Kennel Magic

00:00 — Kati Peppe introduces crate-related guilt as the episode’s central topic.

Welcome to Off Leash and Unfiltered. Trigger warning. I'm Kati Peppe, delivering the truth in dog training.

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Off Leash and Unfiltered. I'm Kati Peppe, owner of Diamond K9 Dog Training in Southern Maine. And are you one of those people that feels kind of guilty putting your dog in the crate <laugh>, or maybe you don't put your dog in the crate, um, because you feel guilty? Well, listen up. This episode is for you. So, and even if you don't have that problem, let's say you kennel your dog whenever you leave the house, maybe even, you know, overnight, um, or other times, um, but you know, it's not like your favorite thing to do and maybe you actually don't realize all the benefits of what you're doing.

So maybe you're just interested in hearing like what some of the unintended positive consequences of this are. Uh, I'd love to talk about that a little bit today, uh, because I think this is a really, really big staple of my programs and I really believe that a good percentage of my success is due to having the dog crated when they're with me.

Um, so of course there's <laugh>, there's dog training happening, there's lots of that. But you know, I talked a little bit in one of my recent episodes about sort of the difference between the obedience aspect and the behavioral aspect of dog training. And of course there's some overlap, but uh, they're not the same thing. And, you know, in addition to teaching your dog commands, which is great and fun and all that, and, and you can do it with food, you need to teach them just how to behave and how to cope and all these things that you can't really do just by teaching your dog commands.

Now by holding your dog accountable for the commands and lever, leveraging them in the correct manner, you can definitely accomplish some of that. Um, but that's not what this episode is about. This episode is gonna be more about the passive aspect, uh, the passive type training you can do that affects state of mind and might be helping your dog in ways that you didn't even know you were helping your dog.

Or, you know, if you're one of those that don't crate or don't crate enough, maybe you're missing out on all of these benefits, um, because you just don't like to put your dog in the kennel. So, so here they are. Let's talk about it. And, you know, this is, I was inspired to do this one because I had a client, uh, yesterday doing their second private session, uh, in a program of four sessions. This was session number two. So we had only met once before and we covered some very basic stuff that they were supposed to go home and get started on.

Um, and they really didn't <laugh>. So, you know, and occasionally we, we have those people that just don't, they don't do their homework. Uh, I don't think it was an off week or anything. I think this is just who they are. But at any rate, that's neither here nor there.

Um, I, you know, I, I do a pretty good job at being really open and honest and transparent with people and talking about what the program is, what it looks like, and, uh, you know, 'cause I don't want anyone signing up who doesn't know what it is. I don't want any surprises. Um, and I want them to be successful. That's so important to me. I hate when people get through the program and they don't accomplish their goals. Um, and, and that's pretty rare. Um, and it, it's even more rare that people don't make at least some forward progress.

04:00 — Kati argues that selectively following her training program undermines results.

You know, I think I can think of maybe two <laugh> customers in my entire career that just didn't really make any forward progress and they were pretty extreme cases. Um, but at any rate, I feel like these people are kind of people that slip through the cracks.

Um, I really don't think they're the best candidates to be here. Um, and they knew what the program was. Like I said, I'm, I'm very open about that. And it's not that they're not on board with most of it. Um, I think that they are, um, but they're just not implementing it. Uh, they, I think they sort of thought they could manipulate the system and sort of take the meat and leave the potatoes and do what they thought was important. And that's just not how it works. So <laugh>, I have a recipe, uh, and it works because it's the recipe and if you change it then it doesn't work.

Uh, and of course this is gonna be highly, highly unique in some senses depending on the specific dog and the specific humans. Um, but obviously I'm evaluating all that in these sessions and, and I can tell people like, these are the things you should do that I think would be valuable for you and help you reach your goals based on what I see from both you and your dog.

So at any rate, this is an older couple and uh, they have a small dog who's just completely out of his mind barking constantly. And part of the protocols as it is for most people, um, is to kennel the dog. You know, definitely when they're not home, because the dog's a barker and that's their biggest thing they want 'em to go after. So you can't have your dog outside of the kennel doing circles around the house, yipping out the windows. That is not gonna help you reach your goals, <laugh>. Uh, and I also recommend crating the dog at night.

Now, maybe not forever. I'm not one of those people that say, ah, you should never have your dog on the furniture or sleep in the bed with you. I don't care. I just, I want them to reach their goals. And these are things that are gonna benefit them right now.

Um, so, you know, kennel the dog for a little bit at night and when you're gone at a minimum, uh, and you know, they said they would, but then inevitably they didn't. And, uh, the guy <laugh>, the older gentleman, uh, in the session last night said that he doesn't believe in crating animals, which is sounds very nice. I'm not sure what that means. Um, I don't know if he doesn't believe in it, like he doesn't believe in Santa Claus. And the truth is, I just don't care. Like, it doesn't, just doesn't matter. I, you know, what you believe in, this is the program and this is what works <laugh>.

So, uh, I told him he was in the wrong place then. So like I said, this is the recipe, you know, you bought it because you want the success that it can yield and then people don't do it, which is amazing.

07:00 — Kati frames resistance to crating as a perspective problem when owners view the kennel…

But, so this, that just kind of inspired me to talk about the kennel a little bit. 'Cause I think this is a pretty common problem, a common philosophy. I think a lot of people probably don't sign up for the program because of this one stupid thing. Um, and I just think like a lot of things, it's a perspective shift. I, so if you're gonna view the crate as bad or as a punishment, then of course you're not gonna wanna put your dog in there. Nobody would. But the truth is, most dogs really like their kennel once they get used to it.

And once they start associating it with being relaxed, they really enjoy it. Um, and whether they do or not. I mean, sometimes it's just the safest place for them. So you can't discount that either. That's obviously important, but you know, your dog has to be put into the crate and required to be calm in order for them to figure out that that's actually pretty nice, right?

So if you never require that, if you never get them to the point where you can get them to do that, then they never get to experience it. So you don't really have a fair assessment on how much they do or don't like the kennel because you never really made them try it. <laugh> So, so there's that. Uh, and that can be done even if your dog puts on the brakes full force and goes in and is very vocal, like you can absolutely shut that down, um, and squash that. And then with a little bit of time your dog sees, hey, you know what, this is actually pretty good, but I'm not gonna get into those specifics today, maybe on another episode.

Um, that's a little more, uh, in-depth than we're gonna go with this. I just wanted to talk about some of the state-of-mind benefits of doing just that.

So here's the thing. People put their dogs in kennels, generally speaking, to keep them safe or to keep their house safe, their property safe from the dog <laugh>, right? Or, you know, if they have an aggressive dog to keep other people safe from the dog. And those are all fine reasons to use your kennel, recommend, thumbs up. Um, but that's not all the kennel's for. So sure, if you have a puppy and, and you think they're gonna pee in the house, um, or if you have a dog that doesn't like people and you have visitors over, then yes, kennel's great for that.

But guys, it does so much more than that because just like people use the crate for those reasons, you get the flip side of the coin too, where people will say, well, I don't have any of that stuff so I don't need to use the crate.

Ho ho ho, I beg to differ. So even if your dog is great in the house, doesn't destroy things, doesn't potty in the house, um, doesn't have any aggression issues, you know, all these things, doesn't get into things, doesn't chew things, that doesn't mean you don't need a crate. That doesn't mean the crate won't benefit your dog, guys. It doesn't. So here's what, what else you get out of the crate on top of obviously physical safety for the dog, for potentially other guests or for your house: you get to teach your dog calmness, confidence, right?

For dogs that like to be stuck right to you. Velcro dogs, dogs with separation issues,

Coping skills. So again, dogs that like to be stuck right to you, follow you to the bathroom or you know, dogs that see things going on and they always have to go inject themselves in it. So, you know, I saw a Facebook post yesterday about horses, horse training really, and just, you know, horses that can't tolerate being inconvenienced. And actually, I think it was on a dog trainer's page and it was an interesting read and it was a hundred percent spot on. And that's really what it boils down to, right? And with horses it's even more important because they're so big and that they can be so dangerous.

11:00 — Kati emphasizes teaching dogs to tolerate inconvenience rather than becoming frustrated whenever they cannot…

Um, and dogs can be dangerous too, but obviously <laugh> a horse is gonna hurt you even by accident if they're not well behaved. Um, but animals need to learn to tolerate being inconvenienced. And I actually use that precise phrase with the customers last night that I was telling you about, is if your dog doesn't know how to cope with being inconvenienced, then you have a spoiled dog and they're going to be frustrated and upset a lot of the time, because guess what? That's life. We all get inconvenienced sometimes. So it's not about being militant, which a lot of people like to assign.

To me, it's not about that. It's not about, you know, beating the dog into submission or being controlling or bullying or, you know, it's none of that. Guys, we have this huge problem now with just structure and rules and, and I don't get it <laugh>, to be honest. I guess that's just the direction our society is taking. But teaching your dog how to be inconvenienced and just be okay with that is fricking huge.

So huge. So that's gonna benefit them so much in so many contexts, and it's gonna benefit you because you're not gonna have to deal with meltdowns so much anymore, right? You're not gonna have to deal with your dog being pushy or being frustrated or being vocal in situations where they were in the past because they learn how to deal. I can't express how important that is. So it does that, right? So if you can put your dog into the kennel whether they want to go or not, and you can require maybe that they lay down, but at the very least that they're quiet.

And there are ways to do that. If your dog is vocal, right? You can bonk the crate if they're vocal. You can use an e-collar tap if they're vocal, right? Again, I'm not gonna go into detail with all of that, but you do have to require that they're quiet in there. And so then they start building these coping skills where they learn how to control their own state of mind, where they learn how to self-soothe, where they learn to be, to just be okay and be patient. And it's so fantastic. It benefits them so much.

So for a little bit of frustration upfront in the kennel, you can give your dog a lifetime of being more comfortable mentally. 'Cause this is gonna bleed into so many areas of their life, right? And then the dogs that are always sticking to their owners. And so I had one really severe case of separation anxiety where, uh, these people couldn't even take a shower.

So let's say one of them was at work and the other one's home with the dog, right? They couldn't go take a shower, couldn't do it. The dog would run around the house, rip things off the table, break things. Uh, if you put him in the kennel, he would hurt himself trying to get out of the kennel, uh, poop everywhere, just complete meltdown. So that was a really severe, severe case of separation anxiety. Um, and I, I took the dog and I only had him for a couple of weeks, and he was doing fantastic at my house when he left. Only two weeks, which is not expected, by the way.

That's a dog I should have had for longer. Um, but I did the best I could with the two weeks, and he was doing phenomenal. Now, when he went home, they still struggled a little bit at first, but then they got more traction and for a little while, um, they could go out of his sight, they could go upstairs, they could shower, but they still couldn't leave the house.

15:00 — Kati reports that a dog with severe separation anxiety eventually tolerated its owners leaving…

And now I believe they can put him in there and they can leave and come back. Um, that's what the, the most recent update, um, stated. They could do, they could leave, uh, for the afternoon, come back and, and he was, he was doing all right. So that's amazing stuff, okay? But without the kennel, there's just no way that would happen. There's no way. So, you know, just putting your dog in the kennel and like leaving the room, going out of sight or just doing things that the dog wants to be involved in, like your dog needs to learn how to tolerate that stuff.

Uh, and I highly recommend, like even if you're someone that works from home or you're able to take your dog to work with you, don't spend 100% of your time with your dog. That's so bad for your dog, guys. Like your dog has to learn how to be alone. And I mean, even if they don't have to, like what happens if something goes wrong? What happens if you get sick and you're put in the hospital, or, um, you have to go somewhere, there's an emergency, like, I don't know, but just your dog should already know how to be alone.

So if you don't have any obligations where you know it requires your dog to be alone, then just leave them alone for kicks sometimes, okay? At least a couple times a week, put your dog in the kennel and just go somewhere, right? And at first it might just be you put him in the kennel and you go out in the yard so you can kinda listen and make sure he is doing all right, right?

Because you don't know necessarily what's happening unless you have a camera or something. But from, from a young, young age, you want your dog to just be used to, this is a thing that happens. I leave the house sometimes, but so with your dog having to go into the kennel and having to just be calm, they learn how to shut things off, right? So a lot of dogs have that: gotta stay busy, gotta stay busy, gotta stay busy. And so what do we do? We put them in the kennel, we give them stuff to stay busy.

Don't do that. Do not fall into that trap. That defeats the purpose. Now, once again, everyone's gonna take this the most negative possible way. I'm not saying that you cannot give your dog bones or chews or toys, I'm just saying for this thing that we're talking about, that defeats the purpose.

Your dog needs to learn how to just calm. And if you give them a bone, if you give them a chew, if you give them a toy, that's fine. Those are treats, that's fine. But they're not learning how to be calm. They're still practicing staying busy, right? So especially if you have a dog, uh, that is, you know, just tends to be in a more frantic state of mind, they have to stay busy, they're always getting into things. Uh, they have a hard time kinda shutting things off. This is especially for you. It's like, put your dog in the kennel.

Maybe you're home. It doesn't matter. Put your dog in the kennel for an hour or two. No bones, no chew, no toys. Just put your dog in there to lay down and take a nap. What is so wrong with that? Why do we have such a hard time with this? It is so good for your dog. No, they don't have to be in there all the time. How much they should be in there depends on the dog and your lifestyle and your goals. It's gonna be different for everybody.

But if your dog can't go in there and tolerate, can't go in there willingly and tolerate being in there with nothing to do for a little bit, then that's a huge red flag. You've got a problem. Your dog mentally is struggling. So teaching your dog those coping skills, that's not a punishment, guys. That's a gift, right? And then once they're in there, they're calm, they've spent some time in there, of course, take 'em out and do whatever you want. Go, go outside, go for a walk, throw the ball around. For some reason, people envision, when we talk about doing this hard stuff, they envision that, like, their whole life is just gonna be hard stuff.

Everything's gonna be hard stuff. And it's like, for some dogs that might be the case, but not most. It's about balance, and it's about, you know, having rules and sticking to them and doing what's best for your dog, even if it doesn't feel the best to us, even if it doesn't give us the warm fuzzies.

But it should, it should give you the warm fuzzies. And I think over time as you do this and you actually see the benefits of it, it will. So, like, I feel good now putting dogs in their kennel and helping them calm down. So I had a dog come in for a board-and-train last night, and uh, his owner just texted me this morning to see how he did last night, which, you know, most of them do. Uh, and I told her, you know, he was a little vocal at first, but just a couple taps on his e-collar, because I always put e-collars on dogs.

Now when they first come in, um, just in case they're vocal in the kennel because so many of them are. And he was a little bit, and just a couple taps, and he settled right down and he slept through the night.

And I feel great about that, right? And so now he's here with me and we're gonna do some work this afternoon and get him started. But when we, he's in a kennel right now as I record this episode, and I don't feel bad about it. He's taking a nap. He's gonna come back out in a minute, we're gonna do some work. And then tonight when we go home and I put him back into his kennel, I feel good. He's in his space, he's gonna have his dinner, and then he can just lay down. He can chill out and relax and unwind from a long day of learning.

21:00 — Kati distinguishes household wandering from deliberate exercise such as walks, fetch, or swimming.

And there's nothing wrong with that. So I think too, a lot of people feel like their dog is cooped up, but the truth is, unless your dog is actively doing something with you, like, they should mostly be laying down anyway.

Like, we don't really think about that. But that's the truth. So like if, if you're considering your dog doing laps around your living room and kitchen, if you consider that their exercise, like, that's the thing you need to feel bad about, not the kennel, okay? Because that's not exercise. Like, take your dog out for a walk, take your dog out to chase the ball. That's exercise. Take your dog swimming, right? Just wandering around your house. That's not an exercise. Like, when your dog's in the house with you, they should mostly just be laying down anyway.

I'm not saying that's a hard and fast rule. Like, you should never let your dog walk around. I'm just saying, you know, if you have a dog that's in a good state of mind, most of the time that's what they're gonna choose to do. They're gonna be laying down somewhere, so why not do it in a kennel, right?

Uh, and if your dog's not a big chewer and that sort of thing, then you can make the the kennel comfy with blankets and stuff. There's nothing wrong with that. Um, as long as they don't eat them, lots of dogs do. So you gotta be safe. But, uh, it's about calmness. So don't keep your dog super busy and don't feel bad putting them in there because they're learning how to feel better. Like, that's literally what you're teaching your dog is how to feel better, right? If they're anxious, they learn how to feel calmer. If they're like to be attached to, they're learning how to feel more confident being on their own or being alone, right?

Uh, if they stay busy because they're frantic, they're just learning how to shut things off. If they have FOMO, right? And they just wanna be out looking, trying to get into something or seeing who's walking by the window, they're learning how to not care. They're learning how to just be cool, be inconvenienced. Just how to accept the things that you've asked them to do and even to come to enjoy it. This is a gift for your dog. This is not a punishment, right? And it's not like they have to be in there all the time.

Um, but if you're not using the kennel, you're missing out on all those amazing, amazing benefits. So I highly encourage you to use it more. So my clients, again, it's highly individual, but I usually recommend in the beginning that you use your kennel overnight when you're sleeping, when you leave the house and the dog's alone. And at least sometimes when you are home and awake, right? So that might be a few hours, or it might just be a half an hour, but chunks of time, at least here and there where you're home, you're awake. And just make sure your dog is okay with being in there and being calm and not being able to follow you, not being able to inject themselves into what you're doing.

All these things.

Teach your dog how to just shut things off and be cool. Great gift that you can give your dog, guys. All right? I hope you take this advice and start using your kennel a little bit more. It goes a very, very long ways. And one of the things that I didn't mention too, that I'd like to just add before we wrap it up is, uh, especially if you're deciding that you wanna really sink your teeth into some training with your dog, uh, and you're gonna take them through, you know, obedience training, maybe you're doing e-collar training, any of that, um, when you're not working with your dog or doing something with your dog, have them in the kennel.

Yes, it's a lot, but it's not forever, right? They still get their exercise, they still get their attention, they still get all their needs met, but they're just not roaming around the house.

25:00 — Kati argues that crating between activities strengthens owner relevance, with crate use gradually reduced…

You guys, this is huge, okay? Especially, and if you have a pushy dog too, taking away some of that autonomy and saying, "Hey, actually I'm gonna be the one that controls space and, uh, sets boundaries and tells you where to go and what to be doing," that's huge. If you have a pushy, pushy dog, right? And a lot of people do <laugh>, a lot of people do. So again, maybe not forever, but at least for now, and while you're training with your dog, you become the center of their universe if you do this right, because every day that your dog is outta the crate just roaming around looking for things to get into and doing their own thing, you remain the background.

That's what you are, you are the background, okay? But if you are kenneling your dog in between all of your sessions and your walks and everything, then when you take the dog out of the kennel, every time the dog comes out of the kennel, they're with you.

They're taking direction from you, they're doing something fun with you. Guess what? You become the center of the world. You become so much more relevant and so much more important, and then you can gradually fade the kennel over time. So, but again, people don't like to do that, right? They wanna rush right to all the fun stuff and the good stuff. And that's why so many people don't get results though, right? So nothing's free. You have to work for it. So the kennel will help you with your training. It will help you become more relevant.

It will help your dog become calmer, more polite, have better coping skills, and be more comfortable over overall. So get after it, guys, put your dogs in the kennels. I hope you enjoyed today's episode, and I look forward to the next one.