Crates Are Not Only for Naughty Dogs

I saw an ad for a dog crate that was for sale and the seller said something to the effect of the crate being for those times when your dog is naughty. That caused me to believe that the seller of the crate felt that the only time a dog should go in a crate is when he or she is naughty.

Now, we use crates quite a bit, and now that I'm going through a pack structure training program with our younger dogs, we use them even more. In our use of crates we see that dogs don't necessarily feel "punished" when they are in their crate. In fact, many of them are more comfortable there than anywhere else. It becomes their "place, their "spot," their security when things are going nutso around them (think New Year's Eve fireworks going off for hours everywhere).

After reading that ad, I just had to say that crates are not only for "naughty" dogs. Yes, they can be used in training, but they can also be very beneficial to the health and well being of your dog. It's not just a mean punishment to put a dog in a crate.