Crate Training a Dog
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Often new puppy owners are concerned that it is cruel or unjust to put a puppy in a small confined area. Perhaps the puppy will feel punished or the owner will feel that they are putting the puppy in a prison. For these reasons, many people have avoided crate training a dog.
But in truth, using a crate can be an invaluable tool in managing your Golden Retriever puppy. A crate helps provide safety and security and aids in toilet-training. This is all, of course, assuming that the crate is used appropriately and judiciously.
First, a dog crate will provide safety for a Golden Retriever puppy that inherently has a curious, eager, exploring nature. If the puppy to be left alone for a short period of time, you can put her in a dog crate. This will prevent her from roaming the entire house and getting into harmful things.
Second, the crate provides a sense of security. It acts as a very small room or den. Note that in the wild, animals often rest in small confined dens, which the crate can simulate. This provides the animal complete control of its surroundings which in turn provides a sense of security.
Finally, the crate helps tremendously in potty-training . Puppies have a natural instinct not to soil the areas they inhabit. While they may (will!) have accidents in the house or even in the room they sleep in, it is rare for them to dirty a smaller space they occupy such as a crate.
You can use this instinct to your advantage. If your puppy is in the crate, she will usually whimper or bark to alert you she needs to go. Then you take her out, she relieves herself and you praise her to no end. She learns that it is actually fun to do her business in the right spot -- her reward is the tons of praise she gets from you! Read more about this at Toilet Training .
I highly recommend crate training as it is effective, but please make sure you do it properly. First of all, young puppies should be in a crate for no longer than 2 hours at a stretch. You can gradually increase this time (based on how the puppy -- and you -- are handling the crate). Note that older, mature adults should not be in a crate for longer than 6 hours (best to keep this under 4 hours as possible).
| Types of Crates: There are two major kinds of crates: the metal wire type and the plastic version. The wire crate is airy and allows almost complete visibility. But it cannot contain hair that is shed, and is unwieldy, so not great for travel. The plastic crate is more enclosed, so it is cozier. It can hold fallen hair (so there is less mess). But it does not have as much openness as the wire crate. |
With all the crates out there, it is often difficult to narrow your choices to those best suited to your Golden. I have carefully picked out a few crates that I feel work really well. I have also added my own comments for each crate, so that you can select the one that best suits your particular Golden. I don't think you can go wrong with any of these. Please rest assured -- all orders go through Amazon's secure server.
Ultimately it does not matter which crate you purchase, but do make sure it is big enough for the full-grown Golden Retriever. All too often I have seen people buy a crate that is the perfect size for their puppy. But remember that puppies do grow very fast (however much we may want them to stay puppies forever!). To avoid having to buy crate after larger crate, buy one at the outset that is big enough for your full-grown Golden.
Crate training a dog, when done appropriately, is extremely useful to help your Golden feel safe and secure. They can also aid in potty-training.
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