Crate Or No Crate

[Abhean]

I see this topic come up all the time and it usually ends up in an on-live free for all. Should you crate train your dog? I typically see two camps with this topic. The group that says that every dog should be crate trained from day one and the other that see it as inhumane to cage (impression) any dog.

Guess you can say I am a lot more a middle of the road owner. I can see both camps views, and both can have valid arguments.

Against:

• Some people view using a crate a way to impression the pup and can be seen as inhuman.
• The puppy may cry and be unhappy at first when placed into the crate.
• Can be used for punishment for bad behavior.

Pros

• Can make potty training much easier
• Gives the puppy its own safe space
• Can help curb separation anxiety

Now, this is just a small list. Everyone in their own camps will have many reasons why to or not to use a crate. Take PETA for example, my favorite group of wackos, they are so against crate training but if you read most of their articles on ramifications of crate training, they all will have a small blurb about "long term confinement" that many people miss. I whole heartedly agree with them about keeping any animal confined to a crate in the home long term. If you do not have time to spend with your pet and keep them locked up, it is very simple, you should not have a pet.

Here, I specifically talk about support animals. These animals should be around us all the time, for service dogs this includes when we leave the house. So, if the dog (animal) is supposed to be with us all the time should we even worry about crate training? For me, the short answer is absolutely!
Safety

If you are owner training the crate could be invaluable especially in the puppy months. We, as people, have many other things to do during the day, a puppy can get into a lot of trouble during these times. I had one person comment that you don't just leave a baby in a room unattended, why would a puppy be any different?

Forced Rest Times

Continuing with the child analogy, for most parents you have found that at times you have had to force your kid to take a nap. Mostly because they have got overly tired and need that reset, the other is for your mental health. The same can be said for your puppy. For us, with a border collie, we found out very quickly that he had to be put in his crate to take a nap, there were simply to many interesting things around the house he had to check out that trumped napping.

Safe Area

For me this is the most important. Your pet needs an area that is their own. Somewhere when they get stressed to be able to go to and relax.
For us, while Dougal was young, our schedule was

• Wakeup: outside potty
• Morning: Park play (puppy time)
• Crate time (about 4 hours with potty breaks thrown in)
• I eat and hand feed (bonding) Dougal. Some training time and play time
• Post lunch supervised play time with house lead on. Crate time when he showed signs of being over tired.
• Work time done: Back to the park for just old-fashioned puppy time.
• Supper: more fun training and playing.
• Bedtime: back in the crate.

As time went on the required crate time was reduced till we simply left the door open, and he could come and go as he pleased. Dougal will have to sleep near me to wake me up at night for some of my problems, so the crate turns into his fortress of solitude.