Below are 10 tips to help you crate training your puppy. The goal is for the puppy to associate a positive experience with the crate. This is also an episode on our podcast, listen here.
Tips of what to do:
- Use treats to lure puppy into crate
- Have puppy lie down in crate with lure or one time saying “down”
- Feed using their food bowl, or Lickimat, or Kong (do not close door to crate)
- Play games with puppy and crate (see Instagram videos for Top Gun Dog Training)
- Close crate door for intervals of 30 sec, 1 min, etc., and work up to several minutes at a time while puppy is being calm.
- Use a camera to observe what puppy does in crate when left alone.
Tips of what NOT to do:
- Do not throw your puppy in the crate
- Do not yell at puppy in crate when they are barking or crying
- Do not put any bedding in crate if they are a chewer or not potty trained. Just use the plastic crate pan.
- Do not let puppy suffer in crate, go back to steps of what to do and work on those.
