Crate Training a Puppy: A Practical, Humane Guide That Actually Works
Crate training is one of the most misunderstood parts of raising a puppy. Not because crates are inherently good or bad, but because they’re often asked to do work they can’t do.
A crate does not teach calmness, impulse control, or independence. It limits opportunity when supervision isn’t possible, and when used correctly, it can become a predictable, comfortable resting place. When used incorrectly, it becomes associated with frustration, separation, and anxiety — and the crate gets blamed for problems it didn’t create.
This article explains what crate training actually does, what it does not do, how problems develop, and when continuing to use a crate helps versus when it actively makes things worse. The goal isn’t to convince you to crate train — it’s to help you understand when a crate supports learning, when it replaces it, and when it should be taken out of the equation entirely.
This article is written by a professional dog trainer with 35+ years of hands-on experience working with puppies and their owners, including cases involving crate resistance and separation-related anxiety.
What Crate Training Really Is (and Is Not)
If puppies arrived in their new homes already house trained and calm indoors, nobody would be talking about crate training.
Crates exist because puppies aren’t born knowing how to live in human homes. They limit opportunity. That’s all.
The mistake is assuming limitation teaches learning.
A puppy is learning 24 hours a day. A crate doesn’t teach a puppy how to settle. It doesn’t teach impulse control. You do that. A crate doesn’t teach independence. You do that. A crate, when used correctly, simply prevents mistakes during the times you can’t actively help your puppy learn.
A crate is like a baby’s crib, or playpen, or baby gates. You don’t need them. They just, when used correctly, make things a heck of a lot easier. Used briefly and deliberately, a crate can buy you time. Used as a system, it delays learning and creates resistance that later gets labeled as anxiety, stubbornness, or “crate aversion.”
Crate training isn’t a foundation. It’s a management tool — one that only works when it supports supervision and teaching, rather than replacing them.
Common Crate Training Mistakes
Most crate training problems don’t start with the crate. They start with what the crate is being asked to replace.
The most common mistake is using the crate instead of supervision, rather than as support for it. When a puppy is crated simply because watching them feels exhausting, learning stops. The puppy isn’t being taught how to behave in the home — they’re being removed from it. (See my free Puppy Training: A Practical Guide To Raising a Well Behaved Dog article)
Another mistake is assuming that time spent in the crate somehow carries training value. It doesn’t. Time in the crate only has value if it’s balanced by time spent learning outside of it. Without that balance, the crate becomes a holding pattern rather than a bridge to real-world behavior.
A third mistake is crating puppies when they’re already overstimulated or overtired. At that point, the crate doesn’t teach settling — it becomes the place where the puppy unloads the energy and frustration they were never helped to regulate.
Finally, many people mistake crying for manipulation, or treat it as something to be ignored across the board. Vocalization isn’t the issue. Context is. A puppy who is briefly protesting a change is different from a puppy who is overwhelmed, confused, or pushed past what they’re ready for. Treating all crate vocalization the same guarantees missed information.
Crates don’t fail dogs. Expectations fail dogs.
Choosing the Right Crate for a Puppy
The crate should be just large enough for the puppy to stand up, turn around, and lie down comfortably. Bigger is not better. Too much space gives a puppy room to pace, fidget, or disconnect from rest altogether. The crate isn’t meant to feel spacious — it’s meant to feel neutral.
Wire crates, plastic crates, and soft crates all work when the routine around them makes sense. None of them work when the puppy’s day is chaotic. No crate design compensates for inconsistent supervision or poor timing.
Dividers can be useful, not because they “teach” anything, but because they limit opportunity. As the puppy grows and earns more freedom through behavior, space can be adjusted. That progression should reflect learning, not age alone.
Where to Put the Crate in Your Home
Crate placement affects how quickly a puppy settles.
It’s common to think that a single crate is all that’s required, and that can be the case. However, I’ve found that temporarily having additional crates placed strategically can help acclimatize a puppy to being crated. These secondary crates don’t need to be permanent. They’re often easy to source through places like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist and can usually be sold later for about the same price.
A crate placed in isolation teaches separation, not calmness. A crate placed in the middle of constant activity teaches alertness, not rest. In both cases, the puppy stays engaged with the environment instead of disengaging from it.
The crate works best when it’s close enough that the puppy isn’t always separated from its owner, but far enough from over-stimulating activity that there’s nothing to monitor. The goal is to remove decision-making, not to create solitude.
At night, the crate is usually best placed near where people sleep. That isn’t about reassurance. It’s about practicality. Young puppies wake because they need to eliminate, not because they need attention. Proximity allows you to respond quickly and keep night outings brief and uneventful.
As puppies mature and settle more reliably, crate placement becomes less critical. Early on, it matters.
Night-Time Crate Training
In the earliest of days, night-time crate use is as much about bladder management, as it is sleep training.
Young puppies wake at night because their bodies require it and because sleeping through the night is a developmental process that hasn’t happened yet.
Expecting uninterrupted sleep before a puppy is physically capable of holding it sets everyone up for frustration. No amount of routine or “training” changes that biology.
Night routines should be predictable and uneventful. The last bathroom trip should be close to bedtime.
You definitely do not want to wait until a puppy wakes and vocalizes. In most cases, this will transfer to unrelated demand barking both at night and during the day. Instead, you want to set an alarm for about half way through the night (some puppies might need the night split into two alarms), and waken your puppy for the trip out. Be calm and efficient. Take the puppy out, allow them to eliminate, and return them to the crate without play, interaction, or stimulation.
Night-time outings are functional, not social. The goal is to meet a physical need while keeping arousal low.
As bladder capacity increases, sleep duration increases naturally. Puppies don’t learn to sleep through the night; they grow into it. Trying to force the process usually creates unnecessary conflict without speeding anything up.
What Should (and Shouldn’t) Be Inside the Crate
The purpose of the crate is rest, but it’s also something that will come in handy because you have to do something that will prevent you from safely supervising your puppy. That means that your puppy won’t necessarily be tired. In those cases, it’s a good idea to give something that will encourage constructive chewing as that often keeps a puppy busy long enough to finish a task. Often it can also help wind a puppy down. I usually have thosee sot of chew toys available for cycling. One out, the rest in the closet. That way there’s always something newish on deck if the pup is bored with the current toy.
Other than than, when your puppy’s nap/quiet time occurs there shouldn’t be any toys in the crate other than:
- Comfortable, washable bedding appropriate to the temperature
- Enough space to lie down and relax
When and How Often to Use the Crate
Early on, crates are most useful when a puppy lacks the skills to manage freedom safely. That’s normal. Puppies don’t come equipped with impulse control, environmental awareness, or an understanding of household rules. The crate helps limit opportunity during that stage.
Problems arise when crate use stays constant, but the time outside the crate isn’t being used to teach puppy-level life skills, or when the puppy isn’t being supervised and begins picking up bad habits.
A puppy that spends most of the day confined isn’t learning how to behave in the home. They’re learning how to tolerate confinement. Those are not the same thing. The goal should always be to transition from management to supervision, and from supervision to trust.
Crate time works best when it’s tied to clear reasons:
You cannot actively supervise
The puppy has recently eaten and, within twenty minutes, been given an opportunity to empty their bowels
The puppy has recently trained or played and is ready to settle
- The puppy has had legitimate exercise
The need for crate use should decrease as learning increases. However, when crate training is done correctly, that won’t always be obvious, because you’ll often see the puppy begin to retire voluntarily to the crate. When that happens, you’re doing something right.
Balancing Crate Time When You Leave the House
You’re going to have to leave the house. That’s a reality. However, puppies are a social species, and when separation isn’t handled correctly, the crate — which should bring comfort and be perceived as a sanctuary — can easily become associated with anxiety.
It isn’t really the crate, of course. But from the puppy’s perspective, if the only time they feel alone or anxious is when they’re in the crate, the crate becomes the enemy.
This is why it’s important that, in addition to the times you have no choice but to leave, you are also regularly:
Using the crate when you’re home and in sight
Using the crate when you’re home, in sight, but farther away
Using the crate when you’re home but out of sight
Puppies learn independence by gradually experiencing freedom they’re prepared for and succeeding in it. Long stretches of confinement don’t build confidence. They simply limit opportunity until the puppy has no choice but to endure it.
Before leaving a puppy crated, what matters most is what happens before and after the absence.
Before you leave, the puppy should have had an opportunity to:
Eat and later empty their bladder and bowels
Engage in legitimate mental and physical activity
Settle from that activity rather than being confined while still wound up
Ideally not be crated first thing in the morning before any meaningful activity
After you return, give the puppy time to see you settle your things first. Invite them out of the crate calmly, rather than allowing them to launch out in a burst of excitement. The crate door itself can help discourage that habit.
Early exposure to crate time when you’re away works best when absences are short, predictable, and gradually increased as the puppy demonstrates the ability to handle more freedom outside the crate. Duration should be guided by behavior, not the clock.
I also recommend recording your puppy at least once a week (more frequently in the beginning) — with audio or, ideally, video — to see how they actually respond to being alone. That feedback makes it much easier to adjust your approach before problems develop.
Crate Training and Puppy Anxiety: What’s Normal and What’s Not
What people often describe as “crate anxiety” is usually the result of how the crate has been used, not something inherent to the puppy or the crate itself.
From the puppy’s perspective, the crate takes on meaning based on what reliably happens around it. If the crate is where the puppy is repeatedly placed when supervision ends, when the owner leaves, or when the puppy feels uncertain or frustrated, the crate becomes associated with that experience. Over time, the puppy begins reacting to the crate itself, even though the crate isn’t the source of the problem.
This is why problems often show up later rather than immediately. Early on, a puppy may tolerate the crate. As repetitions accumulate, the association becomes clearer to the puppy, and resistance or vocalization begins. By the time most people recognize an issue, the learning has already occurred.
The mistake is trying to fix this by working inside the crate.
If the only time a puppy is crated is when the owner leaves, the crate becomes a predictor of separation. If the crate is used primarily to contain the puppy when supervision isn’t possible, without enough structured learning happening outside the crate, the crate ends up holding the consequences of missed teaching.
A crate will never create calmness in a puppy. Calmness has to exist first. A crate that has become a sanctuary or den can support calm behavior, but it takes careful, intentional exposure for the puppy to learn that association.
A crate can only limit what the puppy can do, not impact how it feels. Whether the puppy settles or struggles depends on:
What happens before the crate door closes
What happens after the door closes (does the door only close when you leave?)
How unnecessary restlessness is handled once the door is closed
This is why crate-related anxiety is best addressed by changing how the crate fits into the puppy’s day, not by adding techniques, distractions, or reassurance at crate time. When the crate is also used while the owner is home, when the puppy is prepared for confinement, and when time outside the crate is used intentionally, crate problems don’t develop. Once they do, it can be a real struggle to get things back on track—which is why getting it right from the start matters.
Crate issues are rarely the root problem. They’re feedback.
What to Do If a Puppy Is Already Anxious in the Crate
Indicators of extreme anxiety include:
- Non-stop vocalization
- Excessive salivation
- Crate soiling
- Inability to eat what would otherwise be considered a high-value reward
If anxiety has progressed to the extent any of the above are now the norm, the reality is that you may never succeed in turning your puppy’s crate into a sanctuary.
Three of the most common causes for this level of anxiety are:
- The breeder sold the puppy later than 7.5–8 weeks, leaving too little of the critical imprint period to introduce being alone at all, let alone being left alone in a crate
- The breeder failed to introduce crate time while the puppy was in their care
- The puppy was never truly comfortable being alone in the home before 12 weeks of age, the end of the imprint period
When anxiety reaches this level, the issue is no longer about crate training technique.
In some cases, people may find that instead of a crate, using alternatives such as a portable indoor dog pen or baby gates to confine an area is more tolerable for the puppy. However, this comes with real trade-offs, including the risk of backsliding on house training and the emergence of destructive chewing.
If those options aren’t workable, and things have progressed this far, it’s time to bring in someone with significant, real-world experience (see Questions to Ask Trainers Beforehand).
At that point, recommendations will often include some version of the following:
- Immediately ceasing all crating when the puppy is going to be alone
- Using short-term alternatives such as doggy day care, a pet sitter, or in-home supervision when the puppy would otherwise be left alone
- Establishing a baseline of behavior before introducing any anxiety-reduction strategies
- Carefully introducing anti-anxiety supports where appropriate, including increased physical outlets, over-the-counter options, or prescription medication
- Regularly reassessing that baseline to determine what is helping and what is not, understanding that progress can be incremental and that medication often requires adjustment or augmentation
At this stage, the goal is no longer convenience. It’s preventing further damage and creating the conditions where learning can resume.
No — no more than a crib, a playpen, or baby gates are when raising a human child. That said, most people would agree that when these tools are used correctly, they can make things a lot easier. The same is true of a crate.
A crate is a management tool used to limit opportunity when supervision isn’t possible. It can also become a comforting sanctuary when introduced and used correctly. However, it does not teach behavior, impulse control, or calmness on its own. Puppies learn those skills through supervision, structure, and timing outside the crate.
Not usually. Settling and calm behavior typically require a teacher–student interaction. That means the puppy’s owner has first ensured the puppy’s basic needs have been met — they’re not hungry, overfull, bursting with energy, or needing to go to the bathroom — and then actively interrupts unnecessary restlessness with calm, balanced guidance.
The crate can limit what a puppy can do, but it doesn’t replace that teaching process.
Not automatically. Occasional protest is normal; persistent distress is not. The response should depend on context, timing, and what the puppy is being asked to handle.
Genetics does play a role, and some puppies are more anxiety-prone than others. That said, genetics alone doesn’t entirely determine outcome. How early experiences are handled — particularly around separation, confinement, and rest — has a major influence on whether that sensitivity becomes a problem.
In some cases, a puppy may struggle even when their owner is in the same room at night. For others, placing the crate securely on a platform level with the bed — so the puppy can see their owner — can make a meaningful difference. The variable isn’t the crate itself, but what the situation represents to the puppy.
In general, some puppies will learn to settle without direct intervention. Others will require a teacher–student interaction. That means the owner has first ensured the puppy’s basic needs have been met — they’re not hungry, overly full, bursting with energy, or needing to go to the bathroom — and then calmly interrupts unnecessary restlessness at its earliest stages with balanced guidance.
Crate training supports regulation and structure, but it does not replace training, supervision, or appropriate outlets.
Indicators of more serious anxiety include:
•Non-stop vocalization
•Excessive salivation
•Crate soiling
•Inability to eat even high-value food
When these are present consistently, the issue is no longer about crate training technique and may not be recoverable through continued crate use.
Seek the assistance of a professional with significant, real-world experience.
When crate fear has developed, continuing to experiment with techniques often makes the problem worse, not better. At that stage, the issue is no longer about crate training itself, but about the puppy’s learning history, associations, and how anxiety has been rehearsed over time.
An experienced professional can help determine whether crate use should be paused entirely, how management should be adjusted in the short term, and what steps—if any—are appropriate to take next. This is especially important when fear is severe, persistent, or tied to early developmental factors.
At this point, the goal is no longer convenience. It’s preventing further damage and creating the conditions where learning can resume safely.
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Additional Resources
Crate Training a Puppy: How to Do It Right (and Avoid Mistakes)
Crate training a puppy works best when done correctly—and creates anxiety when it’s not. Learn how to use a crate humanely, avoid common mistakes, and build calm independence that lasts.
How to Potty Train a Puppy (What Actually Works and Why)
How to Potty Train a Puppy: A Practical, No-Nonsense Guide That Actually Works This guide is written by John “Ask The Dog Guy” Wade, a professional dog trainer with over 35 years of experience and more than 160 five-star reviews, who has helped thousands of puppy owners avoid the common pitfalls that turn normal development
Puppy Training: A Practical Guide to Raising a Well-Behaved Dog
Puppy training is the process of teaching a young dog how to live safely and calmly with humans—learning boundaries, impulse control, and real-world manners that hold up beyond treats and tricks. Good puppy training isn’t about perfection; it’s about preventing small problems from becoming lifelong habits. From first day home to real-world manners—by a professional
