Saving Your Home A Cage At A Time: How To Kennel Train Your Canine Friend

If you have ever dealt with a pet who was kennel trained, you might have mixed feelings about it. If you have a puppy that seems to be slowly but surely destroying your home, you might want to consider kennel training them. To those who don't have dogs confining them to a dog cage for any period of time can seem cruel, but for those who do have a dog (or multiple dogs), it can seem like a lifesaver of an idea. The only problem is actually executing such a plan.

Luckily, kennel training your dog is not nearly as difficult as it seems. While it certainly helps if you start out when your dog is a puppy it is not completely necessary. Here are a few tips on kennel training your dog.

Introduce the Idea as Early as Possible

Introducing the idea as early as possible is the best way to get your dog on the right track for kennel training, but again starting out as a puppy is not necessary. As soon as you get it in your head to kennel train your dog, make the investment in a kennel. They are not too badly priced; if you have a young dog that is still growing, you can get a larger kennel with a partition that can be moved to increase or decrease their living space based on your needs.

Make the Kennel a Homey Place

Once you start the kennel training process, try to make it as little like a punishment as possible. This means that you can get a nice comfy dog bed to put inside the kennel, and perhaps their favorite toy as well. If your dog suffers from separation anxiety, they might benefit from you throwing in one of your favorite sweatshirts or blankets in there. Your scent may make them feel better while they are in your kennel and you are gone, thereby decreasing their anxiety a little bit.

The more comfortable that your dog kennel is, the easier the transition is going to be for them. Their comfort is extremely important when it comes to kennel training, or you may never get anywhere with it. Remember that the kennel is not punishment for their bad behavior, but an obedience tool that can help make your experience together go that much more smoothly.

Be Tough About It, and They Will

Keep in mind when you are beginning the kennel training process that it is not going to be easy. If you are serious about this kennel training process, you have to be as tough about it as you possibly can or there will be no success. Your dog is going to cry when you first confine them to the kennel, and chances are that it will be one of the single most pitiful sounds you have ever heard in your life. If you give up a let them go free during the first five minutes that you put them in there, they aren't going to take the kennel training seriously at all. Be tough; if you must leave the house to give your heart a break from their crying then that is just what you have to do, but it is important to remain firm. If you don't take yourself seriously, how do you expect your dog to?

Tie a Command Together With the Training

As it is with many other types of training, you want to try and find a way to combine the kennel training with a command. One of the popular kennel training commands is 'Go Home.' The idea behind the Go Home command is for your dog to put himself in the kennel upon your request.

There are a few different ways to go about implementing the Go Home command for the first time. Try tossing a treat in the kennel and telling them to Go Home a few times. After a while, they should be able to tie the two together. Positive reinforcement is the single best way to drive this information home; treats do wonders for kennel training.

Kennel training is not for every dog, and it is isn't for every owner. If you think that you might want to make kennel training a part of your dog's life, start out as soon as you can and put all of these ideas to work for best results. Remember that the kennel is not punishment, but training tools that can help them learn to behave and help you find aw way to save your shoes and your home in the process. It may feel like slow going at first, but many dogs catch on soon enough.