Why Do I Need A Dog Crate For My Dog?

One of the most important tools you can use to help train your dog is a dog crate. You may also use the term dog kennel or dog cage, but for the purpose of this article we will use dog crate.

There are currently three dogs in our house. I say currently because my wife works at the local Humane Society and this usually means we have many “visitors” come to stay with us at the house.

Some go back once they’ve found a new home, and some stay…for good! Animals of all kinds, but our favourite is dogs.

The latest addition to the pack is Shayla. We don’t know exactly what happened to Shayla, but she was picked up on the streets, skinny, scared and homeless. She was afraid of anyone who came near her and was thought to be such a far gone dog that she was scheduled to be put down.

This led to her coming home with us, to see if there was any way we could help to re-habilitate her. My wife also being a dog trainer, she wanted to give Shayla a chance to become a dog that would be adoptable. It was later discovered that Shayla also had a heart problem which is sure to shorten her life, and made her even harder to adopt.

This poor dog had all the odds stacked against her, and although I wasn’t that excited about having another dog in the house, I immediately felt bad for Shayla and wanted to help in any way I could.

She was very timid of people when she first came home, and would bark very loudly when anyone came to the house. For the first few weeks she would bark at me if I came in the room she was in which we thought maybe she had a vision problem and didn’t recognize me. We later found out that her vision is fine. Atleast something works on that dog ; )!

The Vet estimated Shayla to be around 3 years old when she came to the Humane Society, which brought the “You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks” saying to my mind. We tried many different techniques to help Shayla get more comfortable in the house and nothing seemed to work.

She was getting better in some aspects, but was still very anxious and would relieve herself in the house almost every day. She would not come close to strangers and would bark in her loudest “Don’t come near me” voice!

Dog Crate To The Rescue

Then we had the light bulb moment of trying a dog crate. Sometimes the answers are difficult to see because they’re right in front of your face. Back to basics it was. Now Shayla’s a big girl so we needed a large dog crate for her. We settled on getting her a collapsible metal dog crate and started to use it to help train her.

The results were immediate. She took to that dog crate like a duck to water. She has since actually tried to get into one of our other dog crates, but it belongs to Molly, and Molly is about a quarter of the size of Shayla. It was like Winnie The Pooh trying to get into that cave and getting stuck. It was a funny thing to see.

We started to use the dog crate for many different reasons. First of all we used it to give her somewhere to sleep at night that made her comfortable. She used to pace the floor of the bedroom all night long and would never settle down. From the very first night in the dog crate, she slept all night long without making a sound.

She suffered very badly from separation anxiety whenever we would leave the house and not take her. Everything from tipping over the garbage can and spreading it all over the house, to ripping the blinds down from the windows and peeing on the carpet. It was taking it’s toll on the house and was getting out of control.

We started putting her in her dog crate when we would leave the house, at first we would only do this for short periods of time. Maybe when we went for a walk with the other dogs, or whenever we knew we wouldn’t be long. This also worked at calming her down and giving her a “safe zone”.

A dog’s instinct is to never relieve themselves in their den, and this has been the case with all our dogs and their dog crates. Not once have they ever made a mess in their “den”.

We’ve put the dog crates in the corners of our bedroom as dogs want to be close to you at all times, especially when they are sleeping. This is their natural pack mentality, so it’s important to keep them comfortable that way.

Of course this all depends on the size of your room, and the size of your dog crates. Large dog crates can be difficult to fit in your room, and if you happen to have more than one dog, this can also be a challenge to try and get all the dog crates in one room.

Somehow we manage. I think for most people when it comes to making their dogs happy and healthy, both physically and mentally, we would do almost anything to help them out, so a little inconvenience with a dog crate is not such a big deal.

Portable dog crates and collapsible dog crates are quick to move around and make life much easier.

In this website on dog crates, I will go over the many different types of dog crates that are available on the market, as well exactly how you can use a dog crate to train your dog and make both your lives better.

Shayla’s story is only one example of how a dog crate can totally transform your dog’s life for the better. Each dog is different and has different issues to tackle, but the main thing to remember is to be patient with your dog, and allow it act in a natural way and use this to your advantage.

A dog crate is probably your most important tool in getting your furry friend to be a great member of your pack.

More coming soon...

Jim