Using the crate properly

Crates are meant to be used for short term confinement and management. Used properly they can be a poweful tool.

Here are some recommendations for using a crate:

1. They are used to manage when you can not visually supervise your puppy or dog. Some of the other options are gates, closed doors, x-pens and tethering.
2. The suggested time limit is 4-5 hours total for the day. Not including night time.  There are exceptions to this based on individual circumstances.The time limit for for young puppies is 1 hour for each 4 weeks of age between elimination. Adult dogs can go longer.
3. When possible, acclimate gradulally. First while at home for short periods at a time, then increase. When leaving the house the same rule applies. 
4. When making the transition to no crating and unsupervised time, just reverse the strategy, start with short times and then increase.
5. Crates are not appropriate for long term use. If you have to be gone more than 3 hours provide a potty area for your puppy. Make the potty area a different texture. You can use an x-pen or a gated room.
6. Crate size should be large enough for the puppy or dog to stand up turn around and stretch out on their sides comfortably.

If your puppy is soiling their crate something is wrong. They have been crated too long, they are afraid, they did not get to relieve themselves before crated. Making the crate smaller is not the answer.

It is important to provide adequate exercise, mental stimulation and socialization for your puppy or dog when using a crate. You must have the time and energy to give to your puppy. If they are spending most of the day alone it’s time to consider other options like daycares, walks during the day, or going to work with you. If your dog is being crated because they are misbehaving then some postive training can be the solution.

Training with Eloise!

Eloise turned 15 weeks yesterday! I have had her for 7 weeks now and things are settling down. Having brought her home 2 weeks after a hip relacement surgery was alot to manage. The fog is settling and things are going well. She is doing wonderfully with potty and crate training.

We have been using an X-pen with her crate inside and potty pads down for overnight and for daytime if I had to be away for longer than 2 hours. The first week she was waking me up twice a night to take her out. Stumbling around in the dark with crutches and a puppy in a hurry to get her outside was comical. After bringing her back inside I had to lay down on the floor next to the pen until she settled down, quit whinning and went to sleep. Then I would crawl around the corner and get up as to not wake her!

I am happy to say I don't have to do that anymore. She is now sleeping through the night about 7 hours before waking me up (clean pad).

She has been attending puppy class and getting some crucial social interaction and play time with other puppies. We are lucky to have several other small puppies in class to play with. Emmy Lou and Leo are her best friends so far! It is challenging to have the smallest puppy in class but we are letting her find her way while still keeping unstressed and safe.

She took to the leash right away amazingly. Now that the crutches are gone I am doing more with with focused walking, no pulling and waiting at corners. She is a smart little girl and doing very well.

I have been teaching her to target. This an exercise that teaches your dog to touch your hand with their nose. "Touch" is a very useful command. For example, you can use it when your dog greets to avoid jumping or use it to teach a "come" command. I have transfered that to a Clik Stik.

I move it around the room and touch various things like her bed or a cupboard door. I am also teaching focus walking or heel. It can also be used to desensitize them to things they may be afraid of by holding your hand closer and closer to the scary stuff.

Here's how you teach a "touch".

1. Have a treat in one hand and present the other hand close to your dogs face( about an inch). When your dog touches your hand say "yes" and give them a treat. Repeat this seveal times.

2. Now that they are getting it, you can start saying "touch" and present your hand. As soon as they touch your hand say "Yes" and treat. Once they are getting good at this step you can start moving your hand a bit farther away from their face and start moving it around. Make sure you only reward for an actual touch or only when you ask for it.

3. Start to treat every second or third touch. Then you can start to eliminate the treat for each response. Treat only a faster response and you can add praise for the others.

Have fun with this. There's no limit to what you can teach your dog!

Having Eloise here has helped with the sadness I feel about "Nellie" my 15 1/2 year old Cocker Spaniel. She is doing a bit better as well. The cat however is not as sure. Let's just say she is getting alot more exercise!

Teach Your Dog
to Meet and Greet

If your dog learns good manners, this can help him
have better (and safer) canine relationships.

Dog Watch Ask the Doctor

Dr. Suzanne Hetts
Animal Behavior Network

Many dogs have a difficult time “playing well with others.” This problem tends to be worse when the dogs are on-leash rather than off. Our one-year-old Irish setter puppy, Coral, is an exception. Her behavior illustrates a few important ideas about how you can help your dog learn to play well with others before problems develop.


Coral does not like to have other dogs rush up to her. An over-enthusiastic greeting from a friendly dog that is much larger than she is will intimidate her. Coral needs a minute or so to size up the other dog. She will back away several steps – trying to put some distance between herself and the other dog – and slow down the greeting a bit. Coral wants to take her time performing the normal canine version of a “hand-shake,” by mutual “rear-end” sniffing not once, but several times. Sniffing then progresses to the ears and the face. If this initial get-to-know-you sequence is completed in a somewhat dignified manner, Coral is more than willing to be friends.


A Proper Hello Many dogs seem not to have learned this slower, ritualized greeting that is more typical of wild canids. Instead, they run up to other dogs in wild abandonment, with no respect for the other’s personal space. They forego the canine niceties and just blunder into rough and tumble play, jumping and pawing at their new friends. Other dogs may find this lack of social grace offensive, not friendly. They may in turn react with threats and aggression, and a fight ensues.


That’s why Coral does better greeting other dogs when both are on-leash. With the other dog restricted by the leash, Coral can more easily evade another dog’s over-enthusiastic advances until the greeting ritual is completed to her satisfaction. 


If your dog is a social blunderer, you can help her be more successful at making new friends by teaching her control. Rather than allowing her to rush up to another dog, begin to teach her to stand or sit still.


Work on these behaviors first in a quiet setting so that your dog learns what they are. Next, begin to add non-doggie distractions, such as another family member picking up one of her toys, or jumping around excitedly. Your dog needs to learn that no matter what exciting event is happening, she’ll be rewarded for keeping calm and staying still. 
When you start using other dogs as distractions, it’s likely you’ll have to start your training a fair distance away from them. It will be easier if you can first practice with other dogs that are familiar to your dog, before practicing the standing-still behavior when unfamiliar dogs approach. 


You may also find it easier if your dog is wearing a head collar such as the Gentle Leader, or one of the new no-pull harnesses. Avoid choke chains and pinch collars. Punishment or harsh corrections for not standing still will actually have the opposite effect, and teach your dog to anticipate “bad things” when another dog approaches. 
 Getting your dog to stand quietly is not the same thing as tightly holding onto the leash and pulling her away from the other dog. Those procedures usually promote “leash aggression,” in which dogs are more aggressive when encountering others on-leash than off. 


Leash aggression is generally caused by frustration and physical discomfort as owners pull and yank their dogs away from other dogs while the dogs are madly pulling and lunging in the other direction. Initially, many dogs just want to be friendly, but after repeated unpleasantness, the frustration turns into threats or aggression. If you are adept at shaping behaviors, you can also teach your dog to play-bow on cue. The play-bow is a ritualized, canine invitation to play. It communicates to other dogs that behaviors that follow should not be taken seriously. That’s one reason why dogs can show their teeth, bark and growl during play without fighting, because they’ve told one another this is play, not serious conflict.