Crate Training Games

Crate Games

1. Never, ever punish a dog by putting it in a crate.

2. Never physically force a dog into a crate. It is your job to persuade him to enter of his own free will.

3. Feed all meals in the crate, at first with the door open and later with it closed and latched.

4. As you walk past the crate, casually toss in a treat several times a day. Do not close the door, do not stop and encourage. Just toss. If your dog does not go in after the treat, get a better treat.

5. Play the crate game. Arrange the crate next to your TV viewing station. During every commercial break, toss a treat into the crate while saying, "kennel." As soon as the dog has the treat in his mouth, call him to you by name, using an informal recall, "Rover, cookies!" Do NOT use the word "come." An informal command is an invitation that the dog is allowed to refuse. Repeat the crate game as many times as you can during each commercial break. Have a contest with yourself to see how many cratings you can get in one commercial or one commercial break.

6. If you don't already play the cookie game, play it other times as well as during the crate game. The cookie game is the very best thing you can do to set a dog up for learning a reliable formal or emergency recall. It's a form of classical conditioning which is so subconscious dogs don't even pause to consider they just react almost instinctively. See rules of the cookie game below.

7. Once the crate game is going well, periodically close and latch the door. Continue feeding treats through the bars so long as the dog is calm. A few seconds for the first few door closings is sufficient. Don't push it to the point where he gets upset. when you do start shutting and latching the door you should build up the time the door is left latched carefully and slowly. If you increase the length too quickly you'll get a panicked or otherwise unhappy response which will set you back. This is where experience in training helps significantly. You need to be able to accurately gauge how long is long enough and not too much. Each mistake will cost you additional work. It's a learning process for you as well as for the dog.

8. If he does get upset, you're stuck. The only option is to leave him in the crate until he calms himself down. Never open the crate door while the dog is making a fuss. It will not hurt him to throw a temper tantrum. Covering the crate with a sheet or towel will help some dogs calm themselves sooner. In the training stages, having the crate set in an area where you will be when pup has to be in the crate will help the transition.

Cookie game

1. Never call "cookies" unless you have a treat in your hand.

2. Always put your hand on the dog's collar before giving the cookie (or other treat).

3. When the dog comes voluntarily, he gets the cookie.

4. If you have to go after him he gets praise for being caught, but no cookie. See rule 3.

5. For every time you attach a leash, go inside, or otherwise take away his freedom, you should give the cookie command at least nine other times where you grasp the collar, give the treat, then release him to go back to whatever he was doing. He must believe the odds are very good that you just want to check in and say, "hi," and not to drag him to the vet.

You can use different commands than "kennel," and "cookie." Those are just the ones I use out of habit. Just choose one command for each behavior and be consistent. Just be careful that each command sounds unique and cannot easily be confused with another.