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4 Tips for Crate Training Your Dog Successfully

It’s critical that you always remove your puppy or dog’s collar while they are in their crate. Your dog could get her collar caught in the crate, causing a dreadful situation. And be sure the crate is never in direct sunlight, or placed too close to a vent or radiator. Your puppy has to be as relaxed as possible in her crate for effective training and safety.

1. Toys in the Crate: Putting toys in the crate to amuse your puppyis a proper way to keep him from getting bored or lonely. A Nylabone or additional fun toy can give her immediate gratification.

2. Crating At Night: While you’re sleeping, always crate your puppy. A puppy should definitely not be given unsupervised access to your house while you are sleeping. You might be shocked in the morning when you notice the wreckage that has occurred. Another useful hint is to place a tarp below the crate. If your puppy eliminates inside the crate, it may drip onto your floor. This protects your flooring or carpeting down the road, or security deposit if you happen to be in a rental situation.

3. Don’t have any space for a crate? If you have absolutely no space to put a crate, you should then tether your puppy to a bedpost or to an eye hook in the baseboard near your bed while you sleep. Provide enough lead to turn around and lie down. You don’t want the lead to be too long where he may frolic around your bedroom. If you’re renting an apartment, be certain you get your landlords permission to screw an eye hook into the base-board. This will make your landlord feel better about renting to dog owners since several dislike dog owners as tenants. In addition, lay cottony bedding onto the floor if he is to sleep restrained to your bed.

4. When Your Puppy Cries during the Night: During the first couple of weeks, your puppy might not be able to sleep through the whole entire night. Plenty of puppies whine in the middle of the night because they need to potty. When your puppy starts to cry, remove him from his crate right away so he’s able to eliminate. Once he’s finished, entertain him for a few minutes or so and place him back into his crate (or on the leash).

Your puppy needs to figure out that he is being taken out of the crate during the night to relieve himself and not to goof off. If he’s still whining after you have just taken him out and if you’re certain he does not have diarrhea, resist the urge to let him out to play with you. If you don’t resist, you’re creating a pattern where the puppy can decide when he can come out and you’ll regret it later on.

Reprinted with permission: www.articlebiz.com 

Liz Barton

This article was written by Liz Barton, writer for the regular cat e-newsletter Secrets of Cats and author of Cat Secrets Revealed.