K9's Doggie article, for the week of May 13, 2012

What is a crate?

Crates are confined areas for your dog. There seems to be two camps on crate training, one that thinks that it's cruel, and another that it's the greatest way in the world.

I belong to the later, and believe that crates when used properly are great for a dog. Crates provide a den-like environment, where your dog can feel safe.

We own 3 large dogs, and typically keep at least two large crates open and available at all times. (They are setup and left with the doors open, one in the bedroom, and one in the living room, near where we often are.)

Our dogs love their crates, and it's very common to find one in there when we are around, in part because of how we've used them with the dogs. The crates are not a place of punishment, they are not left in there all day, and they get plenty of "people time" every day.

If your dog doesn't like the crate, we have one tip that has worked wonders for us. Feed your dog in the crate. Just leave the door open, and put the food bowl inside, so they need to get in to get to their food. Within a week, your dog will have a much different attitude toward it, and go inside even without the food bowl. (If you see this, a reward of some kind would reinforce the behaviour. A treat, toy, or other reward to tie a "fun" thing with the crate.

For more information on crate training, you can visit the The Humane Society website