First and foremost, I recommend crating your dog for safety reasons. A dog who is loose in your home while you’re not there to supervise might make good decisions—or might not. It is not at all uncommon for people to get away with leaving their dog loose in the house… until they don’t. There are so many things that could go wrong! Your dog could get into the trash and eat something toxic, swallow a sock and create a life-threatening blockage, dig out from under your fence and get lost (or worse), cause damage to your home and belongings, get into a scuffle (or worse) with the other animals in the home, develop behavioral issues like excessive barking, etc. Don’t wait for problems to start; be proactive and crate your dog!
There are also many advantages to crating your dog. When a dog is fully and properly crate trained, the advantages of crating include:
The down is the physical position of relaxation, so once a dog has mastered the basics of the crate, we begin to insist on a down/stay. Where the body goes, the mind follows (eventually).
Prevents destruction to your home including peeing/pooping in the house
Removes the opportunity for behavioral issues like nuisance barking, pacing, hyper-alertness/reactivity at the windows, etc. to develop
Gives your dog a safe space that is all his own (his own room, so to speak)
Helps your dog learn to relax and know what to do with himself when you’re not there
Helps develop a calmer state of mind overall
Preserves your role as decision-maker and your dog’s role as follower
Still not convinced? Let’s look at this from a different angle:
When a dog is loose in the house all day, he’s making all his own decisions. Then you come home and you expect your dog to listen to you, but why would he? He’s been king of the castle all day long!
All day long he’s been doing window surveillance and barking at the first sign of movement; you come home and expect him to knock it off, but why would he? He’s been at it all day long! Then you take him on a walk and expect him not to bark at dogs when they walk by, but why wouldn’t he? He’s been practicing barking at dogs all day long.
Your dog has been free all day to wander throughout the house and peruse items at will. Now you come home and expect him to stay out of your laundry basket, the trash can, the kids’ toys, etc. but why would he? He’s had the freedom to rummage at will all day long!
Your dog has been asleep on the couch half the day, and you come home and scold him for being on the couch. He’s confused, and why wouldn’t he be? He’s allowed to sleep on the couch all day long. (If you aren’t there to say no and you’ve failed to prevent it, then you’ve allowed it!)
All day long your dog explodes like Cujo anytime a delivery person or solicitor knocks on the door, but you expect him to be quiet and mannerly when the neighbors or Grandma knocks. But that’s confusing—he’s been in the habit of doing his Cujo performance all day, every day.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Freedom in the house—even if your dog can “handle it”—opens the door for confusion about which behaviors are acceptable and which are not. It also confuses the relationship between dog and owner, and who exactly is the decision-maker here. By giving your dog freedom in the house when you leave, you’re handing over all the decision-making responsibilities, then you expect your dog to hand them back when you get home. This is not only unreasonable but unfair.
So many of our dogs’ behavioral problems stem from confusion about who is the decision maker, and too much freedom to make their own decisions is a major contributing factor. To preserve the respectful relationship between you and your dog and to keep your dog out of trouble and to preserve the good behavior you’ve worked so hard to build, CRATE YOUR DOG! It can only help.
Making peace with the crate
If you struggle with the idea of crating your dogs, you are not alone. Many humans struggle with it and that causes many of our dogs to struggle with it too (not always; some dogs struggle just fine on their own!). I encourage you to see the crate as their own room, their own private space where no one will bother them and they don't have to worry about anything. If you grew up with siblings, you know what I mean! I (Nikki) grew up in a busy, crowded household and my room was my sanctuary. The main difference is that this isn't something the dogs will intuitively understand (as kids will); you'll have to teach each dog that their crate is their own space meant for relaxation. If you set it up and she doesn't want to go in, don’t make the mistake of assuming it’s a no-go. Dogs have to be taught that the crate is their safe space to relax and chill. It is a proactive, human-guided endeavor.
Our view of the crate can also impact how our dog feels about it. To give us humans a better perception of the crate, a dog trainer I once studied under insisted we call it a “casa” instead. His point was that words matter; to help us humans stay in the right frame of mind, we should call the crate something more positive. Words like casa, home, or house carry a much more positive association in our minds than the words crate, kennel, or cage.
Here's an example of how our attitude toward the crate can impact our dogs:
If we feel guilty and regretful when we crate our dogs…
and we give them sad eyes while apologizing to them as we close the crate door…
and we linger in the doorway and promise we'll be back soon and we're so so sorry for this…
our dog has no choice but to conclude that something is very, very wrong.
Everything about our body language, facial expressions and emotions are indicating that something is wrong. Dogs don't have the ability to think through the situation like "Oh, she feels bad about crating me, but she's doing it anyway because she believes it's in my own best interest." They simply read the signals we're giving them and respond accordingly. We've inadvertently communicated our perception of the crate as a negative thing and so they think of the crate as a negative thing, too.
By contrast, if we want to help our dogs feel comfortable in their casas (not crates!), we can put them in there very confidently, as if we're 100% sure this is a positive thing. Whether you really believe that or are still getting there is irrelevant—what's important is that you communicate to your dog through your body language and facial expressions that getting in the casa is perfectly normal and no cause for concern. If we lead our dogs into their casas calmly and unapologetically, close the door and make reassuring but confident eye contact, and then leave the room as if everything is perfectly normal (not looking back sadly or lingering!), we're giving our dogs the right message about the casa.
Now, that doesn't mean that all it takes is a mindset shift and our dogs will magically crate train themselves—there's still work to do on that front!—but changing our attitude toward the crate is a huge part of the equation that isn't talked about enough!
Specific steps/resources for crate training
Here are some tips for procuring and setting up crates:
If you don't already have a crate(s), prioritize purchasing each dog a crate as your first step. Check Facebook Marketplace and Offer Up if you are worried about cost. If you can swing about $40-60/crate, check Chewy.com for quality products and fast shipping (they’re my favorite).
Set up the crate(s). If you have multiple dogs, each dog should have their own—please promise me you will resist the urge to crate them in the same crate together. This is another thing that works out fine… until it doesn’t. If the dogs encounter a moment of tension while crated together, they do not have enough space to move away from each other and avoid conflict. Please do not take the risk.
The location of the crates in your house is important and something I encourage you to think through. You can move the crates once or twice as you figure out the best spot, but resist the urge to constantly move them—this is counterproductive! Pick a spot and stick with it unless it absolutely isn’t working. It’s best to crate the dogs in an area of the house that is used (don’t stick them in the basement next to the furnace, for example) but not a high traffic area or your bedroom. In my house I use a spare bedroom as “the dog room” and the dog crates are all lined up in there.
Use zip ties to reinforce all edges of the crate. Dogs are smart and will look for and exploit any vulnerabilities in the crate. If they find a weak spot they will keep messing with it, but if there are no weak spots, they’re much less likely to try. I reinforce all crates regardless of whether they’re new or used, or whether the dog has crate issues or not. Better safe than sorry. (See this video for more.)
Begin crate training each dog. This is usually something you can do at home without professional guidance/formal training. There are TONS of free online tutorial videos that can walk you through the process.
Feed each dog in their own crate with the door closed. This gives each dog a private, pressure-free eating space and also helps develop a positive association with the crate. I also recommend giving any high value items in the crate. Kong with peanut butter? Crate. Edible bone? Crate. New antler? Crate. If good things keep happening to your dog in the crate, your dog’s perception of it will begin to shift in a more positive direction.
Incorporate the crate into your lifestyle in other ways (crated when you're not home, crated at night while you sleep, etc.). If you only crate your dog when you leave, then it can quickly become associated with that event (you leaving) instead of becoming no big deal. For best results, crate periodically when you are home. The best way to do this is to crate during times when you can’t supervise anyway, like while you’re in the shower.
Once you get through the basics of crate training I recommend teaching (and then insisting on) a down/stay in the crate. The down position is the physical position of relaxation, which is what we want to teach our dogs to do in the crate. Down/stays with the door open (with you supervising, obviously) are very helpful to this end. I have been known to wheel my desk chair into the dog room with my laptop so I can multi-task and supervise this skill at the same time. ;)
The crate provides valuable opportunities to have leadership conversations with your dog—don’t miss them! There is absolutely NO barreling out of the crate! Teach your dog to exit AND enter on command and strictly enforce this. (The crate door is a threshold just like the front door.)
Check out this video to teach your dog threshold manners in the crate.
Finally, if your dog is really struggling with the crate, get help early! Don’t wait until your dog has busted out of three crates before admitting you need help. Get help now! The earlier you intercept this behavior the easier it is to overcome, so for your dog’s sake (and your sanity) don’t wait. Also, resist the urge to conclude that your dog hates the crate/cannot crate. The vast majority of crate-related behavioral issues can be resolved without much drama. It is worth your while to see it through.
Feel free to out to us via social media or email if you have more specific crate training questions.
Happy training!
What do you do when your dog refuses to get in the crate? What if there's a lot of drama? This video explains how we work a dog through crate issues and set the foundation for good crate behavior.