The importance of crate training is a big one in my opinion, even if you don’t intend to keep your dog in a crate forever (obviously not literally). A crate can help towards over coming so many different behaviour issues as well as future proofing yourself and your dog if the worst should happen.
Crate training should be done gradually to make it a happy and comforting place for your dog. Feed your dog in there and give all treats in there, clicker train if needed to help you. You could use a pen area around the crate to start with if needed before you start to shut the door. Work on increasing the time the dog spends in there bit by bit.
You can use a blanket to cover the crate and a relaxing music video to calm your dog. Be strong and be firm. Your dog will get there, don’t interrupt your dogs calm once they have settled as you will start the whole process again.
There are many people that don’t believe in crate training, but for me, i have had a few dogs with major issues and ended up on crate rest for a prolonged period of time. If they hadn’t have been previously crate trained, this could have added to the stress of their issues.
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