THE C WORD
By Maggi Forootan – Lead and Love K9
In today’s day and age, with all of the great information available about the value and importance of crate training your dog, I’m really surprised that I still get a fair amount of resistance from my clients when I stress that they must crate train their dog.
Where is this resistance coming from? There is zero evidence that crating your dog is harmful in any way; and there is tons of evidence and information out there about how valuable it is. When properly introduced, the crate can become one of your most important training tools.
Conversations I’ve had:
Client – “Maggi, help! I can’t house train my puppy”. “My 10k Persian rug is ruined.”
Me: – “Are you putting your puppy in his crate when you can’t watch him?”
Client: “No, I feel bad. He looks so sad in there.”
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Client – “My dog ate my son’s socks and had to have an emergency surgery. It cost me $4,000!”
Me – “You need to crate your dog if you can’t watch him or it will be expensive for you, and painful for him.”
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Client – “My dog ate a whole box of chocolates and died.”
Me – “I’m so sorry.”
People feel guilty about putting their dog in a crate. Maybe it’s those sad animal shelter commercials showing dogs that look sad or scared in cages, or behind bars. Don’t be manipulated.
The truth is that dogs are by nature denning animals. I’ve often observed dogs seek out places in their homes that resemble an enclosed area to rest, such as under tables or behind furniture. Feral dogs will often take refuge under bushes, or dig holes to sleep in.
What trips most people up though is that in the beginning stages of crate training some dogs will protest…loudly. If you take the time to properly introduce your dog to the crate, and have a little patience, his stress and resistance to the crate will be minimal. Sometimes you have to power through the tantrums and resist the urge to let the dog out just because he’s throwing a little fit, just like you sometimes have to resist the urge to always pick up the crying baby.
There are so many reasons that training your dog to be comfortable in his crate is important. I think one of the big ones is that there may come a time in your dog’s life when he has to be crated due to illness or injury. If this were to happen, it will be so much less stressful for your dog, and for you, if he’s already acclimated to being in his crate. Another thing to consider is that crate time for you dog is a way to provide him with a balanced state of mind. All dogs, and especially puppies, need periods of rest to stay mentally healthy.
I firmly believe that crate training should be a mandatory part of any good training plan. If you’re struggling with crate training your dog, reach out for help. It’s not as difficult as you might think.
Don’t hate the crate!
