Crate training a puppy is a great way to keep your puppy safe.
And it's also a really important way to make sure your puppy is always getting
good information,
but there's one thing that so many property owners overlook and it's actually
making their puppy crate training much more difficult than it needs to be in
today's video.
I'm going to talk about the biggest mistake that you're making with your puppy
crate training and exactly how to fix it.
I'm Ken Steepe and welcome back to McCann Dogs
Here in our training facility,
we've helped more than a hundred thousand dog owners to overcome the same dog
training challenges that you have. So if this is your first time on the channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button so that I can help you to have a well
behaved four legged family member. When you think about leash walking training,
you have some expectations, you know,
that simply clipping your leash on and off of your dog or clipping it on them
and standing in position. It's not going to teach them anything.
They are going to learn to walk nicely. They're not going to stop jumping up.
They're going to continue pulling. It's just not enough information.
The biggest mistake that people consistently make when it comes to crate
training is the important training that's required. It's not crate putting,
it's not create placing or create being in its crate training and the important
elements of training that go into your dog. Being relaxed in their crate,
not having accidents in their crate,
being quiet in their crate and in today's video.
That's what we're going to look at.
We're going to look at those important parts of the training that your dog will
require to be more successful building value for the crate. Now,
this is something that so many people overlook,
but you've probably heard to put your puppy's food in their crate,
let them have their meals in their crate,
praising them when they're relaxed and chilled out in their crate.
But did you know that you can actually teach your puppy to choose being in the
crate?
You can do a couple of initial steps that will teach your puppy that they'll
want to be in there so that when you know, it's time to go in their crate,
they excitedly rushed in there. Kayl created a video with our puppy beeline,
and it's going to show you the starting steps,
a couple of exercises that you can do so that your puppy will happily go in
there, create and really build some value on being in there.
So one of the things I like to do to begin now training, okay.
Training my puppies to like crate is start by doing little fun games to get her
to happily go eat and out of the crate without any stress.
So I don't necessarily put her in and lock her in there right away.
I might just do some fun things to get her willingly, to go in.
And then I let her come back right back out again.
So I have a couple of treats here and I'm just going to throw them into the back
of the crate so that she can hear them hit off the crate. Oh, okay.
Yay. Good girl. And just let her go in and get the treats. Okay.
And then I let her come out. We'll try that again. Okay.
Good girl. Yes. Okay. Good girl. Very nice. Now,
once you've repeated that a few times,
the next thing you'd like to do is play a little offering game. So I have,
Oh yes. Good girl. Just like that. I have the treats ready.
I wait until she offers to go in and then I reward her good girl.
So all of the food. Yes.
Get it is always being delivered while she's inside the crate.
So that's like her favorite part. Okay. Bee yes.
Good girl.
And I can either feed by hand or can talk some cookies into the back of the
crate so she can get them out. Good girl. Okay. One more time. Yes.
You so smart. Missy. She's already waiting in the back of the crate for them.
Good girl. Very nice fun little game to play with your dog that teaches them.
The game is that the crate is very, very fun.
That's the only time your puppy is going in there.
Crate is when you go to bed or when you go to work or when you're absolutely
preoccupied,
then you're not really sending your puppy up fairly to train through some of
this stuff, especially when it comes to barking. But if you you know,
take a couple of moments throughout the day to work in this exercise,
it can be for like two minutes at a time, but you have your puppy go in there,
create when you're ready to train through it. And they have something relaxing.
Maybe they can chew on a bone or a, you know,
you're at least within earshot and you're not preoccupied so that you can deal
with whatever training situation comes up.
The other great part about this is that your puppy now learns that at any point
throughout the day, they may be asked to go and relax in their crate.
It doesn't necessarily mean that from nine o'clock at night,
until six or seven in the morning that they're going to be stuck in there.
It really changes things up for your puppy.
Let's look at how important some of these training moments are using your create
at different times during the day is going to be a really helpful tool in
teaching your puppy that their crate is a safe and comfortable place.
The last thing you want is for your dog to think that the only time they go in
their crate is when you're going to bed overnight,
or when you're going to leave your home. So moving your crate around your house,
using it for just a few minutes at a time can be really helpful.
Maybe while you're preparing dinner or, you know,
while you're distracted doing something else,
that's a great time to pop your dog into their crate for a short period of time.
That way you're also there to work through. You know,
if they do start to make some noise or you're there to support them with your
voice, tell them what a great job they're doing at being quiet,
but make sure you're not only using it. When you leave your home. For example,
we really want them to know that at any time,
during the day at any location in the house,
their crate is a safe and comfortable place to be.
What does it look like when you let your puppy out of the crate?
Do you have a door Dasher who comes bursting out every time you unclip the door?
We want to really look at the big picture of crate training here.
So it's not just when your puppy goes in and building value there.
It's not just for teaching them to be quiet and relaxed in their crate.
You're going to underestimate the importance of this next exercise.
But believe me, when I tell you,
you'll be shocked after you work through this a little bit.
When you teach your puppy to not come bursting out, when you teach your puppy,
that there's value for remaining in their crate, as you're opening the door,
it's going to impact your puppy's overall crate behavior significantly.
Let's get to it in the kennel today. We have Mac.
Now I've never done any crate training with Mac.
He is a notorious door dasher,
and I don't really know what to expect from him when we start this exercise.
But for you at home,
if you also have a door dasher who comes crashing out of their crate,
I want you to start by immediately building value for your dog. Being in there,
create it can be something this simple.
What we're going to do is get that crate unlocked,
and then we can reward them for it. I don't know if Mac is going to see this.
He seems to be licking my finger here, what's this buddy, but one,
I want you to be aware of Mac will wait on a wait command. You know,
he's my competition, sheep dog,
but he doesn't have a lot of experience with crate training.
What I'm working on here.
I don't want him to require any sort of cue to maintain that position.
What I want to do.
And this is what's going to be so helpful for those of you who have a dog.
Who's often unsettled in their crate is to have them choose,
to remain quiet,
have them choose to be relaxed and feel like they're being rewarded simply by
remaining in there. So I can see Mac is sniffing around.
I think he found that first street.
Now I want you to take control of your crate door and then open it just slightly
and see what you get. Yes, you can. Yes, your dog and then reward them,
maintain control of this door.
If you have a door dash at the moment they get that treat.
They're probably coming out to see you. But so hang on to that door.
The other thing, whether you you're using a plastic crate or a wire crate,
make sure that reward position is at the back of the crate.
The last thing I want to be doing is rewarding him in this position.
We know that he finds value out here. If he, you know, he,
he's so excited and enthusiastic to come screaming out of the crate.
We know it's valuable out here. Now we need to shift,
transfer some of that value inside the crate. So let's try this again.
We'll open just a little bit more. Yes. Good boy.
And we're making this tiny steps for him.
The other thing I want you to do is be careful that you're not rushing opening
the door too quickly. If Mac chose to start to leave.
If he started to come out on his own. Yes. Good boy. I'll toss the treat in.
I would just simply close the door.
I would stop where I am and close to the door and then sort of go back one step.
I would move back to the third open quarter open, whatever that spot was,
where you were successful. Yes. Good boy. Good job, buddy.
You gotta want to know the treat. That's a boy. Good.
He's doing a really great job here. I'm quite surprised.
Sometimes I'm really worried about him. As soon as they take hold of that door,
he will race out. Let's see if we can get to the halfway point.
Yes. Good boy, buddy. And this is one of the benefits of front loading,
the value on this, you know, by,
by starting by rewarding in this position by rewarding him.
As soon as I took hold of that door, he started to understand that, you know,
maybe it's not so valuable to race out of that crate.
When you start to see this kind of impulse control,
I don't even think he's paying attention. He's still looking for that tree.
Good boy. Now remember don't let go of that crate door.
This would be the time when he could make a mistake. Yes. Good boy.
And you toss that treat in this is where you're going to see the
impulse control kick in.
He's starting to realize that there's value for being thought thoughtful.
If I've got a clip, I'll try to find a clip of him coming,
racing out of his crate,
but we're starting to have him use his mind a little bit about
choosing whether or not he goes racing out of that crate.
Keep in mind if you're having any of these specific problems that we're talking
about today.
I'll these are clips from videos that we already have available to you.
So I'll put some links in the description below so that you can take a deeper
dive into understanding how to go through some of these issues and solve these
problems. Accidents in the crate.
Now using a crate for house training or potty training is a really good way to
speed up the process.
Whether it's a puppy or an older rehomed dog that you know is having some issues
with house training,
a crate can really help you to help the dog be more successful.
But if your dog is still having accidents in the crate,
then you need to identify this as a training issue.
We have lots of videos here on the channel that talk about house training and
potty training.
And I'll include some links in the description down below for you to check those
out.
But you really need to understand that there's one of a few things that you need
to do. If your dog is still having accidents in the crate, number one,
you need to be proactive. Now it's better that you're 30 minutes too early,
taking your puppy out then a second too late. So at any point,
if you're not sure that it's a good,
good idea to take your puppy out and they can go do their business.
But the last thing you want to be doing is setting your dog up in a situation
where they have a full bladder. They're working,
trying their best to be successful, but it's just too much for them.
They haven't reached that level of understanding that they don't have an
accident in their crates. So be proactive about taking them out. Number two,
to be a good trainer for your dog, you need to have great timing.
So maybe if your dog's continuing to have accidents in their crate,
you need to set yourself up so that you can be more successful.
So that might mean having your dog or puppy within earshot or somewhere that you
can see them so that when they start to stir those initial signs,
that they might have to go out, that you can see them, or you can hear them.
This is going to be really important. So if your puppy or your dog is, you know,
the other end of the house and that's where their crate is,
then this is you need to move it.
It needs to be closer to you so that you can see these things happening or hear
them happening. And that way you'll be able to intervene and get your dog out.
You're going to be a lot more successful.
If your dog doesn't have an opportunity to rehearse the failures,
and maybe you aren't setting them up to be successful,
maybe their crate isn't set up correctly. Let's take a look at that.
We want our puppies to be comfortable in their crate,
but if you're having potty training issues and your puppy keeps having
accidents, it's important to do things like remove their bedding,
whether it's a bed or a towel or whatever from their crate puppies will
sometimes go pee or poop on that bedding or on that towel.
And then they'll sort of scrunch it up to the side so that they can still sleep
comfortably. Now, this won't be forever.
This is just while we deal with this potty training issue,
we're going to remove the bedding from the puppies,
create if they continue to have accidents,
remove other things like pee pads as well.
It creates a bit of a conflicting message for puppies,
and we're going to show them exactly how they can very quickly potty train by
giving them very clear boundaries. So by taking them outside, for example,
and if you're using puppy pad training in your house,
there's probably lots of videos on YouTube that talk about progressively moving
it closer to an exterior door, for example,
but let's make sure for now that all of the other things in our puppies crate
have been removed. If they're having problems with potty training, next,
we need to look at how much room our puppy has in their crate. Now,
a lot of us will buy a crate for the puppies lifetime.
We're going to buy it big enough for them to grow into.
But the problem there is that when your puppy's really little,
there might be too much room available for them to go have an accident in one
corner and then sleep soundly or lie down and be comfortable and dry in another
corner of the crate.
Something that you can do is especially for those of you who have a wire crate
for your puppy, you can get a divider.
Now I know there's probably some plastic crates out there that you can get a
divider for,
but you may need to look at doing something like creating bulk in one end of
your plastic puppies crate,
make sure that you really have a good look at how much room your puppy has.
They need to be able to stand up,
lie down and turn around quite comfortably in their crate.
But if you're giving them too much more room than that,
then they may feel like there's lots of opportunities to go pee in one side and
sleep on the other. I'm going to use Hippy Shake as my demonstration dog.
And I want her to feel like there's a bit of a consequence if she has an
accident in her crate, and you can see here,
I pour an entire cup of water in one end of the crate,
and she's still able to relax comfortably in the other end of the crate.
So make sure that that crate has the appropriate amount of space for your puppy,
especially when you're having potty training problems.
When is your puppy ready to graduate out of their crate?
This is a really common question that we get.
And it's often how old should a puppy be before they don't have to use a crate
anymore.
And I'll tell you that a lot of dogs and lots of dog owners that we talked to
will use their dog's crate over the course of their life.
It will always be somewhere that their dog can go.
You're going to find all sorts of situations where it's really helpful to have a
dog who's comfortable and relaxed in their crate. Like going to the vet,
traveling, maybe your dog over time,
develops an issue with like thunderstorms and loud noises.
It's really helpful to have a place that your dog can go.
That's comfortable that they know that they can be safe.
But if you can't remember the last time that your puppy or dog made a mistake,
when they had a little bit more freedom, as you're starting to, you know,
give them these moments where you're not 100% eyes on them all the time.
If you can't remember a time when they made a bad choice,
then you might be able to start thinking about more time out of their crate,
but it needs to be a graduated process.
And you need to really understand this is dynamic. You know,
if your puppy does great for the first hour or you know, 30 minutes,
or maybe it's like three hours out of their crate and the next day,
it's a disaster. It's not a setback.
It's an understanding that your puppy just wasn't ready for that kind of
freedom.
So let's take a look at what that graduated process might be for allowing your
puppy out of their crate. This isn't an all or nothing process.
You want to 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 want to 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 pastime 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,
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 they 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 in interrupt any behaviors,
any bad choices that they may have made,
but you are giving them that short opportunity to choose.
Now that you're aware of some of the pitfalls of puppy crate training and you
know, the big mistake that you may have been making.
It's time to take a look at each step of the process,
click that card right there for a deeper dive into each of the elements that
we've talked about today,
to help you speed through your puppy crate training on that note, I'm Ken,
Happy training.