All the good things about crate training your puppy dog

So many people come to me with dog problems and the when I ask them if their dog is crate trained, they tell me no.

I ask them why.

They tell me they think it's mean.

Here's what I think is mean.... letting your dog free roam around your entire house or most of it without understanding clear boundaries. Then the inevitable happens, something valuable gets ruined, there's pee or poop all over the place, your dog makes your whole house a romper room and you get mad at the dog. It's frustrating. It can be costly. It can be embarrassing.

It's like putting your baby down on the floor and walking away, then wondering why they fell down the stairs or stuck their fingers in an electrical socket and didn't know better.

It's like never giving your 2 year old kid any instruction on what they are supposed to do except loudly proclaiming "NO" for most of the things they do, yet never actually showing them what they can do.

You'd consider that mean right? Or at least unfair. Or really just not the right way to treat a kid.

So why would you think it would be mean to contain your dog?

Your kid gets more freedom and unsupervised activity time as they learn boundaries. They learn what they are supposed to do. They learn what they aren't supposed to do. You give them guidance until they start making the right choices on their own. And they don't learn it all over night.

Crate training is a good thing. Your puppy or adult dog will love you for it.

Got a puppy or dog? Join me over here at Calming the Chaos