A Guide To Crate Training - a podcast by Ty Brown

In this post, I’d like to talk a little about crate training benchmarks. Any time that clients are crate training their dog, they always ask me when they don't need to continue using it any more.

I always say not to rush it, because the crate is a great tool. I call it “the silent teacher.” It shows a dog how to be calm and relaxed, so that ideally they’re still calm outside the crate. They’ve spent time building up that understanding. The concept easily transfers.

But there are certain moments that I look for along the way, benchmarks that tell me I can give the dog a little more freedom. The first freedom I’ll give a dog outside the crate is overnight when we’re sleeping. I’ll never let the dog be loose in the house when I’m out of the house running errands—only when we’re sleeping.

Why? Because it’s a very small step. Ideally, the dog’s been sleeping in the crate for months. Once we get to the point where the dog is not sleeping in the crate but isn’t supervised. No one’s training while they’re sleeping. You can’t! (At least, I can’t!) So that’s the first time that I allow the dog to be outside of the crate unsupervised. On a certain level, this should never be completely unsupervised. If I start hearing noises, I might wake up and find the dog getting into the trash or misbehaving.

Generally, the first time I let a dog sleep outside the crate is at nine or ten months. Again, these are just rules of thumb; every dog is different. I’ve seen plenty of dogs move out of the crate before that benchmark and be absolutely fine, but I’ve seen many more who haven't done well. On the early end, nine or ten months is a good rule. I might move the benchmark later for a dog who’s hyper or mischievous, just to allow for a little more training. Most dogs, however, can be safely moved out of the crate at nine to ten months.

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