How to teach your puppy to love their crate
You may have been lucky and your puppy comes home crate trained.
But, for most, we need to teach your puppy to love their crate.
What your breeder did before your puppy came to you influences how they settle in.
If they have spent time in a crate at the breeders, its makes the transition easier.
But you need to remember, they have left their mum and litter mates, which they would have been sleeping with and it’s a big change for them.
So, please don’t just expect your puppy to go into their crate, one their own and sleep perfectly from day one.
By teaching your puppy to love their crate with my tips, you will set them and yourselves up for success.
Lets make it a safe and comfortable place
Your crate or pen needs to be a cosy and safe space for your puppy to go to.
Whether it is used to nap, relax or spend time alone from the busy household.
Set the crate up in a quiet and calm area of your home, away from drafts and not in a place where people walk by a lot.
Clients often ask me if they have the right size crate for their puppy.
Your puppy should be able to stand up in their crate and turn around, lie down and stretch out.
If the crate is too big, they will be able to toilet at one end and sleep at the other which isn’t what we want.
Your puppy shouldn’t toilet in their crate, it’s where they sleep, so they don’t want to toilet there.
If you need help with toilet training check out my blog How to Toilet Train a Puppy
As your puppy grows, you will need to buy a bigger crate so it fits their needs.
Make the crate cosy and comfortable for your puppy, popping in some vet bed and a blanket and a couple of toys.
I personally wouldn’t advise to put a fancy new bed in here, puppies chew a lot and don’t care how much you may have spent on that expensive bed!
Save the nice fancy bed for when they have grown up and they are through the chewing stage.
Don’t forget to attach a water bowl onto the crate, as your puppy should always have access to water.
Cover the crate to make into a den for them – some puppies prefer all sides covered when sleeping, some with one end open.
This will be a bit of trial and error whilst you learn about your puppy and their preferences.
Do
You want your puppy to love their crate so here are my tips to do that and so we can make it the best place ever
- They eat all their meals in there, this gives your puppy consistency of where they eat their food every day
- Anything tasty, like a natural chew, they can have all of these in there
- Kongs and other enrichment they have in there
- Play Crate Games
- Cover the crate to make it a snug and safe place – how much to cover will depend no your puppy
- Make sure they have access to water in their crate – I love these that attach to the crate so water doesn’t get spilled
- Bedtime biscuits – whilst I started this with my first dog Tye before I was a dog trainer it is great bedtime routine. Take your dog out to toilet, pick up a biscuit and take them to their crate, when they are in there give them their bedtime biscuit.
- If they are struggling to settle and maybe having a bit of a ‘I don’t want to be in here’ you can speak to them to settle them, pop your hand on the crate to reassure them briefly. Any distress, just get them out and don’t worry if they are barking at the time of opening the crate
- Pop your puppy in when they are falling asleep outside of the crate, the more times they wake up in the crate the better
Don't
What you don’t want to do is accidentally make the crate a place they don’t want to be
- Don’t put them in there for time out as we want to make it the best place to be
- Have it in a dark place out of the way or where there is a draft
- Leave them in there to cry it out, this doesn’t work. If your puppy is in distress, get them out of their crate. When they are in this state of distress they are not learning anything anyway.
Getting your puppy to love their crate has it uses...
We are not getting our puppies to love their crates to have them in there for 8 hours in the day.
In an ideal world, we would only want your puppy to be in there a maximum of 4 hours.
They are useful to use for popping your puppy down for a nap when they are overtired, being a safe place to be so you can get on with daily life and know they are not getting into trouble!
I have written a blog on How Much Sleep Does My Puppy Need as it is often underestimated how much sleep they need, as they need approx 18 hours in every 24.
As your puppy grows they are also useful if you got on holiday, taking their safe place with you.
Groomer, dog walkers and vets all use crates so if your puppy is crate trained it makes all of these experiences a more positive one.
Plan, prepare and get success with your puppy by using my FREE easy peasy puppy guide
You may be preparing for the arrival of your new puppy or they may already be home with you.
It may all feel a little overwhelming and you don’t know where to start.
My FREE eBook will help you guide you and your new puppy to get it right from the start.
Teaching your puppy to love their crate isn't always easy...
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