Dog Crates

Dog Crates: Cages Or Pet Havens

Many pet owners believe dog crates are nothing more than cages, but they are much, much more. They are valuable training tools, and your dog’s own private room. The trick is to make sure a dog crate is not immediately associated with being disciplined.

It is common to punish child by sending him to his room. Dogs are not children in fur coats, and this method is futile in teaching your dog a lesson.

An all too common scenario is: a dog chews a shoe or has an accident (he commits a serious mistake) His owner yells, “NO!” in a tone that strikes terror into the hearts of canines everywhere. He grabs the dog, and throws him into his crate. Think about this from the dog’s point of view. When crate training a dog, whether caught in the act or punished minutes or hours later, the dog was probably not aware that the act he was committing was that horrible in human terms. He understands only he came when he was called only to be punished for something he didn’t even know was wrong.

When disciplining a dog for committing bad behavior, or crate training a puppy, it is important to catch the dog in the act. Dogs do not associate something they did five minutes or a half hour ago with the present. Often, an owner finds the mess and punishes the dog, not knowing whether the ‘sin’ was committed five minutes, a half hour ago, or even longer. All the dog associates with being called over, punished, then shoved in a crate is that, “I came, I got punished for it, and I’m not going to make the mistake of coming when called again.” He also learns that the crate is a negative, scary place.

Used for the discipline of keeping the dog safe until he is trustworthy, and housebreaking, a crate is a wonderful training tool. Used inappropriately, dog crate training can cause distress and hamper the training progress. Used correctly, it may look like a crate to you, but to a dog, it’s his private room.

Now that you understand what a great tool a crate is for dog training, and know that, used properly, that crate is your dog’s bedroom, understanding crates and choosing properly is a good thing. There are all kinds of custom dog crates, from small dog crates, wicker dog crates, portable dog crates that can be taken with you when you travel (as long as it has some of your pets belongings, there should not be too much of an adjustment) dog crates for extra large dogs, soft dog crates, soft sided dog crates with solid bottoms, and a dog crate cover can be good to have as well. Dog crate covers are used for dogs that are not yet trained properly and might jump out, for use during traveling to help prevent car sickness and shelter your dog from the sunshine.

Properly used, dog crates are marvelous tools.