Do You Kennel Your Poodle?
I have had dogs in the past that I did not kennel train, but I must say that they got in a lot of unnecessary trouble. When we got Creole we got her a 42″ wire kennel and it became her bedroom and sanctuary.
Being that I work from home, it is needed for me sometimes to have time where I can concentrate and not have to worry about what the dogs might be getting in to. Most days we put them in their kennel for at least a few hours while one of both of us are home. They really don’t mind it.
What we never do is put them in their kennel as punishment. Their kennel is a happy, safe place for them and is not at all associated with doing something bad. I wish I had kennel trained previous dogs, like the Golden who ate my hat with autographs of the entire Atlanta Braves pitching staff from 1992. That was not a happy moment.
Creole and Gumbo really are fine with their time in the kennel. Of course when they are small puppies they will cry and whine when they are put in the kennel, but associate them going in the kennel for the last time at night with a small treat and they will literally run into their kennels every night at bedtime and whenever else you mention “kennel”. We only give them treats at night when they go in their kennels. We can’t give them too many treats.
Do you kennel your dog? What do you see as advantages or disadvantages of kennel training your dog? You can leave your comments below and no registration is required to comment.
-Scott
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We crate Achilles in his ‘Cookie Palace’ when we’re gone from our home [work, church, errands,mowing yard]. We made it a happy place to go and in fact, all we have to say is “cookie Palace” and he runs and jumps in his crate. It’s hilarious to watch! He always gets a cookie when he goes in the crate. We’ve always made it a happy place for him with his toys, chewies, blankies — even the green, cuddly blankie Leslie and Ken gave us the night we brought Killee home. Dogs need the comfort and safety of their own “den”. Killee, for the most part, doesn’t go to his Cookie Palace at night anymore as he’s 99.9% potty trained and we always get up once in the middle of the night to let him go outside. We took that upon ourselves as he’s crated for a greater portion of the day during the workweek and we have read you shouldn’t leave a puppy or any dog in a kennel for too many hours a day. There are several benefits of a crate — it will help in the potty training arena as most dogs will not soil where they sleep. You MUST, however, let him/her outside before going into the crate and immediately upon letting them out of the crate. Never crate a dog if you haven’t allowed them to relieve themselves FIRST. It’s inhumane and careless. Crates ensure your puppy / dog never gets into trouble as they can’t soil, chew or get into anything. It keeps them safe so they don’t hurt themselves when you’re not there to watch them. Never ever use the crate as punishment it should always be a happy place. I made the mistake with my first poodle to make him go to his “place” when he was bad. He began associating the crate with being bad and wouldn’t go in there unless he’d done something wrong. Of course, he was potty-trained so I eventually got rid of the crate and he roamed free 24/7 in our home until he passed away earlier this year — he was a GREAT pupper, by the way. Anyway, completely agree with Judi and Scott — crating is the only way to go when you cannot watch your puppy. It saves your home and things, helps with potty training, relieves your stress and worry, and keeps the puppy happy and safe.
Comment by Lahni Venable — August 8, 2007 @ 8:09 am
When we first got any of our Standard Poodle, we crate trained them as part of the house training process. We worked on them gradually with treats and toys and gradually they learned to love their crates. At night they had no problem going into their crates, since they knew that they would get a treat before they went to sleep. Now that they are older and house trained I no longer have them in a crate at night. They just sleep in the bedroom with us on their beds or on the floor.
Comment by Sandy Riordan — August 31, 2007 @ 6:33 pm