Buy a Dog Crate
A crate will provide your dog with a “den” of its own, where they will feel safe and secure. Crates can also be a useful tool for house training, and can help keep your dog safe – and your furniture intact – when you’re away from home for a brief period. Further, crates also allow you to transport your dog safely. Though there are many to choose from, the right information makes choosing a crate a quick and easy endeavor. Training your dog to enjoy its crate will also be enjoyable and rewarding!
Contents
Steps
Choosing an Appropriately-Sized Crate for Your Dog
- Look for a cage based on safety and sufficient size. The dog crate you choose should allow your dog to lie down and turn around comfortably in the cage. When they sit or stand in the crate, they should have about three to four inches of extra head room. Since different breeds of dogs have different proportions, weight alone cannot allow you to determine an appropriately-sized cage.
- Measure your dog at its widest, tallest, and longest points, then add three inches to each of these dimensions to find the rough dimensions of the crate you’ll need.
- Don’t use a crate that’s too big. If your dog can comfortably stand, turn around, and lie down, the crate is large enough. In fact, you don’t want it to be much larger than is necessary to allow these movements. Especially if you intend to use the crate for house training, a properly-sized crate is extremely important. If the crate is too large, your dog may go to the bathroom at one end and hang out at the other.
- Use a crate divider to adjust a crate’s size. If you have a puppy, you can intentionally buy a crate that you think will be large enough to hold your dog when they’re fully grown. Until then, you’ll need to accommodate the crate to the puppy’s size. Do so by using a crate divider to block off the excess crate space. Recall that they only need space that is sufficient to stand, sit, lie down, and turn around in.
- Depending on the type of crate you buy, you can purchase pre-made dividers that will come will easily attach.
- You can also make your own divider by cutting a board to the appropriate size, sanding the edges, drilling holes near the edges, and attaching it in the appropriate location using zip ties or another material that cannot injure or snag your dog. This will be easiest with a wire cage, though you can drill small holes to help attach a custom divider to a plastic crate as well.
- You can also potentially rent puppy-sized crates from your local animal shelter, and wait to buy a cage for your dog once it is fully grown.
Selecting a Type of Crate
- Get a wire crate in hot climates. Crates made of metal wires have several benefits. If your dog has a heavy coat or you live in a hot climate, wire crates offer the best heat ventilation. Wire crates also make it especially easy to attach and adjust dividers, so the crate can grow as your dog’s size increases. Most wire crates are foldable, allowing for easier storage when not in use.
- Use a removable floor tray with a wire crate to keep your dog’s paws from getting caught or pinched, and to allow for easier cleaning.
- Place a thick piece of cardboard between the floor tray and the wire bottom of the cage to reduce noises when your dog moves in its crate.
- Weigh the benefits of a plastic crate. If your dog likes cozier places, such as corners or the areas underneath tables, they may prefer a plastic crate. Plastic crates are often required while flying with your dog. Further, plastic crates are also the hardest to break out of. If you do use a plastic crate, make sure that your dog gets plenty of air circulation.
- Make sure that spending time in a plastic crate does not agitate your dog. Some dogs prefer to be able to see more clearly than plastic crates allow.
- Consider a soft-sided crate for small dogs. Soft-sided crates are the lightest, most portable, and easiest to store. However, they are only usable with small dogs that won’t attempt to escape. If you have a small, well-trained dog, use a soft-sided crate to easily take them with you on short trips.
- Make sure that your dog doesn’t wise up and learn how to unzip a zippered soft-sided crate by positioning the zippers pulls where they cannot be reached.
- Shop for used crates online. Look at craiglist.org, another local classifieds website, or eBay.com for a used crates. Since many dog-owners only use crates for training, you can likely find a crate in great shape for less than it costs to buy it new. Of course, if you do buy a used crate, make sure you clean and disinfect it before providing it to your dog.
Introducing Your Dog to Its Crate
- Be patient and positive during crate training. The most important point to remember is that you must make sure your dog associates your crate with positive sentiments. Start slow when introducing your dog to a crate. It may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to get your dog used to spending time in a crate.
- At first, leave the door to the crate open, so they can explore it whenever they feel comfortable doing so.
- Place the crate somewhere you spend a lot of time. The best place for your dog’s crate is somewhere they enjoy being, and somewhere they’ll be near you. Put something comforting in the crate, like a blanket. Your dog may simply start sleeping in the crate on its own.
- Encourage your dog to go into the crate. Bring your dog over to the crate and speak to them in a calm, happy voice. If they don’t want to go into it, drop some treats just inside the entrance to the crate. If they reach in and eat these, toss some further into the crate. It’s totally okay if they are hesitant to go in all the way. Don’t force them to do so.
- Try tossing its favorite toys into the crate as well. It may take up to a few days to convince them to go into the crate all the way.
- Feed your dog in its crate. Once they’re willing to go into the crate to retrieve treats or toys, start feeding them its meals in the crate as well. This will cause your dog to feel positively about the crate. Once your dog is comfortable standing and eating in its crate, close the door while they’re eating. The first time you do this, open the door when they’re done eating.
- Next time you feed them and close the door while they’re eating, leave it closed for a few minutes after its meal. Increase the amount of time you leave them in the crate until they’re spending 10 minutes in the crate after meals.
- If they begin to whine, do not let them out until they stop whining. Otherwise, this will teach them that whining gets them out of the crate.
- Start leaving your dog in the crate while you’re at home. At first, do so only while you’re home. Choose a word to indicate that you want your dog to go in its crate, such as “crate.” Go to the crate, say the word, and offer your dog a treat. Praise them if they enter the crate, give them the treat, and close the door. Sit near them for a few minutes, then go elsewhere for a few minutes. Return and spend a few more minutes near them before letting them out. Gradually increase the period of time you’re out of your dog’s sight.
- Leave your dog in the crate for short times when you go out. Once you can leave your dog in its crate for 30 minutes without issues, you can crate them when you leave for short periods. Vary the length of time between putting them in the crate and actually leaving, between 5 and 20 minutes. Be relaxed when you put them in the crate before leaving. Avoid drawn-out “good-byes.” Simply praise the dog for obeying, give them a treat, and depart.
- Don’t act excited when you return home. This may increase the dog’s anxiety about when you’ll return when you leave the house.
- Continue crating the dog for brief periods when you’re at home, or they’ll begin to associate the crate with you leaving.
- Only crate the dog until they can be trusted not to destroy the house. After that, keep the crate as a place where the dog can go voluntarily.
Avoiding Potential Problems
- Do not use the crate as punishment. Crating them after they’ve misbehaved will confuse them about the crate. This will likely make the dog feel trapped and frustrated. They will likely come to fear the crate and begin to refuse to enter it, even if they once loved it.
- Don’t leave your dog in the crate for extended periods. The more time they spend locked in a crate, the less exercise and human interaction your dog will get. This may result in your dog not getting enough exercise and becoming depressed or anxious. Adjust your schedule, hire someone to care for your dog, or bring them to doggie daycare if you have been keeping them in the crate for more than a few hours per day.
- Never keep puppies in a crate too long. Aside from the other issues associated with long periods in a crate, puppies cannot control their bladders and bowels for more than a few hours. The same applies to older dogs that are being house-trained. Dogs need to learn to “hold it” – prior to training they simply don’t know they are supposed to!
- Do not crate your dog when they’re stressed. If your dog is anxious, even if it’s about being crated, you should not force them to go into a crate. Further, do not crate them when they become upset about someone leaving, or because there is a storm outside. They should only ever enter the crate voluntarily once there are trained to do so.
