- Is your puppy ready, or are you about
to make a huge puppy training mistake.
We all know the value of crate training
as a tool to keep our dogs safe
and to avoid some common puppy training mistakes,
as well as to allow us to be there
to give our dogs good information.
But when is our puppy ready for a little bit more freedom?
Is your puppy ready for a little bit
more independence in your home?
In this video I'm gonna talk to you
about some puppy crate tips that will allow you
to know whether your puppy is ready
for you to stop using their crate.
I'm Ken Steepe and welcome back to McCann Dogs.
(guitar strumming) (dog barking)
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Now it's sort of interesting because this
is a pretty common question from people
who are just beginning their puppy crate training.
But for people who have a puppy
or a dog that's quite comfortable in their crate
and likes going in their crate,
there's less of a sense of urgency
about removing the crate from the picture.
But if your at the point right now
where you're just starting to teach your puppy
that their crate is a safe and relaxing place to be,
then I've linked a video in the description below
that you should definitely check out
and there's a few exercises in there
that will really help your puppy
be excited about their crate and love to go in their crate.
But if you have reached the point where you're wondering
if your puppy should have a little bit more freedom
from their crate there's a couple
of really important considerations
that you need to take into account.
Let's talk about the how.
This isn't an all or nothing process,
you wanna make sure that you're setting your puppy up
in an area or a location that's maybe
a little bit puppy proof.
The last thing you'd wanna do
is introduce them to an environment
where they can make all sorts of bad choices.
So spend a little bit of time puppy proofing this area so
that your puppy is much less likely to make some mistakes.
You can set up a room in your home.
Pick up anything that your puppy might chew on,
even leave them with something
that they are allowed to chew on.
Maybe they've got a favorite chew toy,
that's a great past time for your puppy.
But don't immediately allow them complete free roam
of your entire home.
It's really important you can use something
like baby gates or chairs or some way
to set up some barriers so
that your puppy doesn't go from inside their crate
to having complete free run of the house.
Another mistake that people will make
is that they cross their fingers and hope for the best.
So they'll give their puppy this freedom
and then they'll head off to work for several hours.
We really want our puppies to be slowly introduced
to this new found independence.
So a great way to do that is to allow your puppy the freedom
in this puppy proofed area,
and then go outside for a couple of minutes
or maybe you can head upstairs and then you can return.
It's so important that our puppy starts
to understand that they are free to make some choices
and they never really know when you're going to reappear.
This is also a great way for you
to show up and interrupt any behaviors,
any bad choices, that they may have made.
But you are giving them that short opportunity to choose.
Keep in mind this is going to be a dynamic process,
so avoid the temptation of packing your crate away
or selling it on Ebay when your puppy
is transitioning away from it.
Leave the crate in place and leave them some access
to it even in this new puppy proofed environment.
Something that people often mention to us
is if there's a thunder storm that rolls in,
their puppy or their young dog will often go to their crate
because it's a safe and comfortable place to be.
So don't be in a big rush to remove that crate
from the environment even when you feel
like your puppy has successfully moved away
from using it every single night.
If your puppy still has the occasional accident,
where they sneak away into another room
and leave you a little yellow puddle.
Then now is not the time
to be giving them more opportunities
to have that kind of freedom.
You know you need to be a great leader for you dog
and your crate is still gonna be a really good way
to manage them so that when they do come out
of their crate you're able to watch them,
you're able to give them great information.
So if you're having house training issues
then hold off on giving your puppy
a little bit more freedom at this point.
If you can't remember the last time your puppy had
an accident in your home or it's the last time
that they chewed on something,
then your puppy may be ready
for a little bit more independence.
But those aren't the only factors,
there's actually something that's even more important.
The most important factor you need to consider,
is does your dog listen to you currently
when they have freedom in your home.
One of the best things about using a crate
with your dog is that every time they come out,
at this point, you're there to engage with them.
You're there to play with them.
They see you as someone of great value
because you're so much fun.
You're there to give them good information
You're there to tell them when they're making a mistake.
These are all great ways to set your dog up to see you
as a leader and these are the most important things
when you're considering giving
your puppy more freedom to make their own choices.
If your puppy isn't listening to you currently,
that's a great reason to continue using their crate.
It allows you to set up more structured training.
It allows you to give them better guidance.
We really wanna be able
to show our puppies how to be right and not have
to constantly tell them what they're doing wrong.
Using your crate is so important
to set up those situations.
One of the reasons I wanted to make this video
for you today is I remember this point
in my training with my first dog.
She really struggled with jumping up on people
and it was at a point when I started
to transition her away from using the crate.
What I really quickly learned was
that someone would come in my house,
she was so excited, she couldn't help herself.
I'd always have to quickly put on a leash or a houseline,
at that time we didn't have cell phones
so people couldn't text ahead
when they were going to show up.
But what I found was that by putting her in the crate,
just for those moments, she had all sorts
of freedom other than when people came in to our home.
I'd put her in the crate
until the excitement died down a little bit.
At that point I could let her back out of the crate.
I could put her houseline on and we could focus
on teaching her that it was much more rewarding
to keep all four paws on the floor.
But without the crate I really struggled to manage her.
I really struggled to set her up
to be right so I was constantly trying
to fix her and you know teach her
that she wasn't allowed to jump up.
It wasn't a good training scenario for either of us.
So keeping that crate available was really,
really helpful to overcome that.
And you may encounter some really tough training challenges,
maybe it's barking, or jumping up,
or whatever the thing may be.
Where putting your dog in their crate
with something to chew on.
Having them just go and relax
and hang out is the best solution.
It's the best way to give them good information.
I don't want you to look at this
as a reactive step to addressing some of these behaviors.
This is a proactive step.
You're setting yourself up and you're setting your dog up
to make better decisions,
to be able to give them good information.
It's a really important differentiation
that you need to make.
It's one of the things that
any good dog trainer would understand,
is that training is a fluid process
and using a management tool like a crate
is the best way to be clear,
consistent, and fair for your dog.
It's the best way to continue having
a motivated dog who loves to listen.
If you're looking for more puppy crate training tips,
then make sure you click that card right there.
That's our puppy crate training playlist
and it's gonna show you several different exercises
that you can do with your puppy
to teach them to be relaxed, happy,
and comfortable in their crate.
On that note, I'm Ken, happy training.