Confinement - Should You or Shouldn't You?

Should you or shouldn't you confine your dog at times?

Yes, you should. All urban dogs must learn how to cope with some type of confinement. Whether you are training a puppy, traveling with an adult dog, or dealing with management-based behavior issues, the proper type of confinement is often critical for your dog’s success.

CONFINING IN PUPPYHOOD: Teaching your puppy to relax in his or her ‘bedroom,’ or crate, is one of the best ways to prepare your puppy for a lifetime of involvement with the family. It’s the easiest way to housetrain, and get your puppy ready for traveling. Puppies should learn to settle in their crates both when you are home and when you are not home, yet no puppy should be left in a crate for longer than 3 hours at a time. It may be may be tempting to raise a puppy loose in the kitchen instead, however giving your dog unsupervised freedom in the primary food preparation area can lead to annoying habits such as counter surfing and begging. Alternating exercise pen and crate use with supervised free time is almost always the best solution.

CONFINING IN THE CAR: Some of our most difficult territorial aggression cases can be traced back to unsupervised freedom inside a car. Barking at people (or motorcycles, bikes, etc.) as they pass by is a self rewarding behavior, and tends to get worse as a dog matures. The dog barks alarmingly at an approaching ‘intruder’, who eventually passes by…the dog may believe that his or her barking scared the intruder away, when in fact the person or biker was moving past anyway. Bingo, now the dog has a job, and one that tends to get worse and more aggressive over time. Riding in a crate, which promotes relaxation and a ‘down’ position, helps dogs to ignore most of what is going on outside the car, and concentrate on relaxing inside the car. Using doggie seatbelts and crates in the car, at least until your dog is two years old, helps avoid many territorial issues.

CONFINING TO LOW SURFACES: At Riverdog, we are not fans of the common misconception that any dog on the couch is an unruly dog. Many very well behaved dogs sleep on couches and furniture. Having said that, however, we do believe that if you are having any aggression problems, biting, marking of territory, or other leadership-based issues, the first thing we usually suggest is to take away all privileges on elevated surfaces. This is because dogs who come to believe that they are ‘in charge’ typically come to that conclusion partly based on their free access to highly desired areas. Keeping your dog confined to the floor, and off of places that are usually reserved for leaders (like the bed and the couch), is a start in re-setting leadership rules in your house.

CONFINING AROUND GUESTS. This concept may seem strange…shouldn’t all puppies want to race to the door to greet guests? Sure, but even the sweetest young puppy will grow up. Having your full grown beagle baying at every door-bell, or your 90-lb labrador jumping up on Grandma gets annoying and dangerous, not to mention the aggression that often arises from situations like these.

A better strategy, while your dog is new or young, is to have a house leash on and teach your dog to go to a rug away from the door, and wait politely for you to greet your guests. It can be done! Instead of giving him or her leadership and dominion over who should come in and who shouldn’t, you have confined your dog’s role to one of acceptance, not decision-making. This is especially important if you own a guarding breed. Once the guests are greeted and settled, and your dog is relaxed or even disinterested in your guests, then he or she can be given supervised access to them.

Confinement in itself is not productive unless there is a specific training goal in mind. Confinement to the backyard, or in a crate for eight hours while you are at work is neither ideal or productive. Dogs subject to these conditions long for attention, companionship, and a job, and often develop aggressive or nervous behaviors due to anxiety.

On the other hand, proper use of confinement, balanced with loving, training, exercise, and good nutrition is always a good thing.