Using Chews to Build Duration and Teaching TradePrior to this chapter, we have been teaching our puppies that:1.Running into crates is fun, and leads to meals.2.Going into crates often leads to treats and social interaction from us.Now we are going to teach our puppies that staying inside a crate means they will be getting special yummy pacifiers, and that even though the door is closed they can be confident in being released when they want out.That second part is really important.Nobody, human or canine, enjoys being locked inside anything and being unable to control if and when they are let out.Think how delightful a warm shower is after being outside in the cold. Now imagine that same shower, but someone forced you (or tricked you) into the shower and then locked the door behind you. Closing you inside. You don’t know if or when they are coming back; you get bored, the water grows cold, and you want out.What about an elevator? Can you imagine your distress if someone outside the elevator could push a button and prevent you from getting out? What if, when you went to the movies, you couldn’t leave the theater when you wanted? Imagine the click of the door locking behind you...Pretty soon you might begin to dislike showers, elevators, and going to the movies, simply because you lacked the freedom to leave and didn’t understand why.The very reason we will tolerate being locked in small spaces is because we, as humans, usually understand we will be released, and when we will be released. We enter elevators exactly because we know they will take us to the desired location and then open up to let us out.

This is information your puppy does not have.For our puppies to tolerate confinement calmly, we must first teach them to trust that, just like us, they can have some control over being let out, and that there is predictability around being locked in.At this point our puppies have been conditioned to love their crates, particularly because they were free to leave them. Just like us, our puppies are naturally gifted with instincts to avoid being trapped.So, as we start locking our puppies inside crates, the first lessons we will teach them are:1.That they are NOT trapped, or in any danger of being forgotten, locked inside this small cage.

2.That they can ask to be released and that request will be honored.3.That while they can ask out at any point, it might be more fun inside the crate.We will be spending this week carefully teaching our puppies not to fear being locked inside, to trust we will release them when they want out, and to teach them they have some control via their own ability to choose. Before we can build confidence with confinement (which is so much better than being resigned to confinement, or just giving up trying to get out) we need to ensure our puppy understand they are not actually in any danger. If we don’t bypass this survival instinct we will trigger fear and avoidance of the crate that will cause problems later. We will rely heavily on pacifiers to build duration in the crate. Further, we will try to manage our crate duration sessions to occur at such times that the puppies are exercised, fed, pottied, somewhat tired and so inclined to nap.Great big important concept!

For the behavior nerds among our students the idea that choice is a primary reinforcement (like food, rest, safety) isn’t a new one, but this might be a novel concept for those new to how behavior works. So, here is the mind bending reality, we can use freedom to choose as a reinforcement, specifically in our case, we can use freedom to choose to leave the crate to reinforce being inside the crate.

Boom! What this means is by harnessing the puppy’s ability to ask out of the crate, we can actually increase the puppy’s desire to stay inside the crate. Seems too good to be true? it’s not, and it works brilliantly. All we need to do is learn how to use choice as another type of reinforcement, like food, play, social interaction, rest, and safety.Once you understand that freedom to control what happens to you is extremely reinforcing (to every living thing) a whole new world of training opens up to you. General Guidelines for Duration Sessions:1.When a puppy is finished eating, chewing, or napping, and moves towards the crate door, let the puppy out of the crate for a potty break. When the puppies are older and you notice they don’t need to void after eating you can try offering a pacifier in the crate after a meal, without offering a potty break first. But always be ready to remove a puppy if you think it can’t settle because it needs to void.2.When placing a puppy back into a crate for a duration building session, always provide a pacifier that the puppy WILL chew on or engage with.3.The ONLY time puppies get chews, bones, and stuffables is when they are inside the crate.4.Puppies are not permitted to remove their pacifier from the crate.5.Puppies are let out the MOMENT they want out, ideally before they are fussing at the door. We do not want the puppy to regret going into the crate, or to feel distressed. At this point we want the puppy to trust us to let them out when they want out. Remember, before we can teach puppies it’s safe to be locked in, they need to learn they will be released.6.It is better to remove the puppy before it is done chewing, than to wait too long and have the puppy become distressed. If you are short of time, just let them chew a bit, and then remove them all, even the ones that would chew longer if given the chance.Setting Up a Duration Session:1.Choose 1 primary pacifier per puppy, and 2 “back up” pacifiers.2.Place one pacifier in each crate and close the door.3.Give the puppies a few moments to realize there are pacifiers inside the crate and wish they were inside the crate!4.Carefully open each crate and let a single puppy enter the crate.5.Observe each puppy for engagement with the chew, if the puppy does not find the chew appealing, offer one of your “back up” chews.6.Dim the lights, turn on your soothing music selection.7.Stay VERY close to the crate bank, I set up a chair nearby and work on my phone or tablet during chew times.Puppies chew, chew, chew...Ending a Duration Session: One at a time (preferred).1.Carefully observe your puppies, the moment a puppy moves toward the door indicating it wants out of the crate, approach the crate.2.Drop a few small treats or kibbles (I use kitten kibble, Pro Plan Toy Breed Puppy, or Cheerios) right inside the door. This reinforces standing and not clawing on the Crate door.3.Open the door and release the puppy (be sure to trade if the puppy is carrying it’s pacifier).4.Close the door, with the pacifier still Inside the crate.5.Repeat until all the puppies are out of their crates.6.Collect any remaining chews and store appropriately for next time.The reason we leave the pacifier inside the closed crate for a few minutes is to let the puppy realize that while they are OUTSIDE of the crate, their wonderful pacifier is INSIDE the crate. Bummer! Next week will will give the puppy a chance to “reconsider” leaving the crate, but for this week our goal is that the puppy can tolerate being locked inside the crate for a few moments while enjoying a chew, and learn that by moving to the crate door it can ask us to release it (and that we WILL release it).Ending a Duration Session: All puppies at the same time.1.Go crate to crate, and trade each puppy treats for it’s pacifier.2.Put all pacifiers away, do not leave any inside crates.Teaching The Trade:Occasionally, we want to remove the puppy from the crate before the puppy is finished chewing or is ready to drop it’s pacifier.If you have been working on your Puppy Culture Resource Guarding Prevention protocols this should be fairly easy. But in every case, if the puppy is chewing on it’s pacifier when we have decided to remove them from the crate, or if the puppy attempts to carry the chew out of the crate we will use a trade.Trades are simple: keep a container of high value treats near your crate bank (I use shelf stable soft cat treats, and canned cheese for this).Open the crate door, and in a cheery voice tell your puppy “trade” and:1.Quickly take the pacifier from the puppy.2.Gently shove treats into it’s mouth.3.If the puppy drops the pacifier and looks up at you, click (I use a tongue click) and while removing the dropped pacifier with one hand, feed the puppy the treat with the other hand.Usually, within a few days, the puppies will drop the pacifier when they hear you say “trade” and you can click that moment, and feed the treat while removing the pacifier.Be sure to share how to continue trades with each puppy’s new owner! They will find this training very useful.

Caution: A few words about resource guarding. We have to remember that guarding instincts are normal and may pop up when we are in situations where we are taking things away from puppies. We don’t want to make a problem where none existed before, and we also don’t want to over react to young puppies showing natural behaviors (even ones we don’t want in the adult dog). There is a complete protocol for preventing resource guarding in the puppy raising protocol Puppy Culture: The powerful first 12 weeks, and I can’t recommend it strongly enough For our purposes in this course we are going to assume these are young puppies, under 12 weeks at the oldest, who are not showing any serious resource guarding. If your puppy(s) are seriously biting you when you take things from them contact your instructor for a private consultation because that falls outside of the scope of this course. For this course we hope you have been using the Puppy Culture resource guarding prevention protocol since your puppies were a month or so old, and you are ready to use Trades now in your crate work.

If not, you can use the Trading Up protocol here as long as you are not having any guarding problems. Be sure you are well prepared with an offering item that is Much Better than what the puppy has.

Building Voluntary Duration In The Crate (core)