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According to average situations, a new puppy at home isn’t allowed to sleep inside the dog crate having the door open. Only emotionally mature and fully crate-trained puppies are allowed to sleep in the crate with the door open. There are some potential risks if you allow a new puppy to sleep in the crate with its door open. A fully crate-trained, potty trained and house-trained dog is fully aware of what activities are hazardous for the house. Such a type of mature dog is allowed to sleep in the crate with its door open at night.
Common Concerns and Misconceptions about Dogs Sleeping in Open Crates
While crate training is known as a good practice for dogs as well as pups, there are still some misconceptions and concerns regarding the issue of having the crate door open during sleeping hours. Some owners are concerned about the comfort suspect if the door is over. Well, whether the crate door is open or shut, it doesn’t matter much to the dogs. Dogs consider their crates as the safest place to sleep, stretch and relax. A dog becomes fully crate trained by 7 or 8 months. And after that, he finds his crate as the world’s most unassailable and protected location. So, opening or closing the crate door doesn’t make any difference to his comfort level. Again, many dog owners have misconceptions regarding their pup’s safety. But when a pup starts considering his crate as the most secure place, keeping the door open doesn’t make any difference.
Advantages of Leaving the Crate Door Open
There are a few advantages of keeping the door of a dog crate open once your pup becomes a mature crate-trained dog. A few of such advantages are as follows:
- Leaving the crate door open to let your dog sleep in strengthens his freedom of motion. This freedom of moving a little around helps him stretch easily and adapt to the surroundings.
- Keeping the crate door open reduces stress in your fur baby. If he wishes, he can move around in the surroundings to reduce his stress to some extent. It also provides him with some reassurance from the confinement.
- Opening the crate door might also help your dog adapt to crate training at night.
- Keeping the crate door open also helps your dog to adjust to the surrounding. If the crate door remains open, he will be aware that the outer world is beyond his personal territory. Thus, this habit will teach him to adapt to new environments.
- The habit of opening the crate of your dog facilitates in house training. If you keep the door open, your furry kid will be able to come out of the crate at any time. This will teach him to be civilized once he comes out of the crate and will contribute to house training.
Overcoming Separation Anxiety: Using Open Crate Sleeping as a Tool
Open dog crate training is one of the best ways to help your pup to overcome separation anxiety. A crate-trained dog considers his crate as the safest place in the world. By keeping the door open, he learns to adapt to the internal environment of the house. This activity contributes to your dog’s house training. House training teaches a dog to remain calm and civilized inside the house. If the door of the crate remains open, your fur baby gets a sense of happiness, safety and secured territory. This sense prevents separation anxiety in dogs. So even if you are not at home, your dog will abstain from chewing sofas, scratching walls, and more. So, it’s indeed true that crate training your fur baby will help him to deal with separation anxiety to a great extent.
Assuring the Security and safety of Your Dog When Sleeping in an Open Crate
Ensuring security and a sense of safety for your dog while sleeping inside his open dog crate is essential. In such a case, the first measure is to place the dog crate in a safe place. You need to place the dog crate in a very safe place where there are no sharp points or edges. Then you need to look for electricity security hazards. If you find any loose wire connection or any wire which is not earthen, then you need to get the problem resolved as soon as possible. To ensure more comfort for your furry buddy, you can also add temperature and ventilation facilities. Additionally, you can also add safe bedding materials inside the crate, like easy-to-clean, minimal loose threads, non-toxic ingredients, etc.
How Can I Familiarize And Train My Fur Baby To Sleep In Crate With Its Door Open?
Training a dog to sleep in his crate and having the door open is not a difficult task for crate-trained and house-trained fur babies. All you are dedicated to accomplish is open the door of his crate. Crate training your puppy at night is the foremost task that you must accomplish. After this training is done, he will start considering his crate as the most secure place in the world. So, if you open the crate door, it won’t cause any new contrast for him. After that, you need to increase your dog’s spending time inside the dog crate with its door open. If he becomes successful in adapting to the new changes, reward him with treats and positive applauses.
Wrapping It Up
Crate training your fur baby with its door open isn’t a hard task for the already trained ones. There’s nothing more to do with this. You need to ensure that your dog is safe, happy and secured in his crate. And he will gradually adapt to the crate when the door is open. Just appreciate with applause and treats whenever he shows signs of accepting your commands. And thus, your matured fur baby is ready to stay inside his crate even with the doors open.
