it is okay to go in that spot.

While some people prefer to use newspaper training for their puppy, it is often more effective if you just start training your dog to go outside from the start. Most people have a difficult time training their puppy to go outside after it has “learned” delivery generic cialis to go on a newspaper in the home. In addition, if any newspaper is every left on the floor by accident it will likely become a potty.

Take your dog outside first thing in the morning, right after they eat or drink, and last thing at night. By developing this habit, they will learn much more easily to wait until morning to go potty. Additionally, don’t feed your dog two hours before bedtime. If you feed your dog snacks right before bedtime, you will probably have a mess to clean up in the morning.

If you dog starts sniffing or turning in circles, take it outside, to do it’s business. This is one of the main signs that a puppy will give when it is looking for a place to potty. You will also want to take your pet out after they have been playing.

There will be accidents and messes. The tip here is to keep from reacting negatively. Ignore your dog and clean the mess as quickly as possible. Be sure to spray the area with deodorizer so there is no potty scent. When puppy goes outside online without prescription cheap buy Camagra to do their business praise them, when they have an accident inside, ignore them. The puppy will learn very quickly to do their business outside to get attention.

Another great tip is about using cues. Dogs are great at responding to sounds. If you have fed your dog canned food, you know how they will show up the minute the can opener starts. Using this technique got teaching your puppy to go potty is very easy. Set a timer or bell for 45 minutes to an hour. When the bell goes off put your puppy out to go potty. If you are consistent, in a very short time, you dog will go outside when a bell goes off.

A great way to put a twist on this tip is to use a little silver bell instead of a timer. When you dog gets use to going outside when it hears the bell, hang the bell near the door. When the dog needs to go outside, it will ring the bell to alert you. cialis 20mg tablets This is a great timesaving way to housebreak your dog and make sure that it gets out whenever it needs to. When you are looking for puppy potty training tips you will find that there are many ways to incorporate puppy housebreaking buy Xenical online with other tricks that you can teach your dog. Making housebreaking a fun experience will be a great experience for both you and your dog.

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