Crate training is well known as a tool for housetraining dogs of all ages, but I have found that its uses go far beyond that. Our five-year-old Rottweiler Lola (shown in the photo) loves her huge crate, and seeks it out frequently… except when our feisty cat Misty has taken up residence in the crate with a “make my day” attitude. Then Lola may whine as she settles down on the floor nearby to wait her turn.
The Midwest Life Stages Double-Door Folding Metal Dog Crate is the bestselling dog crate at Amazon. I recently learned that when you are in any category there, you can look up at a top menu bar and choose Bestsellers. I just did that and as of today, this crate is not just the #1 dog crate, it’s #1 in pet supplies AND #1 in the entire home and garden category. Okay, I admit to liking odd facts like this! So I got interested and clicked through to read the page about this particular crate. I’m a huge fan of crate training for puppies and dogs both — that link takes you to a long how-to page I wrote. It immediately became evident why this crate is so popular. It has two features that most dog crates don’t have:
There are doors in two different spots, very convenient for different places in your home or for use in both home and car. Latches on the top and bottom of each door.
There is a divider that can be used when you are potty-training a puppy or adult dog. Since puppies are more apt to hold it in a smaller space, use this for training. ( Of course, if you will be gone all day, be sure the pup has enough room!) They say that this crate cuts housebreaking time in half. Read the rest of this entry
Here’s a talk I recorded on crate training, how to do it, and some alternatives to it.(It isn’t for every dog or every person.)
The recording takes a few seconds to start while it is loading.
This is based on part of a crate training page at the main part of this website. I also have a useful page there on dog crates.
If you would like to download this audio to listen to on an mp3 player, for example, here is the direct link to it. Just right-click or the Mac equivalent to save it to your computer:
I’m a big fan of crate training, but not for all dogs. That link takes you to a long page I wrote about the main website about crate training, how to do it, and when not to. But I don’t talk about clicker training there. So as I’ve been reading Clickertraining: the 4 Secrets of Becoming a Supertrainer recently, I noticed that they have a chapter on crate training. It’s near the end of the ebook, and so I thought it might draw on clicker methods that would be pretty advanced. It doesn’t really though.
I was very pleased to see that Morten and Cecilie, the authors of the ebook, take the same view I do that crate training is not something to be rushed!
Crate training is well known as a tool for housetraining dogs of all ages, but I have found that its uses go far beyond that. Our five-year-old Rottweiler Lola (shown in the photo) loves her huge crate, and seeks it out frequently… except when our feisty cat Misty has taken up residence in the crate with a “make my day” attitude. Then Lola may whine as she settles down on the floor nearby to wait her turn.
