Dogs love to rest in den-like space. Our stumpy Corgi "Palette" loves to rest under the couch,which we call it "Palette's cave" or under the bed or man made den a.k.a. crate. Sometimes, she is under the desk around my foot..Palette loves to put her head on my foot,and she is a great foot warmer especially in winter.



Palette under the couch stretching her paws..



Palette resting under the couch..



Palette resting under the bed..

 

Palette resting in her crate..

 I think that dogs might be feeling relaxed when they are resting narrow,a little darker/shady space, and that is why dogs love to rest in such spaces.

 However, if the man made den a.k.a crate was used as time-out space after dogs were yelled at, or used as a space to confine them for long long time,they would see the crate as negative thing, and they may not feel comfortable to rest in the crate and they would not going to step into the crate on their own will. Dens for them should be the space where they can completely relaxed and rest, and dens are not the place for them to  be forced into against their will or used as punishment.

 Palette loves her crate and, even though she has more than crate as space for her to be relaxed and rest (under the couch,under the bed), she is comfortable enough to go in and rest and sleep in if she wanted to.

 Sometimes, in the morning, I find Palette still in the crate and lie on her back while I left the door open so that she can come out for meal. Her latest sleep in was 11am.I already ate my breakfast,read newspaper,and doing laundry etc but she was still in her crate, and finally came out at 11am,with big yawn and big stretch.



Good morning,sleepy head..big big yawn..

 She loves to go to bed too!She can't wait for bed time. Reason why is.. snack before bedYou can see how her every night is like,and also you can see how much she is getting excited to go to bed.

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 Palette cannot wait to go to bed

  When Palette was puppy, introducing a crate as positive place,fun place to be,and comfortable place to be was one of the things we have started working on from early on. Crate provides following points.

** Crate can provide den-like space

 Palette's crate now is wired,collapsible crate called "i-crate".I like them especially it is easy to pack into the car when we go on road trip, and take less space in the car.Also, i-crate has divider and  you can use them to fit to the crate size you prefer.

 We used to use plastic crate when she was puppy but,if I knew about i-crate back then, I would have chosen the i-crate from start.Not just for space but also for money saving. Because with plastic crate,as puppy gets bigger and bigger,you would probably buy the new fit crate as replacement for current crate.

 With wire crate, if it were provided "as is", it cannot be like darker/shady space dogs love to rest.So, I got crate cover which cover 3 sides and crate is darker/shady space for Palette to rest in it

 Also, I got her Orthopedic bed to put inside the crate. Orthopedic bed, which has egg crate in it, is very gentle to joint.She also has Orthopedic bed that has pillow attached.Yes,she has her bed with pillow The bed is called Microsuede Ortho Mat with pillow. This is one of her favorite bed.And,favorite bed for me to wash. Because the cover is easy to take off and it does not take space in washing machine. Comfy bed in the den like place would be attractive to them.

** Crate can help you to potty train your dogs

- Dogs naturally do not eliminate in the den, and you can use their instincts as one of the tool to help them house trained successfully.

-After Palette is potty trained,I taught her to ring the bell when she wanted to go for potty.Her bell is not the one that hung over the door knob but the one you usually can find at customer service desk. With this bell,we have no communication error for potty.

 You can see how Palette rings her potty bell in our previous entry titled "Gottago,gottago,ring!ring!ring!;House training dogs"

** Crate can be nice quiet place to nap while you were out for errands, and you do not have to worry about dogs get into things they are not supposed to such as counter surfing,getting nibbles from trash cans or chewing furniture

- Palette is potty trained, and she can be trusted for no chewing furniture,no counter surfing etc now so, when we leave for errands,we let the crate door open for her to go in and let her nap whenever,wherever she wants.

 I remember I took Palette for potty for so many times a day when she was puppy.

 They can also get bored and might be frustrated and possibly if they were crated so long, it might also means that they are not getting enough exercise they need and all pent up energy can be used for wrong thing.

 If the dogs were not getting enough exercise, that also means they do not get to have opportunity to meet new people,new dogs on walk,new sound, new smell etc.. That can lead to whole different problems.

 How do you know that the crate is right size for your dogs?

 Our puppy trainer has told us what to look for when Palette was in her puppy training class. She told us dogs should be able to..

- lie down comfortably

- stand up and turn around easily

 She also added that if the crate was too big for the dog, they can eliminate on one side, sleep on the other side and it does not help house training the dogs and you should get the crate with right size.

 How do you introduce your dogs to man made den a.k.a. crate?

 As you already know, our puppy training class trainer was using clicker to train the dogs. So, I used clicker to introduce the crate to Palette as well.Through the training,she already understood that click sound means she did good and it brings yummy treats so, it was effective tool to communicate with her.

 What I did was..

1.Toss the piece of treat into the crate

2.She would follow the treats and possibly a bit head in, and I clicked she got piece of extra treat from me

3.I clicked any good behavior that could lead to getting into the crate;a bit of head into crate or one paw in,two paws in etc

4.When she is getting idea o f her putting her one paw gets me click and she gets a piece of treats, I waited for her to get in with two paws, and when she got comfortable enough to put her two paws in, I waited till she gets in fully and then click and treats.

5.Then,after she is comfortable enough to jump into the crate on her own will, I decided to use the cue "To your den" to get her in to crate, and sit

6. By then,she knows "To your den" means she goes to crate and sit inside and she gets treats from me.

7. During daily school time a.k.a. Palette's training time, I include the cue to let her go in to crate and she got big praise,click and treats and each time when I say the cue, she gave me huge grins on her face and ran as fast as she could and sit-stay in the crate for treat

8.Even outside the training time, when I found her resting in the crate, I praised them and gave her a piece of unexpected treats. I think this unexpected treat from me has helped her even more to feel crate is fun place, and brings yummy thing.

 Palette crate door was always kept opened during the training time and day time.When she has learned to go to crate on her own with the crate door opened,I closed the door a second or two,then opened up and praised and gradually build up the length of the closed time and actual close door time was when she goes to bed.

 Where do you put the crate for your dogs?

 We used to have her crate in the living room, because I thought living room is the room family members would spend most of the time and thought it would be good place to be.

 However, downside of the crate being in the living room was that it was hard to catch her whining when she needed to go for potty. So, we placed Palette's crate right next to our bed, and it is there since then.

 Why do dogs start whining right after being back into crate?

 Sometimes, it is hard to decide whether dogs want to go for potty and whining or whining to be released from the crate and being pet. It happened with Palette sometimes.

 She goes for potty before bed,get snack before bed, and lights off and 5 minutes later,she starts whining. Since I knew she already did potty #1,#2 in the day and knew she had no digestive upset which calls for extra attention for whining, what we usually do is to ignore her.

 Whining eventually stops, but occasionally, I take her out after the whining when I know she did not do potty #2 on the day wondering if it were the cause for, and sometimes, she just stand outside yard,staring at something or sniff ground very extensively and look me back as if she did not need for potty time.So, she goes back into the crate and finally nice sleep.

 In the past, my husband used to take her out when she was whining and sit with her and pet her a while.Sometimes,he ignored her whining.So, my guess is that we might have been sending out the mixed message to her and made her think that she might get petting/attention when she whine. Since then, we stick to ignore her whining or if we think she might need potty,then, we take her out and if no potty is done in a couple of minutes, we brings her back into the house and she goes to crate and no petting or extra attention after whining. It seemed work. We now barely gets her whining call for extra attention/petting time.

Palette came out from her cave #2 (under the bed) with big yawn..

  Where are your dogs' best loved doggy den space in the house?