Callie is the first dog we’ve crate trained, so I didn’t know what to expect — especially after the crate had served its purpose of helping housebreak Callie. Some people said, “She will continue to use her crate, but I couldn’t imagine how. Now, I’m beginning to understand.
Callie’s crate training went as well as we could have hoped for. It was her place to eat, so she wasn’t going to soil it. Perfectly simple theory — and it worked, with only one or two small accidents when she was just a few months old. She quickly learned to go outside to go potty, and to “squeak,” if she needed to be let out.
Callie is perfectly housebroken now. So there’s no need for the crate any more; right? Well, not exactly. If we leave Callie at home alone, we still put her in her crate — mostly to protect her from herself. We probably won’t always do that. But, aside from that, Callie’s crate has taken on a life of its own.
When we’re around the house, Callie’s crate door is propped open, so she’s free to enter the crate or leave it. She still gets most of her meals there, so it’s a special place in her mind. It also houses her water dish, which she visits frequently. And her puppy pad. So she has good reasons for visiting her crate.
But it’s also become Callie’s own storage place for favorite things. It’s now the home of about a dozen balls of all different kinds. It is frequently the home of “Stinky,” Callie’s little stuffed puppy security object — upon which she sucks quietly almost every night before falling asleep.
Once in a while, Callie manages to steal a sock from me or Barbara. She knows she’s not supposed to do that; you can see the guilt on her face. So when she does it, she runs immediately into her crate and deposits the sock toward the back. She obviously thinks her crate is off limits to people.
It’s neat that Callie likes her crate and thinks of it as a special place. Once in a while, she even goes into it and lies down for a few minutes, knowing that she will be able to walk out when she wants to.
A dog’s crate is its castle!
