How to Crate Train Your Puppy
Puppies can change the mood in your household because of the abundance of joy with the wagging tails and adorable faces. The moment you decide you want to crate train your puppy you must understand that it won’t be an easy task and before you begin, there are certain things you need to know. Discussed below are some factors that will assist you in your puppy crate training process to ensure you get the desired results while maintaining the happiness, health, and obedience of your puppy.
Since the training has some objectives you want to realize, before commencing the training ensure your puppy has adequate space in the crate by selecting the right one. Puppy crates are often made of plastic, metal or they can be found in collapsible designs that are made for easy traveling, so ensure you choose one that fits your needs. The duration it takes you to realize your goal is dependent on your puppy’s characteristics like age and bred and might vary from a few days to weeks depending with the puppy. It will take time to achieve the desired results, in the meantime you to show patience and ensure the experience is pleasant for both you and the puppy.
Since it is a new thing, your puppy will be hesitant to cooperate at the beginning, so you will need to slowly introduce him to it. Encourage your puppy to go into the crate, speaking in a calm reassuring voice, while you can try enticing him with treats until he goes all the way in. Once your dog becomes accustomed to the crate, you will have to start convincing him that the crate is a good thing by feeding his regular means near or inside the crate.
You can encourage your dog by giving him treats whenever he walks into the crate and you close the door, while you can also leave him alone periodically to help understand it is okay being in the crate. It is not recommended to leave your dog in his crate for more than four hours at a time since this might make him uncomfortable and bring about separation anxiety. When you start to leave your puppy alone, you can give him a treat or commend him for his behavior.
When you are training your puppy to sleep, you can start by having him in your bedroom and as he continues getting accustomed to sleeping in his crate you can slowly move him further. The correct crate size might be physically spacious for your puppy but he might feel trapped if left in there for too long which might make the training backfire. Puppies are bound to whine with the correct crate size or not and you have to understand the purpose of the whining to handle it. These are the steps to follow when crate training your puppy. With the help of the above-discussed ways, you will be able to crate train your puppy successfully.