When can you start leaving dog out of crate?Most dogs are ready for this around the 6-9 month mark. While others are naturally more curious or simply not ready to be left uncrated until they are a bit older (2-3 years). If your dog is overly curious and likes to get into things, crating can keep you dog safe and out of trouble.
Is It Cruel to Crate My Dog At Night?
Provided that your dog has undergone proper crate training and he doesn’t get distressed and upset when crated, confining your pet overnight is one of the benefits of crate training.
Putting your dog in his crate overnight is not cruel. Rather, crating your dog overnight provides your pet with a safe, comfortable place where he can relax and feel secure. Crating a properly trained dog doesn’t cause aggression, either. Dogs are highly sensitive to their owner’s moods. So, if you can relax and settle down for a good night’s rest without worrying about what your dog might get up to during the hours of darkness, your canine companion is more likely to settle down, too.
At night while you’re asleep, you’re obviously not around to keep an eye on your dog. That means he could potentially get into trouble or even come to harm. If your pet is safely settled in his comfy crate bed with a chew toy to keep him happy, you can rest in the knowledge that your dog is safe.
Additionally, if your dog willingly retires to his crate before bed at night or when hes obviously stressed out by the environment and is looking for a quiet place to retreat, you probably dont have to enforce crating quite so much. As you likely remember from the crate training process, teaching your dog to use the crate is all about helping him associate it with positive things. So, if he already elects to use it on his own, you can explore leaving the door unlocked for periods of time so that he can come and go as he pleases.
A dog crate can also serve as a bit of a quiet, peaceful sanctuary for our canine friends, which can come in handy if they share a home with small children, frequent visitors, or just an active family whose members are up and about throughout the day. Some dogs who have been crate trained properly will even seek out their own crates to retire to if theyre feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or simply tired if for nothing more than a private sense of “me time” that we all crave now and again.
Using the crate as a training tool is not the same thing as, say, leaving a dog in a crate for 20 hours a day (which, hopefully, everyone understands is never, ever OK to do). If your dog is happy with her crate, has settled into a satisfying routine with it, and you need to keep it that way for practical reasons, its absolutely fine to utilize it until your circumstances change.
Depending on why you use a crate to train your dog, he may outgrow his need for such a tool over time. This is especially true for puppies who are crated when supervision is needed, like when youre at work or asleep, and for puppies who are learning to use the bathroom outdoors.
If youre thinking about phasing out a crate, youll want to do so slowly and carefully. The last thing you want to do after all of that hard training work is to set your dog up to fail, so it will take a bit of continued work before crate training can be fully finalized.
Is Your Dog Ready To Stop Using Their Crate?
Crate training is generally used when potty training puppies, for helping dogs that suffer from separation anxiety, and for containing your pet when you’re not home.
However, many dogs continue to enjoy using their crate as a safe refuge and chill-out zone long after the initial crate training period has ended. So, how long should crate training take? How do you know when your puppy is fully crate trained? And do you even need to use a crate for your dog?
Read this guide to learn when to stop crate training your furry friend and much more!