Crate training is considered by many to be the most effective method to house train a puppy. You certainly need a crate for puppy crate training. The crate is used to limit your puppy’s activity to a designated area when you’re unable to keep watch on her. Your puppy should remain in her crate all the time, unless she’s eating, playing, or when you are taking her for a potty break outside.
The crate is like your puppy’s den, a place where your puppy feels safe and at ease; it’s her private place where she comfortably sleeps, takes naps, or idles her time away. Dogs naturally like to keep their sleeping or resting area clean, so your puppy will not like to soil her den. She will try to keep her pee and poop in until you let her out of her crate.
How to select a crate?
Picking the right size of crate for your puppy is crucial. If the crate is too big, your puppy will be able to use one end as a bed and one the other as her toilet area. This then defeats the whole purpose of crate training your puppy, and will set back the house-training process for several weeks!
When it comes to choosing the crate, get one that is big enough for your puppy to comfortably stand up, lie down or turn around. Don’t worry, though, as you don’t have to keep getting new crates to fit the size of your growing puppy. You can save cost if you buy one crate that can serve as your puppy’s den until she grows up.
Buy an adult-size wire crate and partition the inside space with dividers while your dog is a puppy. You can use a wire grille or board as divider. When your puppy needs a larger area as she increases in size, you can then slide the dividers back to adjust for more space. Alternatively, you can build a crate yourself and replace it with a larger model as your puppy grows.
Making the crate inviting
Try to make the crate as welcoming as possible to invite your puppy in. You may lay a layer of thick blankets in the crate, and also place inside a chew or some toys for your puppy. The door of the crate should be open at all times to appear welcoming. However, the door should be tightly closed when your puppy is inside.
Remember: before your puppy is fully house broken, you wouldn’t want to give her total freedom in the house to avoid soiling incidence. If you let her to move around in every corner of the house before she’s completely house trained, you’re actually encouraging her to eliminate wherever she likes. And each time she does this, the risk of soiling incidence will increase.
Where to put the crate?
During crate training, you would want to keep your puppy’s crate close you. The ideal place for the crate is the hub of the family: usually the kitchen, or anywhere the family gathers. Keeping your crate puppy close to you not only makes your puppy house breaking process easier, since you can keep a close watch on your puppy’s movement, but also helps build the bond between you and your puppy. Your puppy also needs to feel like a part of the family, it’s important that she does not feel alone in a strange environment.