Dog Crates Why Using A Crate Is An Invaluable Dog Training Tool

Dog Crates – Why Using A Crate Is An Invaluable Dog Training Tool

Having the right dog crate when you start raising a new puppy is essential for various reasons. Some puppies do not yet know how to cope with large open spaces since they are new to the home and a perfect size dog crate can help calm him down. Dog crates are also a fantastic way to easily housebreak a puppy. All in all, a good dog crate is an invaluable training tool regardless of what type of puppy you have.

Dog crates are also a perfect solution to puppies that become overexcited. All you have to do is put your puppy inside the crate in order to help him relax. If your dog has to be left in the house unattended for a few hours, then having a crate is a stress-free way for you to be gone from the house and not worry about your puppy getting into trouble around the home or soiling the carpet.

Dog crates are also a great way to feed your puppy in case he becomes easily distracted. Simply put his food bowl inside and off he goes in an enclosed area where he can focus on eating his meal.

And here are a few more tips when it comes to using a dog crate:

1. Make sure that you get the appropriate size crate based on your dog's height and width. This is especially important if you are housebreaking your puppy with a dog crate. If the box is too large then your puppy may use the bathroom on one side, but keep sleeping on the other side, which defeats the purpose of crate training in terms of potty training.

2. If you have a fast-growing puppy, then consider buying a large crate that is meant for an adult dog but that has a divider built into it. This way you can divide the crate in half so that your puppy will be able to lie down comfortably and still be able to turn around if needed. A divided dog crate can also be used for your larger puppies by removing the division bracket.

3. One last aspect of using a dog crate that you should consider is the type of bedding that you place on the floor. Some dog owners have noticed that their puppies still use the bathroom inside even though the crate is the appropriate size for potty training. In most instances it turns out that the bedding that they laid down was a little too thick and had a tendency to induce urination in dogs. Instead, try to lay down less comfortable bedding that your dog does not consider to be used for urination, like newspaper for example.

BONUS : Dog Gates: The Best Options For Your Home (1)

Pet gates are absolute lifesavers for dog owners (and in the case of housetraining young puppies, carpet savers too!)

Gates keep dogs confined to one room or one area of the house, usually an area that has easy-to-clean floors. Most pet gates are actually baby gates doing double duty by keeping both the dog and the baby in a confined, safe area.

Your local pet supply store or online retailer has these gates but you also can get them at a baby supply shop or large toy store chain. If you look at the pictures on the box, you'll often see a dog on one side and a baby on the other.

Though gates are a great investment, people often use them inappropriately, making housetraining a longer ordeal than necessary. Confining your dog to an area where it's OK to have a potty accident doesn't mean that he should have free reign to take a wizz anywhere he wants.

Gates can help confine your dog in a particular area and save you from having to follow him around the house to supervise him. But leaving him alone in a gated area is not always wise because he may get into trouble and become destructive, or have an accident inside the gated area. The key is that a gate is most helpful after your pup's bladder is already empty.

Great Assets

Pet gates are also great assets when housetraining because they enable you to limit how much access a puppy can have to the house, which is good for all aspects of training.

It always helps to train a puppy if you can look at things from his point of view. Puppies enter life in their new homes with no concept of the difference between outside and inside. For them, the house is their whole world and so anywhere away from their immediate sleeping area or den is fair game to do as nature intended.

So, if you initially give a puppy free, unsupervised access to a whole house or even a room, then getting the hang of housetraining will be more difficult.

As your puppy grows and you start to introduce him to the outside world through a combination of repetition, reward and perhaps following an adult dog it there's one in the home, he develops the concept of the house being his den rather than just a small area and he naturally seeks the outside to use as a bathroom.