Environment
A primary consideration before we begin Crate Training our dogs or pups is the location of the crate. For older dogs' proximity to the door is probably one of the best choices. For puppies. Allowing them to be within earshot of us is a great idea. Having two crates for a puppy is a reasonable expectation. One in the bedroom and one near the door that they are going to exit to potty.
For the sake of this course. I'm going to use the primary location as the living room you can see. Substitute any room that is applicable for your home. Inside the living room, some of the things that we would like to keep in mind are does the sunshine come in and is the puppy going to be uncomfortably hot? Is the door drafty and is the puppy going to be uncomfortably cold? Is there a lot of coming and going through the door? Can we tuck the crate along the end of a sofa instead of right next to the door? The crate location, because it often goes hand in hand with potty training should have a fairly close proximity to the door that you are going to be taking them out to relieve themselves.
Comfort is a big consideration. If you've ever slept on a hide, a bed that poked a spring in your back, you know that you're not getting a great sleep. And the point of a crate is to have a puppy or dog go in and settle down. We can add blankets, towels, beds, if they're not destructive. And how that comfort helps them or hinders them, that would be where I would start. Let's focus for a minute on what might go in that crate. Should they have to water? Will you be feeding them in the crate? It. How thick of a bed is reasonable? A toy? Something to gnaw on?
Looking at the size of the crate, we recommend that the crate is just big enough for them to be able to stretch out, stand up, and be comfortable.
When we are talking about a puppy, if they can pee in one corner and sleep in the other, they are going to do that.
There are two basic types of crates. One is wire and the other is hard plastic sides. Mostly, I work with wire crates. I believe that the end goal is to be able to have them participate and see what's going on without being reactive to those things. I find the wire crates are easier for me to randomly reward the behaviors I want by dropping high value treats through the top versus having to walk right up to the hard plastic crates to be able to maneuver that. I do find that with a wire crate I can cover it with a blanket if the dog needs more privacy or less stimulation or support in some way.
One of the first considerations before any type of training for any dog of any age is the environment. When we look at training, we have to look at the 3D 's distraction duration and distance. How do those 3D 's fit into crate training. If we look at distraction first and you have a puppy or an adult dog that you're trying to brush up on house breaking. Anytime they wake up, the urge to relieve themselves is going to be prevalent. We can assist by adding a blanket to the top of the crate to lower the visual stimulation. We can add a buffer like an X pen around the crate so little people, other dogs or animals can't get too close. In busy homes, we can tuck the crate further away from the hub. While it wouldn't be ideal to have a crate initially in the same room as children playing, that can certainly be the goal. The next "D" that is of importance is duration. How long are we asking the puppy to stay in the crate? How long are we asking them to maintain bladder control?
The generally accepted rule of thumb is that a pup can hold their urine 1 hour for every month they are old + 1 So a 5 month pup could reasonably hold for 6 hours. This is affected by disruptions and external stimulation (Amazon delivery, random noises that wake them etc)
The last is distance. And that's really the one that we're going to look at for crate training. Distance in our case is the distance that you can walk away from the crate without the puppy reacting. It. We are going to build this one movement at a time until the puppy is confident enough in your return that they can just settle nicely.
Click Here for the next lesson. Introducing the Crate. This is were we start to build a positive emotional response to the Crate!