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Information Connection: Training Your Dog to Crate

Where does your dog sleep?
By Sally the Trainer, of  http://www.sallysangels.com
For more tips on helping your dog be his or her best, see http://www.sallysangels.com

  Your pooch is entitled to his or her own bedroom, the crate.  (I  prefer the fold-out metal pen you can get at the pet store.  It comes in 3 sizes and has no top or bottom. It's portable and sets up inside and outside. Great for traveling and taking your dog to unfamiliar places or visiting Aunt May.) I'm a crate enthusiast for the following reasons:

1.  It serves as a safe place, like playpen, for a puppy. Just like a human child, you sometimes need to put the "baby" someplace to play with its toys while you take a shower or entertain an important phone call. That way, you're confident the dog is not destroying anything or getting hurt.  ometimes you just need a break from all the puppy antics.  Make the playpen fun with a Kong or favorite toys, NEVER a punishment.  Leave the door open when the dog is not in it so he can wander in and out or get toys or just take a nap on his own.  Our pups sleep in there at night, next to our bed so they can sleep and play at their discretion.  We are secure in the knowledge the puppy is safe and close. (And gets a full night sleep as well.) When they are about a year old they can sleep in or out of the pen.  It's up to them.

2.  We use the pen/crate for an adult dog mainly for traveling because we take the dog everywhere.  Some hotels feel a little less reticent about a "dog in training" if the pooch sleeps in his pen.  On the flip side, the dog has something very familiar and safe, especially in a nervous situation like our training  trips to San Francisco.  The bustling city can be initially overwhelming, and the crate with his toys in the hotel room is very comforting.  (They usually walk themselves in and lie down as if to say, "Don't bug me. I'm done working for the day.")  We respect his crate time.

3.  Also if your pooch ever needs to be crated for any reason, he won't freak out. The airplane,  groomer and the vet come into mind.

I know there are some strong opinions about crating a pet. I use it as a tool like a child's playpen. It has definite benefits, if you use it wisely. 

Special note on Sally's Angels: http://www.sallysangels.com is a fun site about and for service dogs.  Service dogs are our passion. Be sure to visit TLCSD, Tender Loving Canine Service dogs, to read about their unique way of training service dogs. And make sure to follow our monthly progress report of a TLCSD dog in training. Service Dogs really do make a difference in people's lives. They truly are angels.

Thanks for the free tips, Sally. Mindconnection is proud to host your article, and we recommend http://www.sallysangels.com to anyone interested in dogs.
-- Mark Lamendola, Mindconnection.com

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  • The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
    -Anonymous
  • Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.
    -Ann Landers
  • If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.
    -Will Rogers
  • There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
    -Ben Williams
  • A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
    -Josh Billings
  • The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
    -Andy Rooney
  • We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made.
    -M. Acklam
  • Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate.
    -Sigmund Freud
  • I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.
    -Rita Rudner
  • A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.
    -Robert Benchley
  • Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.
    -Franklin P. Jones
  • If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
    -James Thurber
  • If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise.
    -Unknown
  • My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money.
    -Joe Weinstein
  • Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul -- chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!
    -Anne Tyler
  • Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
    -Robert A. Heinlein
  • If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
    -Mark Twain
  • You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'
    - Dave Barry
  • Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.
    -Roger Caras
  • If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then give him only two of them.
    -Phil Pastoret
  • My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am.
    --Anonymous
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Check out this pet resort site: http://www.meadowlakepetresort.com.