Guide to Crate Training Your Puppy
Your dog may be of the best friends you can ever have and only dog lovers can understand this! Your dog or puppy was born as a faithful, loving, and honest being to help make your life beautiful and full of life. They deserve nothing but the best!
Did you know that dogs are den animals? Being den animals means they would like to have their own personal space to sleep or take a nap, to rest or maybe to hide sometimes from the things that scares them.
Providing your puppy its own space and crate training your puppy so as to help it adjust to that environment serves the purpose of its natural instinct of being a den animal.
Here are some puppy crate training tips for your new member of the family.
Why Crate Train Your Puppy?
Puppy crate training is beneficial to himself and also helps the puppy reduce the amount of stress he may be going through, if it is done correctly. Also it is a dog’s natural instinct not to soil or dirty their own living area, therefore crate training helps in housebreaking as well.
Another reason why you should crate train a dog is if you have certain areas at your home where the puppy isn’t allowed. So, until they learn other house rules, crate training your puppy will limit their access to the rest of the house.
For making sure that the new puppy is happy and safe, you got to provide its own nest so that he won’t eat everything around or tear up your furniture.
Puppy Crate Training Tips
So how to do you get your puppy used to being in a crate? First, don’t ever force the puppy into the crate. It is not a place to send your puppy as a punishment where as it is a place where nice and pleasant things happen. So, if there is one important thing to consider while crate training your puppy then it is that you never lose your patience.
In the beginning, always keep the dog crate door open and also add some toys to play with. Let the puppy discover the crate on his own and let him like the place also let him move around the crate as he pleases. And show a great amount of enthusiasm and treat the puppy extra nice when he discovers and investigates the crate so that he knows that it is a special thing to do.
A great way to make your puppy or dog feel at home in their crate is to find some great dog crate accessories. Dog crate covers and crate pads are can be very effective for not only helping your dog to use the crate more readily, but they will also have more security and comfort with these crate add-ones.
Put random things to eat, things your puppy loves to eat so that he will feel like investigating the crate often. And also feed the puppy his meals in the crate. Eventually, start closing the crate door while he eats or plays inside once you are sure that he is accustomed to the crate environment.
But never let him feel alone in the crate, be home when he is in the crate so that he knows that he is not let down. And once he is used to being in the crate you can start using the crate command with a hand gesture. Do not be rude when you are commanding the puppy to go into the crate. Be gentle and clear.
Like everything, crate training your puppy has its own set of cons. Sometimes it so happens that puppy is left for a very longer time inside crates which is the biggest con of the crates. This makes your dog feel lonely and eventually he becomes sad and unfriendly.
Realize also that some dogs may never get adjusted to the crates in which case you are not supposed to force them to do so. Also, frantic and hyper active dogs may try to let themselves out and hurt themselves by doing so.
But in most of the cases, puppy crate training helps the dogs to rest and relax when they seek. It also helps you to keep your puppy away from events or parties that you are hosting, it helps during travels etc.
Puppy crate training is very much worth the trouble and efforts you are putting into it!
