Top

Menu

Smart Dog University

Professional training by a puppy expert

crate training

How to Crate Train Your Dog

Mention crate training and you’re likely to hear either people singing it’s praises or complain about how much trouble they have getting their dog into the crate.

Enter: Crate Love!

We have a new puppy in the house every year to raise as a service dog. The first thing I do is teach them Crate Love.

Here’s how we teach Crate Love:

  • Feed all meals in the crate. You can feed them from their bowl, or, if you have speedy eaters, put the meal into a food-dispensing toy. In either case, the food is delivered in the crate.
  • Leave the door open, let the dog enter and exit the crate as he pleases to eat his meal.
  • When offering treats or chews, toss them into the crate. The message you’re giving the dog is: all good things are delivered in the crate.
  • When you have to put the dog in the crate and leave him, it’s important to put a safe food-dispensing toy in there with him to help occupy his time. (I don’t offer rawhide-type chews when I’m gone — too high risk for choking.)

We’ve never had any trouble convincing a dog that the crate is a great place to be using the Crate Love system.

Things to avoid when teaching Crate Love:

  • Don’t force your dog into the crate when you’re teaching Crate Love. Part of the beauty is that it’s the dog’s choice to go into the crate.
  • Don’t use the crate as punishment.
  • Don’t yell at the dog if they bark in the crate. The crate is always a happy place when teaching Crate Love.

Talk to me: Does your dog love his crate? Share your tips and things that have worked for you. (Only positive, dog-friendly ideas, please…)

 

Dog Training: Ask the Trainer – When Can I Get Rid of the Crate?

I love crate. I love dogs who love crates. It’s pretty easy to teach your dog to love his crate, and I can’t think of a good reason not to crate a healthy, happy dog.

Why Crate?

Crating is a skill that your dog may need for the rest of his life.

Injury

Dogs being treated for an illness or injury are very often on crate rest for long periods of time. If you’ve let your dog’s crating skills diminish over time, it’s going to be a tough recovery for them. Tough because of the physical issues, but even tougher because now they have to learn how to crate in addition to recuperate from the illness or injury. That’s a tough combination for a dog. I’d rather have the crate already be a familiar and welcome place for the dog to be — he’s likely to actually seek out the crate for rest and recuperation instead of fighting it.

Travel

Crating will be necessary if you travel and need to board your dog.The crating area may be larger, like a kennel run, but it’s still very similar to crating. If your dog is already used to being crated, this kennel run is more like a super-duper big crate instead of being like a jail to him. He’s going to be more relaxed while you’re away. Which, in the end, means YOU will be more relaxed!

Home

Keeping your dog in a crate means your dog is safe when you’re not there to watch him. He can’t be on the counter or in the trash. He won’t be on the counter or in the cleaning chemicals. He won’t be digging up the carpet or chewing on the cherry cabinets. Your iPhone, remotes, and shoes will be in the same place and in the same condition as when you left the house. In short, crating keeps your dog and your stuff safe!

Lily, our 12 old Labrador retriever is crated every time we leave the house. That’s her routine, she knows it, and actually runs to her crate when my keys jingle. When she was about 3 or 4 years old, we wanted to give her some house freedom. That house freedom almost killed her. She managed to get into the pantry and got into raisins. After 7 days in the emergency veterinary hospital, she could finally come home. For another week, though, we had to administer 3/4 liter of fluids twice a day. It was horrific for her (and for me, as I abhor needles and this needle was huge!).  Now, Lily is crated when we leave. She’s safe. And so is our checking account.

Introducing House Freedom

If you feel the need to get rid of the crate, re-read that last paragraph above! I get it, most people think their dog would be happier out of the crate. If you do think that, and if you’re positive that you’ve dog-proofed the room, then you can try (try!) house freedom to your dog.

This starts of with just one room of house freedom. Pick the room that is the easiest for you to dog-proof and has the least expensive stuff in it. For some this might be the bathroom or laundry room (think: carpet, moulding, appliances, furniture, etc.). Using a gate or the door, leave the dog alone while you run to do your grocery shopping or other short-ish errand. Give your dog a food-stuffed Kong or something else that will occupy your dog while you’re away.

Hopefully your dog will be sleeping on his dog bed when you come back home and won’t have touched a thing other than that food-stuffed Kong. Hurray! Use that room for a month to be sure your dog is truly happy there and won’t get himself into any trouble. And maybe that’s enough house freedom — he’s out of the crate, he’s got more room to maneuver (but not enough to get himself in trouble).

If you’re really hot on giving your dog the entire house while you’re away, continue to add a room at a time (one per month if all goes well). Opening the entire house up to a dog after just one month’s freedom in just one room isn’t a smart idea. Believe me. I’ve got pictures of a shredded couch as proof. Honest. It was our dear Lily. Another reason she’s crated…

If your dog doesn’t handle house-freedom very well, chalk it up to a good try, and go back to that handy-dandy, reliable crate. Just be sure to take off your dog’s collar, especially if you have tags on it, to be sure nothing can get caught on the crate. Our dogs are always naked in their crates, for safety.

I really like the crates and the safety they offer my dogs. Once I’ve taught my dogs Crate Love, it’s hard to get them out of their crate! They run to the crate automatically, when they know we’re leaving the house. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few dogs out there who are completely fine in the house by themselves. Our Nemo is one of them. The only one of our dogs, however, that we can trust completely. Tango can be left uncrated, but only be in a room that is devoid of food (or even the possibility of food).

Talk back!

Do you use a crate? At what age did you start giving your dog house-freedom?

 

Service Dog Training: House Training (aka Potty Training)

Potty training your puppy doesn’t have to be hard.

House Training Schedule for Your Puppy

Start with a schedule and stick with a schedule. Repeat, repeat, repeat. There’s nothing more helpful when potty training a puppy than getting him on a schedule and keeping that schedule. Schedule your pup’s meals. Leave the food down for 20 – 25 minutes, then take it up until the next feeding. Allowing your pup to have free access (called “free feeding”) will slow down your house training efforts.

Schedule frequent trips outside — with your pup on a leash — to give him lots of opportunities to go to the bathroom on the grass. There are good reasons to take your pup on potty breaks on a leash.

  1. You can control your pup — this isn’t play time, it’s pee and poop time.
  2. You are there with your pup to make sure he goes to the bathroom. Too many suburban dog owners just let their pup out in the backyard and assume that business gets done. And then they’re surprised when their pup comes back inside and promptly goes to the bathroom in the house.
  3. You can create the bathroom area in a specific part of your yard. Take your pup to the pee and poop area, stand there, and wait for your pup to go to the bathroom.

You want to take your puppy outside every 30 minutes and after he wakes up from a nap, after an enthusiastic play session, and after he’s eaten.

Supervise Your Puppy

When your pup is inside the house with you, control his access to the rest of the house. Your pup should be in the same room with you at all times (for so many reasons, not just for house training). Wooden or plastic baby gates are easy to find and are relatively inexpensive — there’s no reason not to have at least one in your house. I also use a tether, as well as a crate to help control the pup’s access to the house. Between these three tools, it’s pretty easy to keep your confined so you can “eyeball” your puppy all the time.

It’s important to control your puppy’s access in the house.

Doing this ensures that you will:

  1. teach the puppy to go outside to go to the bathroom
  2. catch on to your pup’s subtle signals that he’s gotta go to the bathroom
  3. make sure he’s not learning to sneak off and pee or poop out of sight. 

More Potty Training Tips

  • Take your pup out the same door every time.
  • Whenever the pup is even remotely close to that door, praise him and take him outside to the potty area.
  • If your pup goes to the bathroom in the house, don’t scold him. You messed up, scold yourself if you feel you must scold someone. Scolding your pup will encourage him to hide when he has to go to the bathroom and it’ll be even harder to teach your pup to go outside.
  • Create a family schedule to share the house training responsibility and so there’s no breakdown in supervision or potty training coverage. It’s really hard to say “I didn’t know I was supposed to be watching the puppy!” if the schedule is posted on the refrigerator.
  • Use an enzymatic cleaner to clean up messes. These enzymatic cleansers actually breakdown the elements of waste and they’re the only thing that will remove the scent. You can’t cover the scent — at least not to a dog’s nose. Dogs can smell 1 tablespoon of sugar in the water it takes to fill two Olympic-sized pools!

It all comes down to YOU.

The more consistent YOU are, the quicker your puppy will learn to go to the bathroom outside. It takes a little bit of planning, but you can have the problem licked in just two short weeks if you get your plan in motion now!

Talk back!

What’s your biggest potty training headache? Have house training hints to share? Leave a comment!

Introducing A New Puppy – Siena, Great Dane Pup

Our latest service pup in training has finally arrived! Her name is Siena and she’s a Great Dane.

We were taken by surprise Friday afternoon when we were told we might have a pup that weekend. It had been too long without a pup as it was, so there weren’t any complaints from us!

We’re so used to a new puppy to train that it felt like eons since we’d had a pup, even though Caysun was turned in only seven weeks ago. This pup, Siena, is being raised for Service Dogs of Virginia, the organization for which we’ve raised most our pups. We’re fortunate to have found such a fabulous organization with which to work.

It’s very exciting to train a pup — Siena is our 12th service pup and we’re thrilled to have another Great Dane in the house. Our last Dane, Talos, went on to do great things with his new partner and we’re hoping sweet Siena can follow in Talos’ footsteps.

Siena is 11 weeks old and we’re working hard to get in all the puppy socialization before the 18 week mark, which is when the socialization window closes for pups. 

What that means is: I’ve got my work cut out for me! No, really, what it means is that you have to get your pup out and about to expose to in a happy and fun way to a variety of things before they are 18 weeks old. At 18 weeks, pups become less like sponges — they stop accepting everything as normal and begin to look at new, unknown things as potentially scary.

Siena hasn’t seen much in her 11 weeks — almost everything is new to her and she hangs back a bit. Thankfully, once she’s seen something once, she integrates it into her repertoire as if she’d never thought it was strange.

We’re very excited to have another pup and we’ll be sharing a lot of puppy training stories as well as puppy socialization and puppy training ideas! 

They’ll Grow Out of It, Right?

Here’s August’s Your Smart Dog featured article. Enjoy!

They’ll Grow Out of It Right?
Don’t IGNORE These Issues…

 

I love teaching Puppy Charm School classes. Who wouldn’t enjoy 5 or 6 roly-poly puppies running, playing, learning? A common question is “Will my puppy grow out of __________ [fill in the blank]. The short answer is “no.” Puppies don’t usually grow out of anything except their collars. They more often grow into adults with the same bad habits that started in puppyhood. So what’s a good dog owner to do? This month’s newsletter will examine what problems you can let slide and which ones need your attention. We’ll also give you a roadmap to solving those behaviors that time won’t solve.

 

Barking – Barking usually only gets worse as your pup grows into adulthood. Dogs bark for many reasons – attention, boredom, frustration, alarm, etc. Here’s the trouble with barking: it works! Not many people are able to completely ignore a dog when he barks. Any attention (looking at, talking to, or touching) reinforces that barking. Other dogs like to bark because it breaks the boredom. You can ignore that barking all day long and you won’t cut the barking a bit.

Solution: Find out why the dog is barking. Is it boredom? Frustration? Attention? If the dog is bored (i.e. alone in the yard), give the dog something constructive and entertaining to do. Prevent the problem by allowing the dog in the yard only when you are actively supervising him. If he’s barking for attention, the solution is simple (but not easy): ignore all barking. No talking, touching, or looking at Mr. Barking Dog. Nothing ‘til he’s quiet.

 

Pulling on the Leash – When a dog pulls on the leash and you follow him (voluntarily or against your will), you’re telling the dog that’s how walks happen. He pulls = you follow. This problem is most easily addressed in puppyhood because (1) your pup isn’t nearly as strong now as he will be in 6 months, so you’re able to hold your ground and (2) your dog hasn’t had a long time to practice (and get better at) pulling.

Solution: Teaching the dog to walk on a loose leash is super easy when he’s still a youngster and hasn’t had a lot of practice pulling on the leash. I recommend a front-clip harness called a Freedom Harness (from Wiggles, Wags and Whiskers). The front-clip harnesses don’t teach your dog to walk on a loose leash, but it does prevent him from getting up a head of steam and pulling you along helplessly.

 

Jumping – Puppies that jump on people grow into dogs that jump on people. While you may not mind now if your cute nine week old puppy puts his paws on you, I’m betting you will mind later when those paws are muddy and are attached to a larger dog who can rip your hose, dirty your trousers, or knock over small children! Like barking, this is a behavior that we unintentionally reinforce. Your dog jumps on you and you might look at him and say “OFF!” Or maybe you grab his front paws and place them back on the floor while you say “No.” Regardless of your intent, you are reinforcing your dog for jumping. You are looking at, talking to, and/or touching your dog because he put his paws on you. Any behavior that is reinforced will come back. And it comes back stronger than the last time.

Solution: Teach your dog to sit instead of jumping. This means that you will actively teach a solid “sit,” behavior, then ask your dog to sit before he gets a chance to jump on you. I put that in italics because it’s usually where most dog owners go wrong. They ask their dog to sit only after their dog has already jumped. By doing that, you’re unknowingly making the habit of jumping stronger. If you ask your dog to sit before he has a chance to jump, you’re installing a new pattern: sit for attention. A sitting dog rarely gets into trouble. A jumping dog…it seems as if those guys are always in trouble!

 

House Training – Dogs need to know that their bathroom is outside. They only way dogs learn this is through consistent and clear direction from you. Puppies learn this very quickly, so be sure to devote time to teaching your puppy where to go to the bathroom. The older a dog is before he’s house trained, the harder this skill is to learn.

Solution: Use crate training in tandem with house training to teach your pup that the only opportunity he has to go to the bathroom is when he’s outdoors. Take your puppy or dog out frequently on a consistent schedule. Praise him as soon as he’s finished his business, then play with him or take him for a walk. When your dog is inside, don’t give him any house-freedom: he’s either tethered to your waist (tie his leash to you) or to a piece of furniture nearby so you can keep an eye on him all the time.

Astute readers will realize that I haven’t mentioned any behaviors that pups grow out of. That’s because there aren’t any behaviors that go away on their own. Anything your pup learns when he’s young will likely stick with him into adulthood. And remember, it’s easier to teach good habits than it is to break old, annoying ones! Be sure you’re actively teaching your dog what to do and generously rewarding him when he does what you ask.

Happy training!
Laurie Luck
Smart Dog University

Puppy Charm School addresses all of these issues directly (and any others that come up with your pup) so be sure to get your pup into classes! If your dog has a few bad habits you’d like to erase, all is not lost!  

K9 Building Blocks teaches good manners to dogs of any age. It may take a little while longer to install those good habits, but you might as well start now (before those habits grow deeper and stronger roots)!

 

 

How to Stuff a Kong (or MANY Kongs!)

When you’re stuffing Kongs for 4 dogs, it’s helpful to pre-stuff a bunch, freeze ’em, then you’ve got them ready to go whenever you need them. I use the Kongs to buy me some time if I’m working on a project — occupied dogs are good dogs. Also, every dog in my house gets a stuffed, frozen Kong as I’m walking out the door. They love to see me leave (and don’t, therefore, stress about my leaving or being gone) — it’s a preventative measure to avoid separation anxiety.

Kongs in a basket

Our basket of empty Kongs.

Today as I stuffed Kongs, I took pictures, too, so you can see the process from beginning to end. We start with a basket of empty Kongs. I will run these through the dishwasher about once a month (top rack, no heat) just to clean all the spooge off. It’s for my sanity only — the dogs do not mind the spooge, believe me.

Jif peanut butter

We stuff our Kongs with peanut butter.

So we start with peanut butter — you can put almost anything in that your dog likes. Some ideas: cream cheese, canned pumpkin, leftover mashed potatoes, plain yogurt, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese — pretty much anything that’s gooey. You don’t have to stop there — if you really want to keep your dog busy, toss in a few kibbles and shake the Kong around so the kibbles stick to the sides. Or, add some apple or banana pieces (no grapes or raisins — these are toxic).

Peanut butter on knife.

PB is ready to go into the Kongs.

So. Now you’ve got your filling and your Kongs. Now just slide that knife into your filling, then put that filling all over the inside of the Kong. So the peanut butter’s on the knife, now just run the knife along the inside of the Kong. I try to evenly distribute the peanut butter, but that’s because I’m a control freak and like to have everything just so. The dogs don’t care how the PB is distributed just so long as there’s PB in that Kong!

Kong stuffed with peanut butter.

PB stuffed inside the Kong.

After the Kong is stuffed, I drop it into a big plastic bag. Why the plastic bag? We put our stuffed Kongs in the freezer. Frozen peanut butter takes longer for the dogs to get out, so it keeps them occupied for longer.

IMG_0931

Kongs get dropped into a plastic bag.

This plastic bag also keeps all the Kongs together so I can find them easily. And it keeps my freezer a little cleaner.

 

Kongs in a bag.

The Kongs are ready for the freezer.

 

All that’s left now is popping the entire bag of peanut butter filled Kongs into the freezer and letting them get frozen. Now I’m ready for the week ahead! Or at least ready for the next few days, that is.

 

IMG_0933

 

Subscribe to Email Updates

Stay up-to-date on training advice, upcoming classes and the latest news from Smart Dog University. We promise — No spam!
Testimonials

What People Are Saying

Smart Dog U really helped me deal with my first puppy and help me grow her (Etta) into a sweet little girl. Without that training from SDU this would have been a tough journey.

Ingrid Copeland

We did in-home training and group classes which helped us welcome Ember into our family. Her understanding of both dogs and busy families made the training easy and guilt-free.

Beth Schillaci

Thank goodness I discovered Smart Dog University! Laurie’s methods quickly made me realize that I was the one in need of training. The end result: A well behaved pup (Kasey) who is a true companion!

Matt Church

Laurie is someone Your Dog’s Friend depends on for good information on dog behavior and training presented in an engaging, understandable way. She has done free workshops for us; we have used her articles in our newsletter; and she is a trainer whom I can refer people to with total confidence.

Debra Ekman, Your Dog’s Friend

Laurie is a very knowledgeable and experienced trainer. She does a wonderful job with both the dog and owner. She is easily approachable and genuinely wants to make sure you and your dog are getting the most out of her classes.

Suzie Brown
Read More Testimonials