How To Train A Dog

There is nothing easier in house training puppies than crate training.

You will find it quite easy to train the puppy if you are systematic in your crate training. It will not help if you just push your puppy in the crate and try all sorts of methods without any particular plan.

Crate training an adult dog is a Himalayan task, believe me. But it is different with a puppy. If you place it in a crate when you bring it home and keep it there, the crate will be ‘home’ for the puppy and you will have no difficulty crate training it.

The use of rewards in training dogs is always a good, effective method. It works well when house training puppies, and also when you are crate training your puppies.

Use the following simple steps when you begin crate training your cute puppy:

1. Buy a crate that will be comfortable and snug for the puppy. You must have the crate at home, ready to receive the puppy when you bring it home. When you eventually bring the puppy to your house, put it near the crate and not in it. Give the puppy time to explore all around the crate and the crate itself.

2. The puppy may not get into the crate all by itself. But this is nothing to be concerned about. If this happens, what you need to do is to tempt the puppy to get in. You do this by putting its food near the gate of the crate. You can even give it an encouraging nudge towards the crate. You do this every day, gently pushing it closer and closer to the gate of the crate.

After sometime, the puppy will get used to eating close to the gate of the crate. It is now time for you to put the food inside the crate. The puppy will go in to eat it. When it curls up inside the crate, you can shut the gate.

3. The crate you got for your puppy should neither be so large that the puppy does not feel cozy in it, nor should it be so small that the puppy is cramped all around. The crate should be large enough to allow the puppy to stretch, turn around and sleep comfortably in it.

4. It will help the puppy get accustomed to the crate if you make it a practice to always pick it up when it feels sleepy and put it in the crate to doze off.

Once the puppy comes to realize that the crate is where he sleeps, he will get into the crate by himself whenever he wants to take a nap or just curl up and rest.

5. When the puppy has accepted the crate as its home, you can teach him to get into it without trouble when you tell him ‘go to crate’ or ‘go to sleep’. Once you have got him to do this, you can think of leaving him alone at home for a while when you have to go out.

You must keep in mind that your puppy is still too young and small and will not be able to keep still in the crate for a long time.

When you have this in mind, you can start training your puppy by keeping it in its crate for short periods of time, to begin with. Start with stretches of twenty minutes and gradually increase this period.