Pro Select Empire Cages

29 17:28:14

Crate training a dog is a good way to give your dog his own special space and to keep the rest of your house safe too!

There are many different opinions on crate training, but as someone who has had dogs for a long time, I personally can tell you it was the best thing we did.

It all depends on the breed and personality of your dog too, but I found from personal experience, that if you crate train a dog from the beginning, he will not look at it as a cage, but rather his home where he can feel safe.

ProSelect Empire Cages - Medium
Amazon Price: $399.99 $339.99 Buy Now
(price as of Feb 22, 2014)

The Crate Needs to Match the Dog

If you have a 6 pound dog then he is not going to need extra strength welds or hard to get out doors unless he is mighty mouse, so you purchase a cage to match him! But if you have an 85 pound dog like I did, that simply decided it was time to come out and play on his own, then you need a heavy duty crate.

The Pro Select Empire cages are the perfect line for anyone with a larger or more aggressive dog. When crate training your dog in the beginning you need to know that the cage will hold your dog.

The mistake I first made was purchasing the cheapest wire cage I could find, and then expecting her to stay in it!

She simply put her weight into the door and it burst open. So, you need to get a good heavy duty cage or crate with good welds at the joints and the door. You also need to get one big enough to house her or him without being too tight. They need to be able to lay down comfortably

ProSelect Empire Cages - Medium
Amazon Price: $399.99 $339.99 Buy Now
(price as of Feb 22, 2014)

1. Tips for Using a Dog Cage or Crate

Once you have a good cage, then you can train them. What I did was feed my dogs in their crate, so that they knew this was a nice place to be where no one would take their food. I would leave the door open and call them for dinner (We had two dogs at the time so two crates).

They also had their beds in the dog cage and they slept in there at night. My dogs were beautiful companions but they were destructive to the house if left to roam on their own. So, at night they slept in their “homes” as we called them, and if we went out, we would simply ask them to go in their homes and they would. We kept them in a quiet room just for them.

2. Get a Good Quality Cage or Crate That Matches Your Dog such as the Pro Select Empire

No sense doing what I did, if you have a big dog. Don’t buy the cheapest thing around and assume they will not get out. We came home to a destroyed collection of VHS tapes once they got out and decided to have fun! (still not sure why they picked those to play with)

If you are just starting out with a crate, let them get used to it. Leave it open and put a few of their favourite chew toys in it, and feed them in there, and then little by little close the door and go out for an hour or two then come back and let them out and give them a small treat.

After a while they will get used to the idea that when you go out they go in their homes but they will also realize that when you come home they get to come out.

Don’t start out by leaving them in there for hours at a time, as they will grow anxious, you have to start with smaller periods of time, even if this means getting someone to let them out during the day if you can’t be there.

Dogs will not usually do their business where they sleep so if you have a young puppy and you are away at work all day you need someone to come in and let them out to their pee area or outside, you don’t want them to fear the crate.

3. Make sure and Give them Lots of Exercise

This is not simply a place to put your dog and forget about him. Crates are good training tools, and gives them a place they feel safe and comfortable (as long as it is not used as punishment) but they still need time with you, and to burn off energy.

If you have left them crated for quite a few hours while out and about, then you need to let them out and go for a great walk or run in the dog park, so that this crate is not a prison. It is simply a tool designed to help control your dog’s environment while in your home.

4. Crates are Perfect for When You Have Company

If you have a larger or more aggressive dog that you are concerned about when you have company, then getting them crate trained is a much better option than simply locking them in a room where they will try and destroy the door or room out of anxiety and fear.

5. Veterinary Hospital Stay

If your dog is not used to being confined then they will panic. It is a good idea to train them to use a cage since there are many things that can happen in life, and one of them is a Veterinary hospital stay. My dog was so used to a crate that she did not give them any problems when she had to have some treatment and stay overnight. She did not need sedation as many other dogs did as she was used to a cage.

So, if you have a 40 pound active dog or larger, then consider investing in a good quality well built crate by Pro Select Empire, they create cages that are comfortable, on lockable wheels and you can feel confident that it will contain your dog and keep the rest of your house safe!