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4 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CRATE YOUR DOG

August 24, 20234 min read
4 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CRATE YOUR DOG

Crate Train Your Dog?

Being a new dog owner can be very overwhelming. One of the things that happens is the flood of questions going through your head, such as “what do I need?” “what is the best food?” and a very common one is “should I crate my dog?

There are people that feel that it is very cruel and horrible to put a dog in a crate. They feel like they are putting the animal in a prison for no reason. There is real value is in crating your dog, the benefits are there if you think about it.

There are four reasons for crate training your dog.

1. House Breaking

The most common reason we crate train our dogs when they are puppies is to use the crate to train them not to eliminate in the home. Crate training is the easiest and best way to teach your puppy to wait until they go out to go to the bathroom. But even though it is a very well known objective of using the crate, people don’t know about it or still don’t want to use it.

What is great about crate training for house breaking, is if you can use this method with an older dog. In fact, no matter the age of the dog, you can house break them using the crate. There are many dogs that are in shelters or rescues in which the dog being adopted has never been house broken. This method is not only best but also keeps your house cleaner from accidents.

2. Separation Anxiety

The public is learning more about dogs every day. Years ago, if you mentioned to the average person that a dog had separation anxiety, they would look at you weird, but now more people are getting educated and understand that dogs do have these issues. The down side is that people are becoming more educated because this behavior has become more common and a bigger issue for families.

One way a dog shows separation anxiety is that the dog starts to follow their owner throughout the house. They are always in sight of their owner, if you go to the bathroom, if you go to the bedroom they are right behind you. Now don’t get me wrong, just because your dog follows you doesn’t mean that they have separation anxiety. For dogs that start showing symptoms of anxiety, using the crate to help gain separation is a great way.

One of the symptoms of separation anxiety is that the dog does not know how to relax. This is a huge problem and this problem can be the beginning of anxiety, which will lend down the path of anxiety. In the crate the dog will learn how to relax. If the dog doesn’t learn how to relax on their own there are additional exercises that need to be added to the training routine. With the dog being in a crate, they will learn how to relax a great deal. When my German Shepherd was young, he would follow me and not want to be alone. After training and many times of being in the crate, he doesn’t care either way. This makes him a very balanced dog; he loves me but it doesn’t bother him when I leave.   At the time I wasn’t a Poughkeepsie dog trainer but I knew he needed to be on his own in the house.

3. Control

Control means I say and you do. If you ask your dog to “come” or “stay” these commands are training your dog to listen to you. Whenever you ask your dog to do something, the more different things, the better and stronger the control. So in telling your dog to “go in the crate” you are just increasing your control over your dog.

4. Safety

One element that is over looked when you think of a crate is the safety benefits. When you bring a new puppy or even when you adopt an older dog, this new family member does not know the rules of the house. We have to ensure their safety from chewing things such as the furniture. Dogs die every year from eating furniture that contains poison. You also want to avoid incidents such as having a new puppy chewing on the lamp wire.

Leaving your dog in the crate will ensure that they don’t get into deadly trouble. As a new owner you should always supervise your new family member and if you can’t because at moments such as when you go to work, the crate is the best solution for this.

If you have a dog that suffers from separation anxiety, these dogs will destroy the house. They will even risk their own life as a result of their anxiety. Dogs have jumped out of a second story window so they would not be apart from their owner.

 

In conclusion, we should crate train our dogs. One important aspect we must keep in mind is that the crate is always a good thing. Never use it as a punishment, they must think of it as a fun object. The best way to accomplish this result would be to give a treat reward when they go into the crate – a bone or a kong toy with a treat inside is also great.

Felix Rosado

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