Dog Crate Training
It may be a new concept to you, but dog crate training is one of the most important things you can do for a puppy. Like a toddler child, your new puppy can't just go off and have run of your entire house, apartment or yard. You have to watch your pup to make sure they don't get into trouble.
Dogs are naturally curious, so if you are not paying attention to them they tend to get into things that might be best left alone. Shoe chewing is a favorite pastime for many puppies, along with gnawing on furniture, peeing on carpets, even biting into power cords, which is obviously quite dangerous. So if you are in a situation where you won't be able to physically keep your eyes on your pooch for awhile, a dog crate is the answer.
The first step in dog crate training is selecting the dog crate. Training your dog to enjoy spending time in their crate is a vital part of a successful dog training experience, and dog crates come in different sizes. You may also choose to invest in a puppy playpen, which you can find in your local pet store or online. Puppy playpens come in a variety of sizes, and are usually made of plastic or metal. Some recommend using the puppy playpen because it will give your pooch more room. You can always put the dog crate into the playpen for times when your dog has to be fully crated; think of the puppy playpen as a small apartment where the dog crate is their bedroom. You will want to set up the crate or playpen in an area that isn't too susceptible to messes. The kitchen often works because the floor is usually easy to clean and your puppy won't be abandoned to some dark corner of the house.
One of the most important parts of dog crate training is getting your dog to view their dog crate in a positive light and not as a place of punishment. The only way to make your puppy think of their dog crate as a positive place is to give them good experiences in their dog crate. A really effective way of doing this is to feed your puppy in their dog crate. If your puppy eats 3 or 4 times a day and spends these delicious moments in their dog crate, they will see their dog crate as a pretty nice place to be. Don't leave the food in the crate all day, though. Feed your pup and then remove the food when they finish or after about 15 minutes. Now your dog's crate is associated with food - yum - and that is a good thing.
When going through dog crate training, you want to try and make sure you link your dog's crate to positive experiences. But there are times when you have to put the dog in their crate for less-then-happy happenings, like when you go to work or at bed time. If these are the only times you put your puppy in their dog crate, your dog will start to associate their crate with being left alone, which will quickly turn it into a negative place. See, your pooch doesn't like to be left alone. They live for the pleasure of your company. You can prevent this problem during dog crate training by putting your puppy in their dog crate for small bits of time when you are home, preferably in the same room. Simply put your pup in their crate, give them one of those neat toys that you can stuff with treats, sit down and have a cup of coffee in the same room. Now the puppy has had a wonderful time in their crate but they haven't been abandoned by you.
When a crate is used in the correct way and dog crate training has been performed properly, your dog will begin to see their crate as a safe place to retreat to when they don't want to bothered.
One of the biggest mistakes people often make with their new puppy is giving them free reign of the house before they are ready. Oftentimes, people put their puppy through obedience training and housebreak them while they are still quite young, only 3 or 4 months old. Once the pup successfully completes obedience school and stops peeing and pooping around the house, we tend to think they are ready to be free. As a puppy enters their teenage years - anywhere from 6 or 7 months to 2 years - they can act a lot like human teenagers: sometimes you love them, sometimes you hate them. This is the time when dog crate training can be most beneficial and prevent your relationship with your dog from turning sour. As your puppy gets older - a year old or more - you can start giving them more and more freedom until they are well behaved all the time and you don't have to worry about them as much.