by Carla Baron

Created on: August 26, 2008   Last Updated: August 29, 2009

Crating dogs is not cruel. As a matter of fact it is anything but cruel, as long as you use properly. Crating is not a punishment. A crate is a dog's home within your house. It's their place their domain, their space. They love it.

One thing you must realize is dogs in the wild live in dens. A crate is a den to a dog. It's a place they go sleep and relax and feel comfortable. They're safe and secure.

Crating a dog takes place when you bring them home. You should go out and purchase the right size crate, that is important. Crating dogs eliminates a lot of issues. For one it keeps them safe as puppies so they have place to stay when you are not home. Puppies should not be left loose or unsupervised as they can possibly chew on electrical cords or eat things that can hurt them. Dogs don't like to dirty their crate so they learn how to hold their bladders and learn how to eliminate outside. Crating your dog is training your dog this is a good thing not a bad thing. Cruel is punishing your dog for doing dog things. Cruel is using a crate to ban or punish a dog. Remember that is not the purpose of a crate.

A dog is a dog, it is a loving loyal companion but you must realize they are not human and while they learn to understand us and we learn to understand them one thing is certain we don't think the same way. We may wish they did or we may think they do but they really don't. They understand us our emotions they understand our tones and our body language. The best thing we can do is understand dogs and their behavior so we know how to deal with them. You may think that a crate is cruel but a dog doesn't. Giving them their own special place is not cruel. You can make the crate special, comfortable and give them treats and toys to bring in there. Whatever you give them make sure it's safe. It should not be something they can n destroy or choke on I also remove their collars so they don't get stuck. Make it a place they love and want to be in.

Once you've crated a dog successfully you will understand that it is not cruel. You will be able to tell by their behavior that they love their crates. In the beginning you close the door but as they mature and become trained you can leave the door open so they can go in and out at will. My dogs go in and out throughout the day and sleep in their crate.

I used to get rid of the crate once they were trained but now I leave it up. When I first started crating I used it as only a training tool. Then after seeing how attached they

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