I LOVE crates for a variety of reasons: house breaking, keeping your puppy/dog safe, keeping your stuff safe, providing a comfortable place your dog can go to any time, creating boundaries, and the list goes on. The use of a crate while your dog is young & immature is obvious (I hope. If not, we need to talk :)).

But when you’ve been successful with house breaking, your dog starts to mature and you’ve decided that your dog and your stuff is safe without the crate, should you take it away? Well, maybe not!

If your dog NEVER bonded with the crate and NEVER goes in it on his own, you might not need to keep it around. But I have a few words of caution for you. First of all, even if your dog does not love going in the crate on a regular basis, I think it is extremely important that your dog is OK being in the crate. What would happen if your dog injured a leg and the vet’s orders are strict crate rest for a few weeks? Or if your dog needed surgery and wakes up at the vet’s in a crate? I would hope that your dog wouldn’t freak out, potentially risking more injury. Or what if YOU had an emergency out of town and you had no other choice but to kennel your dog?

Ronan randomly goes in his crate on his own about 20+ times a day. He simply likes being in there. I will not remove Ronan’s crate – ever. I think it would be mean and unfair to him because he loves it and uses it so frequently. When we travel I always bring a crate because it’s a comfort to him. If he’s tired he can go to his comfy and secure place to relax. Don’t misunderstand, Ronan is allowed full freedom anywhere in the house day and night. He is a wonderful, trustworthy house dog.  But, because of the way crate training was approached he loves being in it!

I often hear that people have taken the crate down because they were tired of looking at it. Or it took up too much space. And that the dog didn’t seem to mind. How do they know? How sad for the dog that may have lost an important place of security! I liken the crate (for some dogs) to a human’s bed. How would you feel if the one place that is yours, the one place that you can go to when you are tired or don’t feel well has been taken away? This is something to think about.

I’m not saying that 100% of dogs must have crates. Surely, dogs who have severe crate anxiety to the point that they may harm themselves must be addressed differently. What I am saying is the decision to remove a dog’s crate should be given serious consideration. Try to see it from your dog’s perspective as opposed to what YOU want. Taking down a crate simply because you don’t want it in the room anymore is not the right reason.

Sometimes we have to put our dogs needs before our own wants!

Yours in good training,

Stacie & Ronan

PS – 1 1/2 weeks left to vote!