Crate & Potty Training

Hello PACmembers...

I actually have the answer to your prayers today...that is, if your do is not potty trained. The method I am going to teach you is fool proof and guaranteed to be successful!

First, though, we need to discuss crate training. There are basically two ways to do it. The Easy Way and The Hard Way.

The Easy Way: Purchase a crate that is the proper size for your dog. The crate should be just large enough for your dog to walk in, turn around and lay down. This is not a condo, this is a crate. Buying something over sized because you feel guilty is just going to drag out this process. Remember, dogs are den animals...the crate will be his "den". The first day you bring the crate home let the dog sniff it out, eat some treats out of it, and play with a toy or two near it. Do not make this a bigger deal than it needs to be. At bed time, place the crate in a room as far away from yours as you possibly can, politely place the dog in the crate, close the door, turn off the light, and go to bed. The dog will likely cry, bark, and whimper...maybe even for a few hours, but at some point the dog will bark himself to sleep. Follow this same procedure for the next 3-5 days while at work and at night, and your dog will be crate trained before you know it.

It is important to remember:
1) Never let your dog out of the crate when he is making noise.
2) Do not make a big deal about putting him in the crate. The bigger deal you make this process the bigger deal it will be for him.
3) Feed your dog BOTH meals in the crate. (refer to the blog on "Feeding")
4) Use his crate for timeouts (refer to the blog on "Timeouts")
5) Never ever use the crate as punishment (i.e. throw the dog in, smack the outside of the crate, yell at the dog while he's in the crate, etc.) All his experiences associated with the crate should be positive or neutral. Never negative!

The Hard Way: I call this method the hard way mainly because it takes longer and it is more work. I would normally only use this method for a dog with separation anxiety, but owners who can't take the barking/crying can use it for basic crate training.

Once you have selected a crate as mentioned above, place it in your living room. For the next two days just completely ignore the crate. Just treat it like a new piece of furniture. On the third morning at your dogs usual feeding time place the food in the back of the crate (allow your dog to watch you do this). Follow our "Feeding" guidelines from the previous blog. If the dog does not decide to go in and eat, then his food goes away after 20 minutes. Continue following this procedure for the next 7 days. Allow your dog to eat in the crate with the door open. If he does not eat in the crate...he does not eat. Don't worry YOUR DOG WILL NOT STARVE HIMSELF! When he is hungry enough he will eat. After he has been eating in his crate consistently for a few days start closing the door behind him when he goes in for meals (he may revert back to his non-eating ways the first few times the door is shut. After he is eating comfortably with the door shut, start adding about 5 minutes a day to the length of time he is in the crate. After about 2 weeks he will be over an hour in the crate. At this point 90% of dogs will be totally comfortable in their crates. This process can take as long as a month from start to finish, but when you are finished, even the most resistant dogs will be crate trained.

The same "important things to remember" apply from above.

In my opinion every dog should be crate trained for their safety and your sanity. It is nice to have a safe place for your dog when you need to spend time doing other things. Your dog will also enjoy having a safe place that is his, where he can go relax and not be pestered by us annoying humans.

A common question I get is "how long is too long for my dog to be in his crate?". With puppies: (the number of months they are old) + (1) = the number of hours they can spend in their crate. A 3 month old puppy can go 4 hours with out a bathroom break. This will be a strict guideline we will follow when we start the potty training process.

For adult dogs the rules are a little different...Focus on the quality of time spent out of the crate rather than the quantity. Take our working dogs (SAR, Patrol, Personal Protection) for example, they are only out of their crates for 4 hours a day unless they are working. But the 4 hours they are out of the crate are extremely intense. By the end, they are exhausted and ready to go back to the crate and rest. They come out of the crate from 8am-10am work their butts off, and head back to their crate until about 7pm-9pm when they come out for more work. The mistake I see people make is that the dog is crated from 8am-6pm and then gets to sit around with the family until about 10pm and is then re-crated until 7am. This dog was only out of the crate for 5 hours and was then expected to sit around and do nothing. That doesn't seem fair. Now, this doesn't mean that you are doing any better just because you leave the dog free to roam the house all day. The house is just like a really big crate. The dog still needs to work.

So, moral of the story, the more effort you put in while the dog is out of the crate, the better behaved your dog will be in the crate.

We are out of time for today, but I promise to reveal the big potty training secret first thing tomorrow.

Have a great day...your dog is!

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