How to Choose a Kennel For Your Family Dog
Selecting a Kennel For Your Family Dog
You'll obviously need to choose a crate if you've decided to crate-train your new dog. Beyond the multitude of styles and designs to choose from, you'll probably be asking yourself, "How big of a crate do I need?" The size of the crate is actually more important than anything else about it, and bigger is not necessarily better in this case.
The concept behind crate training lies in the dog's natural aversion to soiling its sleeping area. A crate that is big enough for the dog to move away from any waste it produces will defeat the purpose- one end will simply become the "bedroom", the other the "bathroom". At the same time, a crate that is too small will be uncomfortable and inhumane. The goal in crate training is to create positive associations with the crate in the dog's mind, so a cramped crate is counterproductive.
If your dog is already fully grown, judging the size of the crate you need is easy. You can simply eyeball it by looking at your dog and picking a crate that is just big enough for it to stand or sit up without bumping its head, turn around, and lay out comfortably. A more exact method is to measure the length of your dog, from tip of nose to base of tail, and add three inches, which gives you the minimum length of the crate; for height, just measure from the floor to his shoulder, plus three inches. If you can't find a perfect fit, err on the side of too large rather than too small.
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If your dog is still a puppy, your dog training is slightly trickier. For a purebred dog, you should be able to get a pretty accurate estimate of its adult size from a breed book. If not, you'll have to guess, based on the sizes of the parents and any other information you can glean. Either way, you have two options when buying a crate: you can either buy one that is an appropriate size for the puppy as it is, or buy one sized for its (estimated) adult size. If you choose the former, you'll need to buy larger crates as the puppy grows. If the latter, you'll need to reduce the effective interior of the crate, for the reasons mentioned earlier. For this purpose, you can either buy a commercially-available divider panel, or simply jury rig a divider by stuffing blankets or a cardboard shape into the back of the crate. If you do this, though, make sure your puppy will not be able to chew apart your divider and possibly choke or poison itself!