03 DecEpisode 101 | Dog Training Q and A! 12/03/2020: Answers to new dog owners’ common crate training questions
In this episode, Annie talks about using a crate with a new dog. Among the questions answered:
Where should you put a crate?
What kind of crate should you get?
Do you have to use a crate?
How can a crate help with housetraining?
What can you put in a crate?
How can you get a dog to like being in a crate?
What work-to-eat toys work in a crate?
Can a dog be alone in a crate right away?
Should you cover a crate?
What training exercises can make a dog enjoy being in a crate?
What behaviors can you teach in a crate?
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Related Episodes:
Episode 16 | The Dog Training Triad Part 1: Management
Transcript:
Annie:
I have been getting a lot of questions about crate training. A lot of people getting dogs this year, which is pretty cool. The upside of global pandemic seems to be that people bring dogs into their homes. Who knew that that would be a silver lining.
And crate is often one of the first things that people purchase right when they're getting a dog. I think sometimes people get confused about how to use it, why they should use it or not use it. So I want to just sort of talk to y'all about the way I think about a crate.
A crate is, of course, a great management tool. The three pillars of the dog training triad — management, timing and rewards. Management is all about setting the stage, setting a stage where our dogs are going to perform in ways we are going to be likely to like, and are not going to have a chance to do a lot of the stuff we might not want them to do.
I think particularly a crate can be a very good management tool for house training. Because if your dog is in a crate that is appropriately sized, and is acclimated to being in that crate and all sorts of other things, ideally — let me start over. If the crate is a place where your dog is happy to be, it can really help with housetraining, because most dogs won't pee or poop in the crate.
It's important that a crate not be a whole lot bigger than a dog because you don't want your dog to use, you know, the West wing to hang out in, and the East wing to pee and poop. And and dogs tend to kind of like to keep their little areas tidy.
So if you're using a crate, the moment you take your dog out of the crate is a good moment to bring them to the place where you want the dog to go. So, pick up your dog if you can, bring the dog outside onto the street, nice, quiet spot if you can find one, or into your yard. Or if you want your dog to go on a wee wee pad or grass patch or whatever inside, bring the dog to that. Once you have a dog who's crated, then you're going to have a better idea of when they need to go, when are they going to need to go, when you take the dog out of the crate.
But I wanted to start off by saying that you don't have to crate train a dog. You should not feel that it is mandatory in order to be a good dog trainer, or a good dog owner, or a dog owner-trainer, trainer-owner.
I never crate trained my dog. I could think of a handful of times where it maybe would have been useful. And also he did end up in crates at some times, or in crate-like containers, like at the vet. They are sometimes put into containers at the groomer particularly, you know, when he was waiting for me to pick him up or waiting for his turn at the groomer.
So I suggest if you're not going to use a crate, it's still a good idea to acclimate your dog to being in one. And I can talk about some ways that you can do that in a moment, but I just wanting to point out that it is not compulsory.
And while I think it can be helpful for most dogs to learn how to be comfortable being in a crate and helpful for a lot of dogs, and something like that actually a lot of dogs can really enjoy, I think that there are some dogs who may never, ever, ever be comfortable being in a crate. And that is also okay.
Why might that be? There could be any number of reasons which you may or may not ever figure out. A dog who is transported in a crate, possibly before you got the dog, might have trauma associated with a crate, might have stress about the crate. Pet store dogs can sometimes have anxiety about being confined.
And, you know, again also they're all individuals, right? Some just like some people for reasons that maybe are hard to explain or, or cannot be explained, don't want to be in tight spaces. I think that there are some dogs who or just like that too.
If you have a dog like that, there are however, lots of other ways that you can manage where they are the world, right? Like that's what the crate is about. That's what a fence is about. That's what a leash is about. We're putting them where we want them to be. And so you can do that using tools that are not a crate.
Selecting a crate I think is important, because I really find that the more open a crate, the better. Like an open wire mesh crate to me is preferable in most cases to the kind of plastic travel crates that look more like sort of big cat carriers. That's how I think of them.
Of course there are lots of crates for different situations. There are crates that are meant for cars, to keep dogs safe in cars. There are super fancy designer crates out there. There was one that I saw a few years ago online that was like $1,500 and it was like a dome. It was really, really nice looking.
But my favorite crate, and I think all of us actually at School of the Dogs, all of our favorite crate is the Revol crate, which we carry at storeforthedogs.com and in our shop as well. And it is the only crate that we use. Actually that's not true. We have some other wire crates at School for the Dogs.
But it is the main kind of crate that we use at School for the Dogs. I really just think it's a superior product. And one of the reasons I like it so much is it really opens up. It opens up on the front, you can open it up on the side, and you can open it up on the top. So it's possible to have three different parts of it open at the same time while your dog can be in it. And you can be working on relaxation protocol with your dog in the crate. You can just be hanging out with your dog in the crate.
The idea is I want it to be a place where your dog wants to be, and that does not necessarily mean it needs to be completely enclosed in the crate at all times. Wouldn't it be nice if your dog wanted to just hang out in there and come and go as he pleased with without feeling isolated from everyone else? I think having all these open sides can help a dog feel like they're still kind of part of what is going on.
Of course you don't have to have a crate that opens on all sides. It's just a nice feature of the Revol, which I also like because it collapses really easily. It wheels around really easily. But a lot of the time you don't need to have a crate that collapses and moves around. Like we collapse and move around crates all the time at School for the Dogs. But you know, just in someone's home, that's also like a feature that might not be necessary, but it's nice.
I often just suggest people buy like a pretty inexpensive mesh — They're usually black mesh — wire crate on Amazon. Or even you can almost always find one for free, if you look on like Craigslist or Facebook marketplace or free cycle or whatever. People tend to get rid of perfectly good crates a lot.
We actually had to put a moratorium on clients, bringing us their crates at School for the Dogs because people would have crates they didn’t want and would think we would want them. And which was like super nice, but we just didn't have space to store all these extra, extra crates.
If you are trying to save money while doing crate training I think definitely look for one for free. And also, you can have more than one. You want your dog to feel not closed off and separated in the crate. You want the dog to feel like they can still be part of everything that's going on.
Well, that's going to be easier if you have a crate in each room, unless you're going to roll your crate from one room to the other, which you can also do. But what I'm saying is, you can get them for free or for not a lot of money. So might as well just like have one in each room.
I will sometimes tell people to get like a small crate when their dog is small and a big crate when their dog is big. Because when your dog is really small, if you have like a puppy or just a small dog, you could have the crate on the couch with you.
I've had the crate — I used to have like a really big, big wood desk, like a long sort of like library table desk. And sometimes I would have a dog if I was watching, a puppy, on my desk in the crate. Right up close to me. I want to be able to make the dog feel good about being in there. That might mean making sure he has something good to chew on. It might mean periodically clicking and treating.
You can do training with a dog in a crate too. It's actually kind of like its own little Sinner box in a way, if you can have a dog in a crate because you're limiting the surroundings. So there's really a lot of fun training you can do. Starting with like a hand touch. Have the dog touch your hand in the crate. And you can build up quickly to having your dog touch your hand when you stick your hand into the side of the crate from each of the four sides.
And you can quickly then teach your dog to be like spinning in the crate, or you can work on sits and downs in the crate. To do that, I would just like, wait for your dog to lie down, click and treat that. Again, you're limiting the options of things there are to do, right? So you're upping the chance your dog is probably gonna lie down, wait for your dog to lie down, click the moment your dog lies down.
And then another nice thing about like something like the Revol that has the open top that you can open up, even just through like two wire bars in a crate, just drop the treat, bring the treat up at the top of the crate and let your dog have to sit up to go get the treat and then wait for your dog to lie down again, click the down. And again, deliver that treat up high to get your dog sitting again. And in that way you can be resetting your dog in between reps.
Of course you can also use work to eat toys in crates. Actually the Revol comes with like one that this thing that's called a groove. It doesn't come with it. They made it to work with a Revol, or I think it actually works on any crate. It like clicks onto the mesh. And you can spread peanut butter or wet food or cream cheese or whatever on it and your dog licks it off. It's a super cute little thing. You could, you know, use a slow food bowl in the crate.
But again, you are doing what you can to make your dog feel good about being in there. Eating somewhere, you know, you tend to feel good about the places where you eat. That's why like most dogs love kitchens, right? So why not use your dog's regular meal in the crate to build that association?
And if you're giving it in a toy, then, you know, your dog has also there's also just the general enjoyment of using a toy and you're extending the amount of time that your dog is going to be spending eating in the crate. And the more enjoyable time spent there, the more likely that your dog will develop good feelings about it.
Other general crate training suggestions. I mentioned actually on the podcast recently, crate FOMO is kind of a fun game. Toss treats, favorite toys and stuff into the crate, and then close the crate. Let your dogs see that there's stuff in there that she wants. And that could be a way to build the enthusiasm of running into the crate, training the behavior of running into the crate. Put the good stuff in the crate and then let your dog go to it.
Another quick create training tip, especially if you're, if you're just starting out, create training like a puppy. Make sure the dog can see you at night. I have no problem with dogs sleeping in beds. I don't think that this will ruin anyone's relationship with their dog or, I mean, I guess it could ruin some relationships. [laughing] I'm sure that I know some dogs sleeping in beds who have ruined relationships, although possibly human relationships more than dog relationships.
My point being no judgment about whether or not you have a dog sleep in the bed with you, but if you want to make sure your dog is not sleeping in the bed with you, a crate is a good option. But keep the crate, especially at first, in a place where the dog can see you. I've had clients for whom that means putting the crate on a nightstand. Or in the beginning, you know, putting the mattress on the floor, putting the mattress lower down. So that you're more on the dog's level,
I think a lot of the time when we bring dogs into our homes from a shelter or a breeder or a store or whatever, it is a huge event in their lives. And also it might be the first time they've ever been in a crate. It might be the first time they've ever been in a room alone without other puppies around, without their mom around.
And too often I have clients who talk about how they put the dog in the crate and the living room and then went to bed. Then, you know, we're listening to the dog cry for an hour trying to figure out, are we going to reward the dog if we go to the dog at this point? All of which I think could have been avoided and often is rectified pretty quickly when they just bring the crate into the bedroom and make sure the dog can see them from wherever they are.
If your dog is crying in the crate and you're trying to figure out, should you go to the dog or not go to the dog? We don't want our dog students to be stressed out and freaked out. They are not going to be doing good learning in that state. So first address the anxiety by stopping it, even if that means giving your dog your attention or whatever.
And then start to shape the behavior from the beginning of your dog being able to be in the crate at all. And what is like the lowest possible version of that behavior might be having the dog be in the crate — or even just near the crate. Have the door open, be near there so you're creating nice feelings about the crate, just as an aside, as it's associated with you. Just let your dog exist around the crate. Ideally then soon in the crate. And then you're just going to shape the behavior from there.
Last little crate training tip. Let's see, I'm looking at my notes, did I cover all my quick tips. Last little tip. Oh, is just something that I think I got this from Susan Garrett, who is a superstar dog trainer. And I think it was her crate games, DVD. It might not have been Susan Garrett. I have to look up whose, there's this great DVD about crate games. And I think one of the, the things I picked up from this DVD.
You can teach a dog that when you open the door to the crate, they need to sit. And this is like a pretty easy thing to do, especially if you have a dog who can already sit on cue. As you begin to open the door, you ask for a sit. And the opening of the door can become a cue in and of itself when you pair it with the cue that your dog already knows. And you can practice this by just giving your dog treats for sitting in the crate.
Oh, this was part of what she suggests: giving the dog the treat in the crate in the back top corner. Again, if the dog's head is looking up to get a treat, his butt is gonna go down, right? Like I was talking before how you can get a dog to go from a down to a sit by controlling where their head is going to be. You can control where their head is going to be by putting a treat above their head.
So that’s actually kind of a sort of backward little cheat way that you can teach this behavior is just open the door and give the dog a treat in the back corner. You don't even have to ask the dog to sit or do anything, just make and then close the door and then open the door a little bit and give the dog a treat in the back top corner. If there's two people, this can be even easier. You don't even have to use a clicker or anything. Open door, give the dog a treat in the back top.
This is going to most likely build a sit. Your dog is going to associate putting his head towards the top of the crate when the door starts to open. And that is going to most likely turn into a sit. Okay.
These are my rambling, I hope not too rambling, thoughts on create training? I think I covered the kinds of things I feel like I'm suggesting to people over and over when I'm getting their questions. Alright. Hope this was helpful. Thanks for listening. Bye.
Oh, I thought of one last thing I wanted to mention about crates. One question I often get is like, should there be a pillow or blanket or a dog bed or something in the crate? And the answer is, it depends.
If your dog is just going to be hanging out in there we want your doctor to be super comfy. If your dog has a bed that it really likes, sure. However if your dog has a tendency to pee and poop on things that are soft and cushy and absorbent, then maybe don't have something in there.
Also, if I'm doing any kind of training with a dog in the crate, I generally don't want a blanket or a pillow or anything where treats and crumbs can get lost. I want the dog to be able to find the treat right away. So, you know, I don't want it to get lost somewhere.
Also sometimes like to be kind of cocooned. So you can experiment with covering a crate with a sheet. Or the Revol actually, they have these magnetic pads that you can put on the sides. Some dogs might actually feel more comfortable when it's enclosed in that way. So definitely go ahead and experiment with that. Okay. I think I'm done now.
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