Puppy Crate Training – More Than Meets The Eye

One of the most invaluable tools for helping you to train your dog is a dog crate. Even so, you should never use them simply to confine your dog the whole day through. If that’s all you use it for, you should probably rethink why you got a dog in the first place.

To prepare your dog training crate for your new puppy, line the bottom with newspaper and keep a fresh supply handy.

Using newspaper will minimize cleanup efforts, and help keep the crate clean for your puppy.

You can use the crate as a designated feeding space so that the puppy knows where to eat. Take her outside after feeding so that she can walk around and relieve herself.

When your puppy does her “business” outside, praise her for a job well done! Repeated praise when she does the right thing will reinforce your training of her.

You can also reward your puppy by putting a treat inside the crate. This makes him happy, and reinforces the idea that the crate is a good place to be. After all, you don’t want him feeling sad every time he sees the crate and realizes he has to go inside.

Think of the crate as the puppy’s own space; a place where he can go for alone or quiet time. One way you can start encouraging this usage is to occasionally put your puppy in the crate while you are still in his field of vision. The idea is to let him know that they are safe in his or her space. Let him out after about 10 minutes.

What you don’t want is to have your puppy going inside his crate with the idea that you’re leaving them for some period of time or other. For as much as they need their alone time, they don’t necessarily want to feel lonely or neglected.

If you want to find out more about this, make sure to check out Dog Trainer Training.