Episode 16: Crate Training

Drew: To me, it's not so much that you're going to keep your dog in your house, but it's keeping it from using the bathroom in the kennel and being quiet in the kennel.

Steve: I travel a lot to hunt. My dogs have to be used to staying in a crate, living in a crate. There's sometimes three weeks at a time where living in a crate is their life. I like to get them used to it. And house breaking is a perfect time to do it. I want the crate to be something that's natural for them and where they enjoy it. It's their home. It's their den. It's where they want to be. You have to make it a positive experience...

Drew: Not a point of refuge.

Steve: Yeah. And also, you don't want to make it a punishment where they've done something bad and force them to go in the crate. I was talking to a customer the other day that was having trouble with a dog who wouldn't come back to him. And come to find out, every time he called the dog in he stuck him in the box immediately. That dog had just figured out that the "here" command basically meant you're going in the box.

Drew: Yeah, the fun's over with.

Steve: Yeah. He had made it a bad thing. We just switched him around and said, OK, call him in, pet him up, let him go. Just getting out of that repetition. That's right. The kennel command ties in with everything else. It's going to be used similar to...some people call it the place command.

Drew: I personally don't use "place" or "get in your spot" when it's in an open area like in the duck blind. But it's always kennel. That means get up here, go over there, get in that spot.

Steve: Yeah. Last night I had Roxy down at the kennel, and I was getting ready to give out dog biscuits at the end of the night. I have a training table, and I wanted her on the table. I gave her the kennel command and she went to the right, and I called her back and said "kennel" and pointed, and she jumped to that spot. That's just where she knows. She'll do it on the back of a tailgate. Anywhere I want to identify that spot, that's what "kennel" command to her means. It' doesn't have to be a crate, but it starts with a crate.

Drew: It's amazing how dogs pick up on that repetition like that.

With Cash having a stand, when I first got the stand I was training him with the kennel to get up on top of it. Then it got to where we were training with it all the time. Just as soon as I'd put it out he would just about tackle me trying to get him on top of it.

Steve: You want the crate to be something that they see as a positive area, not as a punishment. And you have to develop that with a young dog. A lot of folks will put an eight week old puppy in a crate, it's the first time they've ever been in a crate, and that dog starts hollering. It sounds like you are murdering them. And if you go let him out, all you've done is teach him that screaming is the way out.

So one thing you have to learn is to wait for them to calm down. The second they calm down, go let them out. That becomes an easy habit for dogs to pick up on.

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Drew: Most people say, "Well, I'm going to have a big breed of a dog. Why don't I go ahead and buy this one if it's going to grow into it?"

Steve: Typically, to me, you're going to need two. You can get even a wire crate if you want. You need a smaller place for them. And the reason for that is if you put an eight week old puppy in that and you leave him in there too long, he's going to do his business in the back of the crate. But if you put him in something smaller, in a puppy size crate, it's...

Drew: Less likely. Still might, but it's less likely.

Steve: He's not going to want to, and that's the biggest thing. Which house breaking is a whole ‘nother subject. But it starts with crate training.

The other part that comes in with crates would be dog blinds. I'm not sure if y'all use any...

Drew: We do. Quite a bit on goose hunting and layout blinds.

Steve: Exactly. Very similar idea in that you've got to teach that dog to get in this spot and stay in this spot. And crate training ties into that perfectly. They've got somewhere they're supposed to be. And that's the "kennel" command...

Drew: From a puppy to an 8 1/2 year old dog.

Steve: My earliest memories of my father is him taking puppies and putting them into a whelping box. And I'm talking day old puppies and he's giving them the "kennel" command as a day old puppy. And it was just a habit for him.

And I'm worse. I do it with my kids. When my kids need to load up in the truck, I tell them to kennel. I talk to them like they're dogs.

Drew: My daughter corrects me on that quite a bit. "I'm not Cash, daddy!" But it works! You know exactly what I'm talking about!

Steve: It works! That's what I do! It's the same command.

Drew: And that's your Honey Brake gun dog tip of the week.