Introduction
Where is your dog when you leave your house? Do you crate them? Lock them in a room like a laundry room or bedroom? Do they free to roam around the house? Are you struggling with your dog making poor choices and misbehaving when you're gone?
Today we're going to discuss how using a crate helps keep your dog safe, is a training tool, and how a crate can help with your dog’s overall state of mind.
Reason #1 - Safety & Harm Prevention
The crate prevents harm to your dog.
Physically
Can’t ingest things like food, socks, gum (Xylitol is dangerous)
Can’t harm itself or get stuck or trapped
State of mind
No running around, panting / anxious all day, looking out the window, and whining/barking at everything.
Home
It prevents your dog from destructive behaviors, like chewing up your shoes, couch, pillows, etc.
Prevents using the bathroom inside the home.
Reason # 2 - Training
Impulse control - By having your dog wait before entering or exiting its crate, they practice a moment of impulse control.
Mealtime Protocol - Feed your dog in the crate. It gives them a safe place to eat in peace which helps prevent any bad behavior like growling or biting over food.
Quiet even when hearing noises in a busy home is great training for your dog.
Great for fireworks - Gives your dog a safe and comfortable place to hunker down during Independence Day.
Crate training can help the humans in the family.
Structure:
Since dogs are always learning, it allows humans to put training on pause.
This increases our chance of success.
By lowering the chances that a dog practices terrible behaviors.
By increasing the quality of the time, we spend interacting WITH our dogs.
Reason #3 - State of Mind
Cozy & Comfortable
A safe place for your dog to go at night and anytime humans are away from home or even at home but can’t keep an eye on the dog
It gives your dog a safe place to go that is their “safe place” where they can decompress undisturbed. Great for after exciting or stressful events like playtime, field trips, and walks.
The crate should be “boring,” and your dog should be lying down and quiet the entire time.
Isolation training
Especially important for aggressive/anxious dogs
It helps them be comfortable with themselves and being alone.
The amount of interaction with other dogs/humans are lowered, thus giving us a better chance to stop/prevent AND then teach behaviors we do want if they’re aggressive.
Soak up training
In humans, we build our muscles through weight training, which simulates stress to our strengths. Our muscles grow when we’re resting after a workout. It’s the same for our dogs; they need that rest period after training to unwind and soak up all that training.
If you’re struggling with your dog, go to acedogacademy.com to download your free dog training guide. It teaches you and your dog three valuable life skills toward a better life together.
Things you’ll learn in today’s episode:
Why using your crate keeps your dog safe.
How your dog’s crate is a training tool.
How your dog’s crate helps their state of mind and teaches calmness.