Crate Up!

To some this may seem like an unfriendly thing, but I've trained dogs for a long time. One of the things I've always done is made their "crate" a home for them. Some people call it a "kennel", but I've made them bigger and better than that. Their "crate" is their safe place, and their home.

I can tell my pups to kennel up, or "crate up" and they will happily go in their crates.. They have pillows and toys, and it's a comfy place for them.

We nev.er mess with a puppy in their kennel; that's their home and their safe place. We respect it, and they respect it. If they're bad, they will go kennel up on their own. They know exactly where their kennel is, and they know who's is who's.

Tonight we made some new kennels, "crates", for them. They're much larger, and much more comfy. Oh boy, do they love these!

Never mess with a pup in his/her kennel, that's their home.

If you want a really good dog, train them with a crate. Every one of my dogs love their crate. That's their "house" It's theirs, and they can make it how they like, and they do.

One of my dogs, right now, is in his house, and the other is jealous because we haven't made his yet, so he's laying outside.

I think I love dogs more than people!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Mine love their crates. When I say, "Go to your room." The go happily to their crates.

I have 4 Siberian Huskies, 3 have extra large crates. All except Bellah. She has an average sized crate, because she refuses the larger ones.

She won't go into any of the larger crates, but all the others are constantly trying to steal Bellah's smaller crate.

Go figure.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

We bought "larges" for the new ones. Rhode, the Aussie, bumped his head the first time inside...now you couldn't drag him out of that thing!

If it thunders...he's in his crate. If it's windy...he's in his crate. The ACD is terminally jealous right now. He just goes back into his old crate (which is a small kennel).

It's their safe place.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Mine know their bowls, and they know their crates, and they don't like to share either.

I do not allow food aggression, but they will whine and let me know if one of the others is paying too much attention to their bowls.

They have no problem sharing the water bowl, and they have no problem with sharing their food with Enoch and Sylvester, their feline adopted brothers.

They all have their own well defined personalities, and being supreme Houdinis, they can open their crates with ease, but they prefer to hang in their individual safe spaces, it is not a problem.

My pack are a handful, but they are a joy.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

My pups go to “bed” too. I also have a little weenie dog besides the cutie in my avatar, they switch crates from time to time. They get a treat when we put them in their crates to take a little nap in the afternoon and at bedtime. Definitely a happy and safe space.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Always crated my dogs... and you're totally right... its their home... their room

Made the mistake once of leaving my King shepard out roaming at Xmas one year... and unfortunately forgot a garbage bag in the kitchen...

Came home to the bag shredded to bits the size of quarters... like he took his time... little bastard... lol

My fault but still... so bad and everywhere in the house

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

My puppies crate we call the puppy palace.

a reply to: Akragon

I wish I knew how to make my Shepard more obedient and more social with other people.

a reply to: Brotherman

Watch some Cesar Milan videos..

i legit learned how to train dogs and had a decent business reforming ones that were headed for the long sleep for a while just by learning from him

I used to (ignorantly) think that crating was cruel until I learnt otherwise. Dogs like sanctuary in their bed.

My dog however just whined through the night for days until I gave in. She certainly loves her human bed of 10+ years now lol 🐶

It makes logical sense. The canids in the wild tend to den, so that's what a crate would be like, right? It's their den.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

My current dog is a different project all together,since he was a puppy i have tried my best to act as we were equals, and at this point we kinda are, just as we were brothers.

We do almost everything together, sleep, eat, swim, hunt.

He even sleeps in my bed, and shares "our" pillow. most nights we sleep back to back but its awesome when i wake up in the morning and his face is an inch away from mine.

we have had some great adventures tracking wolves and bears together, specially like our winter time blizzard wolf tracking adventures.


Have not encountered any problems with this method so far, but it has been extremely rewarding to connect like this.

He is a 4 year old staffy pitbull mix.


One time we found a fresh deer kill in the snow, so we tracked the wolf for miles, in the end it lead to a pack, i could hear them vocalizing to each other, so we turned back but the pack noticed us and followed us, they ran around us in circles howling and making all sorts of noises all the way back to my cabin, i was slightly worried because i had never encountered this behavior from wolves before, and the tracks were the biggest i have ever seen from a wolf.