One of the best things puppy owners can do for their new fluffy friend is crate training. Most puppy owners are already very aware of the benefits of crate training but I will cover those briefly here! Crate training prepares dogs to be comfortable and relaxed in many scenarios that they will face in their life such as vet visits, dog groomer visits, and even dog boarding visits. These are all normal parts of a dog’s life that involve crating for safety! Crating can also be a valuable skill if your dog needs to rest after an injury, be separated from another dog in your household, or even escape from a noisy party they aren’t enjoying. I can think of a thousand scenarios in my clients' lives that could benefit from introducing a crating system. So we know it is important and I love seeing client’s come in with this skill already developed or starting to be implemented, but I am also seeing just as many people struggling with it as well. Let’s cover the main mistakes I see people making with crate training.

•  Making the puppy cry it out. The point of our kenneling is to create a place where our dog can escape to when overwhelmed and tired. This is your dog’s sacred place of rest and meditation. The fastest way we can ruin this is by pairing it with stressful events and prolonged barking. If your dog is already having this problem, refer to the next steps to help this!
•  Putting the puppy in a different room too soon. Your puppy just left an environment where he had free roam with many siblings and his mom to keep him company. It is important we develop healthy separation, but immediately putting your puppy in another room could be too drastic and frightening, furthering feelings of separation anxiety and stress with the kennel. Sometimes we do use a different room if our puppy wakes up in response to us walking around, but at first we want our puppy to feel safe. 
•  Putting a puppy too young in a crate. Many breeders are introducing crates before the puppies go to their homes. This is awesome for gradual transition! But if your puppy has never seen a crate before, then immediately going “cold turkey” when they arrive at your house is going to be very stressful and alarming for a puppy that has never known anything but the comfort of their littermates to sleep beside. Instead, I suggest puppy owners to use large pens, warm blankets, puppy sounds, and more while sleeping by their side as much as possible to provide them comfort in the transition. Introducing kenneling should be a slow process over the course of a few days and sometimes weeks.
•  Not using crate throughout the day. As our puppies become acclimated to kenneling, they should be taking naps throughout the day. Puppies are similar to newborn babies even if they have us fooled by running around with the zoomies from time to time. Your new puppy should be having at least 18-20 hours of sleep through the whole day in periods of rest and then activity and then rest again. This might mean you need to employ the help of a sitter, dog walker, family, or friends during those first few weeks!
•  Only using crate when leaving the house. Dogs are pack animals and even if you do practice healthy independence, your dog will miss you when you leave the house. If they know the crate equals you leaving, the crate won’t be as special and happy to them. Consider putting them away for daily naps with one of the decompression activities in our blog about decompression activities.
•  Putting too many toys in their kennel. Remember this is a relaxation place not a bounce house. I suggest owners use lick mats, chew sticks, or snuffle mats instead of squeak toys, and tennis balls. This coupled with dark lighting and white noise or music, creates an environment perfect for rest and reset.

I hope this information guides you on your quest for balance with your new puppy!