Crate training

My 7 month old uses a large crate and my 1 year old uses an XL crate. I think the most important measurement for bassets is the length of the crate rather than the height.

The most important thing a crate does is teach your dog that they can hold it. They learn that they don't have to go as soon as they feel the need.

Never crate in anger. It'll set you back and your dog will fear the crate.

Use the crate when you can't immediately have eyes on your pup. You can leave the crate in a family room so the pup can still see and smell everybody and they don't feel forgotten in a back room. At night, if you want to you can move the crate into another room.

Make the crate a fun place for the pup to be. If you leave it in a family area during the day, leave the door open so your pup can explore it at their leisure. When you catch the pup in the crate, then praise her and give a treat. Or you can drop a treat in randomly throughout the day so when your pup explores it they find a surprise! This will make them regard the crate as a fun place that gives treats.

Train the pup to go into the crate also. My husband and I did this by throwing a treat to the back of the crate and when the pup went in to get they got praise and got to come back out. Eventually, we would close the door behind the pup. We'd leave the door closed for a little bit and then let them out giving them treats and praise. We'd gradually lengthen the amount of time we'd leave the door closed until the dogs were comfortable with any amount of time. Now, we don't even have to tell them to get into their kennels at night. I just have to walk to their bedroom and in they both go!

I think those are the points that seem the most important to me. I'm sure everyone else will have other things to suggest. Good luck!

When it comes to crate size it makes little sence to buy a crate the dog is going to out grow. Get a crate based on the antcipated size of the full grown dog and its sleeping style. Dogs that like to streach ou when sleeping need a larger crate than ones that curl up in a ball. I would recommend no less than 36" in length however larger bassets and ones that streach out require 42" or more. If the dog is still growing a large crate may not be much different than a house. Ie one corner is the bathroom the other for play and another for sleeping. You need to limit the area in side the crate. many manfuctures have insert panels for this purpose or you can simply use appropriately sized boxes to take up the excess space.

There is a big difference between crate training, and using a crate to help house train. But the first step of using a crate in house training is crate trainng, which is teaching/training the dog to love the create. Contrary to popular myth a dog does not inheirently love a crate and associate it as a den and a greate place to be. It must be tought by create an experience that the dog likes.

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how to crate train