Room with a view or Prison? Appropriate Crating For Your Dog

Crate training uses a dog's natural instincts as a den animal. Used correctly, a crate can be a short-term tool for managing and training your dog.  Dogs have many other requirements that crates can interfere with. Dogs are social animals requiring interaction with other dogs and people. They also need to have exercise, mental stimulation, and appropriate opportunities to eliminate. So, while some time spent in a crate is usually a positive element of dog rearing, too much time spent in a crate can have disastrous consequences. 

Training crates for dogs are too often deemed cruel. Crating on a humane schedule teaches puppies bladder and bowel control and limits a teething demon to his own property. 

The rule of thumb for crating is no longer than one hour per each month of age, up to nine to ten hours maximum (the average work day). Each session should be preceded and succeeded by an hour of aerobic exercise. If this is too long for your dog, hire a dog walker to exercise him midday. A good rule of thumb is a dog can be crated overnight and for up to half the day, if his social & physical needs are being met while they are not in the crate. Puppies need more frequent opportunities to “go potty” than adult dogs.

Don’t crate your puppy or dog if:

• She’s too young to have sufficient bladder or bowel control
• She has diarrhea
• She’s vomiting
• You must leave her alone for longer than the time indicated in the crate duration guidelines above
• She hasn’t eliminated shortly before going in the crate
• The temperature is uncomfortably high
• She has not had sufficient exercise, companionship and socialization