what is crate training and how to

saralee · New member Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 1

What is crate training? My lab is 12 weeks and has never been in a crate. She is driving me crazy with the biting, chewing and chasing the cats, destroying shoes, growling at me etc. etc. I have taught her to sit but the biting is out of control and she just goes nuts when I try to contain her.

How do I start with the crate? Maybe this would give me some free time to do other things around the house other than yelling at Miss Sara. Help going nuts.

Samsintentions · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4241 Location: Texas

LOL. Hi Saralee... Sorry to hear your having problems with your puppy!

I would first address the biting issue. Crating is not going to cure this.
When she goes for soemthing she's not supposed to, Quickly distract her and replace the item with something she can chew on and praise ther for being a good girl.

When she goes to bite you, Yell out "OUCH!" and leav her. She'll quickly learn that if she does something bad, your not playing anymore.
First thing is to never let her start mouthing. This will just fuel her urge to do so. Puppies around 12 weeks are starting to teeth and chew. Make sure she has plenty of things that are "HERS" to chew on. I would reccomend a KONG toy stuffed with peanut butter.

As for crate training. You want to buy a nice crate that she can grow into, with dividers. If given too much room, she'll potty in there. You want to make it a happy place, not a bad place.

I'd start with talking to a trained professional behaviorist and possibly enroling her in some puppy classes.

Sara · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:01 am Post subject:

Your vet should also be able to give you tons of information about crate training. That's where I first learned of it back when I had my firs pup in the city rather than out in the country where we never really had to worry about that stuff as the dogs were outdoors most of the time.

I'll tell you that it's a great thing to do with dogs, if they EVER need to be re-homed or babysat for whatever reason, a crate trained dog is an easy dog to do that with...and a much happier dog in the end. The crate feels like a den and they feel safe there. It helps to keep separation anxiety from cropping up among other things and helps with potty training. A How To from your vet is probably your best option.

Sara