Crate training, this is an excellent method for teaching a new dog or puppy how to hold their bladder or how to sleep through the night. Many people may have different ideas how it should be done, and for how long, but the end result is usually an adult dog who doesn’t go to the bathroom in the house.
When I crate trained my puppy, the door was always open so it wasn’t a strange if bad place. The crate was never used as a punishment; she didn’t come out whilst she was screaming and making a fuss. The crate was her calm place, and she was house trained in no time. She was only there to eat, or when we had to go out for a long time. We made sure to startslowly adjust her to being out if the cage when we went out of the house for 10 minutes, 30 mins, 1 hour, and so on till she no longer needed a crate.
Once your puppy is house trained, everyone can agree you don’t need to crate then anymore, right? WRONG! I’m sure we have all met those crazy owners who believe their one way is the only way, or those who force their habits into their dog (overfeeding, underfeeding, extreme discipline, lack of discipline). One particular type of owner annoys me. The owner who crates a dog all day, everyday, for no real reason and believes they are in the right.
Crate training doesn’t mean that you lock your dog up all day and only let them play for a couple of hours each day. This can have a worse effect on your dog than just keeping it in the backyard all day, everyday. Being locked in a right space all day can, and will, cause various problems. The most common excuse for doing this is because the dog isn’t house trained. Well, you know what, you wanted a dog, a dog is our best friend, a dog is born into the world loving us for no reason, and all dogs are capable of learning, and most are very willing to learn as well.
If you keep a dog locked up in a cage all day and call it crate training or “kennel” training, that is NOT training at all. If you want a dog and claim to love your dog so much, spend a little time training it so he too can enjoy your company. I understand some people have disabilities and can’t physically train their dogs or have other reasons, but some people are straight up lazy. Some dogs are a handful and some dogs are very strong physically and mentally. If you have difficulties, maybe those dogs aren’t the dog for you. However, all dogs are capable of destroying your home if you don’t put in the effort to train them.
No dog should be crated for longer than 8 hours maximum. With younger dogs, they shouldn’t be crated for more than 4 hours. There are so many problems that 22 hours of crating can cause. Crating a dog for this long isolates it and deprives it of enough social time with people and other dogs. This can lead to the dog becoming overprotective of their space and could lead to fights or a dog hurting someone who intrudes on their cage.
I discovered this when borrowing a friend’s crate. The dog tried to attack my puppy after we had the crate a few weeks. This friend, in my opinion, is an over-crater. As well as these few psychological effects, and probably many more, over crating can cause some serious health issues. Being cramped up all day can cause hip problems or back problems. Yes, they are supposed to have enough room to stand and turn, but this doesn’t mean they will. After a while, they will start to feel depressed and just lie there not moving, just waiting to go play. Also, if the dog tries to escape, it can hurt its mouth or paws from digging or scratching at the plastic or metal, and if they ingest a loose piece, the could have internal issues, such as intestinal blockages.
If you keep a dog locked a cage, don’t be surprised when he is anti-social and impossible to control due to the energy that is stored up from lack of action. A dog that is well trained won’t forget how to behave if it no longer has a cage. If your dog does misbehave, that means your dog wasn’t trained in the first place! If you can’t control your dog without locking it away, don’t tell me I’m raising my dogs wrong because I don’t crate them. My dogs aren’t “exceptional” because they can live in a house with out destroying it, they have been trained. Yes, the puppy will chew stuff up every now and then like paper, but what can you expect from a puppy? Your dog is your best friend, NOT a prison inmate!
