You guys have so many great questions on our channel.
And today I'm going to take the top five most popular questions we have about
crate training and answer them. And in today's video, my fluffy friend, popcorn,
and I are going to show you how to work through those challenges.
I'm Instructor, Steve, this is Popcorn.
Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
There's a question from Emma asking if it's too late to start this crate
training with her puppy, her puppy has been home for a couple of weeks already.
And the truth is, everybody should start this right now.
As soon as you possibly can,
whether your puppy has been home for two weeks or two months,
or you're getting them two days from now,
getting your dogs comfortable in their crates is one of the most valuable things
you can do for all sorts of training.
And one of the best things that you can do right off the bat,
is build some value for the crate, make it a place that they want to go.
Now that's an easy thing to say,
but it's something that does take a little bit of work. Now,
little Popcorn here is having a little nap because we're going to get him out
and do some stuff. We had just done a little training. Hi buddy. Good boy. Now,
one of the easiest things to do right off the bat,
is take some of these great treats.
Some of these great rewards and make getting those rewards a bit of a game.
One of the things I'm going to do, and again, I've got my line on.
So I'm preventing him from running away and making his own decisions,
but I'm going to get some of those treats and I might just lure him near the
crate. The first step might be rewarding just on the ground near the crate.
Good boy. What's that? Excellent job. I can get another little treat.
Maybe toss it a little closer to the crate, right on the floor in front.
Good boy. Excellent job. Oh, did you get it? Did you get it?
It went underneath there now already because I happen to drop this crate here.
He can't quite get it. This little treat. He's going, wait a minute.
This crate thing is pretty fun. There's treats underneath it.
There's all sorts of things. Can you get that, bud? Did you find it?
You need a little help. Good job. There you go. Now that we've gotten this far,
I'm going to go another little step.
I'm going to take that treat and I put it right in the crate. Get that there.
Yes. Good boy. Like hooray. Why? Good puppers. That's fun. Isn't it?
How about good? Okay. Yes. Good. Excellent boy. Good.
He can pop back out. This is a game of sort of hide and seek. He runs in,
he gets a treat. He comes back out,
but he's only getting the treats for going inside the crate. I'm not rewarding.
And when he comes out, I want them thinking, Hey,
when I go in there really good things happen.
Now I'm using a pretty low level treat. This is some of his kibble.
You can pick the thing that's most valuable for your dog,
because that's going to be the determining factor,
whether your dog actually goes into the crate. So again,
I've got the treat here ready set, okay, get it. Yes. Good boy.
Hooray a hundred percent. Good boy. You're amazing. Ready? Set.
Now that he's playing that game,
I'm going to actually see if I can get him to go a little faster instead of
letting him walk in on his own.
I'm actually gonna get a little higher value treat.
I've got some cut up cheddar cheese here, buddy.
And I am actually going to hold him back and I'm gonna see if I can get him to
run in the crate. Now this is a little game. I love to play with my dog.
So I've got his leash. Got his line here. I'm holding him back.
Do you want this thing? Oh, you're ready. Are you set? Okay. Get it.
Ask a boy. Get it, get it, get it right there. Good boy. Hooray.
What a good puppy dog.
What I'm looking for is him to have a little more enthusiasm going in the crate.
Here it is ready. He said yes. Good boy. Amazing. Good boy. What a good job.
And in a very short session, okay get it.
I can get him freely walking in and freely walking out and also get a little
more focus from him. I don't know if you guys have noticed this,
but he went from trying to run everywhere else. Yes. Good boy. Excellent job.
Now I'm going to finish that point in a second. Good.
Did everybody see what happened there? I didn't actually throw a treat. Yes.
Good boy. Excellent job.
I didn't throw a treat in the crate and he walked in on his own.
I'm going to make a big deal about that. Good boy, buddy. Excellent job.
At first we were using that food to lure him or bribe him in there,
but now he's free to make some decisions. Where's that thing bud?
Where's that thing. Yes. Good boy. Now that he's going in there,
I'm going to toss some treats. And again, go ahead, go ahead,
go in there and get that thing. Good job. We're going to go.
We're going to go by yes. Good boy, very quickly.
He's starting to figure out that all the good things happen for running through
the door. Does this happen when you try and take your puppy out of the crate?
Come here. There's a great question from Christie on our YouTube channel.
And she talks about her dog being a door Dasher.
And it's important that we teach our dogs some manners.
When coming out of the crate,
one of the things we don't want them to learn is all the fussing and pushing and
barking.
And then that reward of being able to charge out without permission is the thing
that happens in life.
We want to teach our dogs to be a little bit more mindful and wait for our
permission. Now this exercise takes some time. It takes some patience,
but it's well-worth I know you've got lots to say right now.
It's well worth taking the time to teach them a little bit of patience when
coming out of the crate and waiting for your permission.
So I'm going to work through that now with Popcorn.
No barging out of the crate, Mister. Yes. Good.
Yes. Oopsie. Good. Try bud. Good.
Yes. Good boy. Good job.
So all I'm doing right now is really spending a second to teach popcorn,
not to come barging out of the crate.
There's nothing worse than opening your crate and having a dog frantically
combusting it when you're trying to get ahold of them.
So I'm just being a little patient with him right now.
I'm opening it a little bit. And if he decides to push forward on that crate,
I'm just closing it again. Just preventing him from moving. But when I get this,
yes, good job. So that was pretty good. He thought, Hey,
I'm going to give this little tap and see what happens.
Now I'm close enough that I can affect change. And just close that again.
I'm not mad at them and I'm not scolding him. Yes. Good boy.
But when I get this kind of decision, yes. Good boy.
Now I can open the crate a little bit more. Yes. Good boy.
Now I want to take note of where I'm feeding him.
I'm feeding him right inside the crate.
I'm not feeding him with his head to coming out.
I want him to know that hanging out in the crate means good things happen.
And once I've done that, now you can see whoops. Now he's trying to come out.
So I'm just going to prevent him. Got your collar there. Button.
I'm just going to close that door again. We're going to try this process again,
teaching them to be a little bit more mindful coming out of the crate's.
A really valuable thing to do. Boy. There you go. Good.
Let's see. Good. Now that I'm getting a little more patience,
I can reach in and take a hold of his collar. I'm going to clip on his line,
but the moment you touch your puppy, guys, what happens? They go crazy.
They go wild. He's really excited by this.
So now I'm going to get to my next step.
I'm going to put this line on and I got to go through that process again.
So now I've got his line on him. Now I'm going to close that crate.
We're going to start over.
Cause now I can have great control when I do give him permission to come out and
it's getting a little excited with, excuse me,
he's really getting a little bit worked up and trying to figure out how to get
out of this crate.
I'm not mad at him just being calm and letting him figure out what it is.
That's going to get that door open.
And what I'm looking for is just him to be a little bit calm. Good boy.
Good. Whoopsie. Good job. Good. Try bud. Good.
Yes. Good reward inside that. Great again. Good boy.
Playing the game a little back and forth. Whoopsie.
Good job. This is an exercise in patience with a busy puppy. It takes time.
It doesn't happen instantly, but it's well worth spending a little bit of time.
Each time you take that puppy out of the crate. Yes. Good boy. Yes.
Good boy. Whoopsie. Good. We're getting close. He started to use his brain now.
Good boy. That's better.
You can just chill out bud point. Yes. Good. So he sat.
I'm going to take advantage of that. Good.
Okay. I got boy, you did it.
It's important to play these games and build a little value for going in the
crate on their own, but let's face it.
Sometimes life simply gets in the way somebody comes to your door or you need to
look after the kids.
They need something and the pop just needs to go in the crate. So at that time,
it's all about the approach you take.
I am simply going to have a matter of fact approach.
I'm going to scoop my dog into my side, take this line off and they go in.
There's not much more to it and you go, good boy. Excellent work.
The nice thing is, if I've done the games beforehand,
it makes him settling down a lot easier.
If you're struggling with your puppy training,
remember this is just a short YouTube video. If you'd like more personalized,
help and feedback from me and the other McCain Dogs,
instructors check out our Puppy Essentials online training program for puppies
up to five months of age, you can get feedback every day from one of us.
I'll put the link in the description below Rustic Nature asked the question,
is it okay to leave chew toys and things in the crate with my dog?
And there are definitely some things I will leave in my crate,
especially with the puppy of this age.
But there's a lot of things that I won't you'll notice that I don't have any
bedding first and foremost in here.
Beddine is something that my dogs earn a little bit later on in the early stages
of puppy training bedding can actually set our house training back it's
absorbent. They can push it aside.
Most dogs in a crate like this will not go the bathroom.
If they're going to be lying in it,
that's just puppy nature and bedding sometimes allows them to of.
Evacuate a little bit in one spot and then shove it off to the side and sleep in
the other corner.
I want to make sure I get the host training sorted out first and foremost,
the original bedding. Now,
along with house training bedding can become quite the chew toy for dogs.
And it's something that can be shredded and ingested. Hey, Hey, stop. Good,
quiet. That's better.
It's something that can be ingested and create some blockages on the way
through. You have a lot to say, buddy, don't you on the way through?
So it's important that at this point, it's just the crate. Now,
what can I give them? Well, a good appropriate size nylon bone or a Kong.
I love to take Kongs and stuff.
A little dog food that's been soaked and frozen in that crate to give them
something to entertain themselves. I do leave a color on my puppies,
a Well-Fit flat buckle collar. Hey, that's enough.
Something that I know is not gonna get caught on anything,
but my puppies are in and out all the time.
It's not like they're in there and I leave for eight hours and come back later,
they're in and out throughout the day,
my puppies do spend a lot of time in their crate,
but these things allow them to sort of occupy themselves when I'm doing all the
other things I need to do.
You'll notice I've been addressing every time popcorn wines or makes up a bit of
a fuss in his crate.
And we got a lot of questions from viewers about what to do when their pups are
unsettled in their crates.
And we put out a video a little while ago that goes quite in depth into what to
do when your pup's fussing into your crate.
And I'll put the link to that video in the description below a question I get
asked all the time by my in-person students is how do I know that my dog's going
to be settled in their crate?
How can I help them settle in their crate a whole lot better?
And it all comes down to are their needs met. Has my dog gone to the bathroom?
Do I know that they've had a meal recently?
Have I had a good little play session where I've used not only their physical
energy up, but also their mental energy,
teaching them some basic skills that use their brain and then have I again,
taken them out and tried to make sure that their potty needs are met.
If all those things are sorted out and there's better chance of that dog going
in and laying quietly, just like little popcorn is here. Now,
popcorn does have a Kong and I've put a little cheese in there for him.
But this is what allows me to now go and do the things that I need to do after
I've looked after my puppy.
One of the most popular questions we get asked is how long do I have to crate
train my puppy and crate to me and crate training is kind of a two-part thing.
The first part is training them, Hey,
quiet and teaching them to be comfortable and relaxed in their crate.
But the second part is how long do I actually use my crate in the house?
So let's talk about the training aspect of it.
When you have a new dog or a new dog to you taking time to have your dogs
actually spend time in their crate is the first step. So feeding your dogs,
their meals in their crate, doing what I'm doing right now,
doing a little training and then popping them in there.
And I'm going to actually go do a couple of other things and come back this,
isn't putting them in the crate at night,
going to sleep and hoping it goes well, this isn't putting them in the crate,
leaving for work for the day and hoping it goes well,
this is having him in the crate while you go about your day.
And it might be that I simply walk to another room,
do the thing that I need to do and come back,
getting a little positive association with it and also having the pup learn that
just because they're in there, you're not leaving for hours at a time.
It simply becomes part of their day, and that's why if I have to go do things,
if I have to get to look after the door, look after the kids,
my puppy learns that there's no big deal to just be popped in there because when
I have time, I'll pop them out and we'll do some training outside of the crate.
And what does that time look like when he's out of his crate? Well,
it is focused training time. It is teaching him what I want him to do it.
Isn't just, I opened the gate and let him run wherever he wants to.
It's about building value for me. It's about building that relationship.
It's about using his brain and tiring him out so that when I do pop him back in
there, he's going to do exactly what Popcorn's doing here,
which is just chill out. And what about the second part of the question?
How long do I have to use the crate? Well, that's really an individual decision.
I mean, ultimately my dogs don't live in crates everyday in my house.
But they still are in crates throughout their lives.
So how do I start to wean it away? Well,
when I can't remember the last time I had to get after my puppy doing something
that I didn't want them to,
when they're able to just be without chewing or having accidents or all that
kind of stuff,
then I can start to think about giving a little test and the little test isn't
going to work. Fingers crossed and hope it goes well.
It might be simply having them chill out in the living room.
And I walk outside and maybe come back in 30 seconds later.
And then maybe I go out the front door and walk around to the back door and come
back in varying the length of time that you're gone and seeing what your puppy
does. If they're making great decisions,
I can start to extend that time if they're making poor decisions. Well,
that probably tells you it's time to have them go back in their crate.
I do still have my dogs in and out of their crates quite often through their
entire lives. When my dogs are in vehicles,
they're in crates for their safety and my family's safety.
If they need to go to the vet's, they may need to spend time in a crate.
So even though we may eliminate it from our house,
it's still an important thing to use throughout your dog's life.
Crate training is something that I start the minute my puppy comes home,
but if you'd like some more help on what to do that first week home with your
puppy, put that video right there. On that note. I'm Steve,
this is Popcorn happy training.