I have crate trained my last five GSD puppies and I think the crate is the single most useful training tool I have ever used. I take my pups to work with me for the first year, so I found it best to have a crate next to my desk at work and another next to my bed at home. As my house is double story, I also have a crate downstairs, in the kitchen. The metal crates are quick to fold up so can be carried from room to room and also popped into the car.  Within a week, my pups happily go into their crate whenever they want to snooze or when they know I am on my way out.  By the time my pups are about 10 weeks old, we can leave them for a few hours to go out in the evening.  We come back to find them fast asleep. No messes in the house, ever (honestly).  Whenever my pups are outside the crate, they are on a lead. Initially the lead is attached to me but after a few weeks, I leave the lead trailing.  Only once my pups reach about 5 months, do they have freedom to walk around the house unattended.

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I “turf” my puppy out of the crate when the next puppy comes along.  My dogs love their crates and jump into any crate I unfold. I personally no longer use crates once my pups grow up (although other people’s dogs happily sleep in crates for their whole lives with the door left open).  When left alone, my adult dogs don’t mess in the house, destroy anything, howl or bark - they just chill.  They jump into the cage at the vet when needed and while in the car, they don’t pace or bark, just lie down or sit quietly.  All of this good behaviour I put down to crate training.

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I have successfully raised several litters of feral kittens (and 2 cats of my own) using a large metal crate, big enough for the kittens to safely be housed with a litter box, food, water and space to play. For the ferals, I spend many hours at the open door, hand feeding the kittens while getting them used to human touch. I even spend time sitting quietly inside the crate with them. With my own kittens, I use a crate for the first few weeks so that I can introduce my older cats and dogs to the newcomer gradually.  

 

In recent years, I have been renting out crates for the rehab of dogs and cats after surgery or injury (as well as for puppies for house training). I am so used to hearing how dogs come to love the crate after a month of crate rest even though they were introduced to the crate as an adult without any time to gradually become used to being in one. Usually they have been forced to move straight from the cage at the vet into the crate at home.

Having seen my own dogs (and so many others) benefit from the use of a crate, I confidently feel I can endorse the concept of crate training to other dog and cat owners. 

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I run the Cape Province Dog Club in Pinelands and have been teaching puppy classes for many years. I volunteer with shelter dogs at Animal Anti Cruelty League and I am currently completing a diploma in animal behaviour with COAPE.