[James7011]

So we hired a professional dog trainer for our new puppy corgi and we are working on crate training. He’s a lot smaller than his crate so I made a divider in the crate to make it just big enough for him to stand up, turn around, and lay down. But after doing so and realizing how small of a space that is, I feel horrible. I know it’s what it takes to train him but me and my partner are really struggling with it. Should I at least put a puppy bed in there for a little bit of comfort? He’s whining in the most pitiful way and we just feel like horrible owners 😭

 

[RonE]

Many dogs - especially young, stressed dogs - will chew up any bedding, which can be dangerous. You could try it and watch closely and remove it if he starts chewing on it.

While most here (myself included) support crate training for the safety of our dogs, you will find some who feel it IS cruel and unnecessary, so brace yourself.

 

[Shell]

If you do use bedding, i suggest only a single fleece blanket. Nothing with stuffing and no towels. Fleece shreds into tiny bits which reduces the risk of choking or bowel obstruction. Towels can shred into long and dangerous strings while stuffed beds can be big hunks of fiber batting.


Even if you never intend to crate your dog as an adult, learning to be comfortable in a crate is a life skill that I think all dogs should have when possible.

Think about future situations:
Travel/hotels. Vet care/surgery kenneling. Emergency shelter or evacuations (hurricanes, earthquakes, forest fires) as the few pet friendly shelters almost univerally require crating. Sports/fun events competions. Work being done on your house.

All those situations are safer if a dog is happily crated. Some may absolutely require crating.

You don't want your dog to be stressed by crating and then forced into one of those situations nor do you want the first time a dog is crated for awhile to be under a stressful or new circumstance.

Look up "crate games" and play with the dog to make the crate a normal and comfortable place. Make sure to give plenty of age appropriate potty breaks.

 

[parus]

There are "chewproof" crate pads and dog beds. Nothing is truly chewproof, but they're safer to leave with a pup than something they might eat and get blocked by, like stuffing or foam.

The purpose of a tight crate is to potty train, as dogs generally won't eliminate if they'll have to lay in it. Once the dog is potty trained, you can use comparatively spacious crate if you still need to crate for whatever reason. Big crates often come with dividers so you can resize for training a pup without having to buy multiple crates.