Crate Train a Dog – Power Tip #4: Bait Locker
Today’s Simpawtico power tip will take
you through the steps in our second
crate training game, along with our new
little girl, Wednesday
Ian here with Simpawtico Dog Training. Now
crate training is an important and
useful piece of raising a puppy or
adopting a new adult dog. When we are
introducing the crate, even to an
experienced dog in a new place, some work
with habituating the crate is crucial.
This game will help build some interest
in the crate and make the initial
movement in and out of the crate fun and
dynamic. My helper today is going to be
our new English Bulldog, Wednesday. She
was an impound dog from Rochester that
was transported to our shelter down here
due to overcrowding. I’ll be honest it
only took about five minutes of
mushing that face for me to decide she
was gonna be mine. Even though Wednesday
isn’t a puppy I still had no idea what
her history with crates is and our house
is a new place which means we have to
spend some time habituating her to her
new surroundings, including her crate. The work you’ll see here is great for newly
adopted dogs and puppies. First though
there are a few other items on the
agenda. As always your first line
strategy is praise. Like we’ve said many
times on this channel your voice is your
number one training tool. Second, timing
is important here just as it is in all
training. You should be aligning your
work according to your dog’s energy
levels. Practice passive things like
stays and crate training when your dog
is at a lower energy level and when
they’re revved up that’s a better time
for active things like Come, walking and
activities that require movement and
energy. If you’re not working to manage
those energy levels then at least plan
your crate training time for when
they’re on the downside. We also
recommend using a consistent phrase as a
prompt to go into the crate. Pairing a
word or phrase will help directionalize
their attention towards where it needs
to be.
You’ll also need a hollow toy for this
game. We love Kongs and PetSafe
barnacles but there are others out there
that will work well too: squirrel dudes,
Atomic Balls, Chewballs, Quizls, Buster
cubes, Goodie Ships and even hollow butcher
bones work great. For this video
we’ll use one of our Kongs. As with our
previous power tip training game, we’re
going to use a little positive
frustration to build Drive and
motivation. Last time we used gentle
restraint; this time we’re going to use a
barrier. So first
let’s create the bait. Back in our first
power tip video we showed you how to
make liver powder. Take a tablespoon of
that and mix it with about a cup and a
half of kibble. Shake it up and now we’ve
got some supercharged kibble that’ll
work great for this game. Show your dog
the toy and let them watch you putting a
few goodies in it. Put the chew toy in
the crate and let your dog toddle in to
harvest the goods from the toy. Praise
your dog enthusiastically as they work
with it. This will help build some good
motivation for moving into the crate and
for working at the toy. After a couple of
reps like this, if your dog is showing
some good enthusiasm, put the toy in and
shut the door for a few seconds. When
your dog is asking to go into the crate
to get their toy open the door, use your
consistent phrase, and let them in. Now
we’re creating a real desire to move
into the crate.
Shut the door while they’re playing and
eating, then open it as soon as they’re
done. It’s easy to build duration in this;
as you work you can leave them in there
a little bit, feed through the holes, and
then let them back out. Later you can use
the toy for a full meal and your
duration inside the crate will skyrocket.
Now admittedly this game won’t work with dogs whom have low frustration tolerance.
These dogs will give up at the gate or
won’t work at the toy. You may need to
improve their motivation and drive first
if this is problematic. For starters,
manage hunger drive by making sure
they’re sufficiently hungry, so do this
during mealtimes or maybe withhold a
meal until you’re ready to work with
this. You can also begin working by just
scattering the food inside the crate and
letting them forage for it. This is
easier and more immediately gratifying.
After a few reps you can do the work as
before by closing the gate and waiting
for them to really want in. If you’d like
to see another fun variation on this
game check out our previous power tip
video and be sure to take a look at our
big crate training video coming out soon
if it’s not already. And we’ve talked
about some more crate training methods in our Kong video give that one a watch too
for some ideas to get you going.
We’ll have links to all of our
related videos along with our crate
training playlist in the description. if
you haven’t yet smash that subscribe
button,
thumbs up this video if you found it
useful, and as always keep learning, keep
practicing, and we’ll see you again soon.
Thanks for watching!
