Crate Training . . . What's Next?

When I got Mani he was already crate trained, spending all night in his crate. He was not allowed to sleep with me because he was not fully housetrained yet. He was 8mo and not completely reliable. After I could trust him I started expanding the crate training to mean more to him and more reliable for me. The first thing I did was get him to be able to stay in his crate throughout the night with the crate door open. Not a big deal. The next thing was for him to use the crate as a default. If I don’t ask him up on the bed with me, or I tell him to get off. He is to sleep in his crate without me needing to tell him.

This was very different from my other dog, a Teacup Poodle. She automatically would go into her dog bed and sleep. If I asked her to sleep in the bed with me she would. But in the middle of the night she might jump off to sleep in her bed. She was in no way crate trained. She would scream if we left her alone. If I put her in a crate and left she would scream. But she was okay with the crate. If she knew I was right with her.



It has been getting hot, so I did not want him to have to sleep in his crate if he does not want to. So we got him a dog bed. Another one. I added a release cue to this one, the same way I crate trained duration. From there I had him sleep on a mat, then just on the floor. About a week ago, he spent his first full night on the floor with no verbal command or hand signal telling him what to do. He did it all on his own.



My goals for Mani in his next crate training is to build up drive and distance to his crate.

Right now we are working on distance with going into his crate. If his crate is highly visible to him, I can be across the room and tell him to get in. I am hoping to get to the point where I can be in a different room and know that he will go into his crate. We are almost there.

I also want to build up his drive to go into his crate. I want him to see his crate as the best thing, and want to run full speed to go to and also go inside and turn around. If I am standing right next to him I can send him in very fast, but I want to build distance for the drive. If I am not ‘running’ with him into his crate or am not standing next to his crate, he will take his time getting to it and going in.

We are working on it.