Review: Same information is free on the web.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 31, 2014
There is nothing wrong with this short book. It covers the basic information about how and why to crate train a dog, but I found the same information free on the web when I started crate training our dogs when they were puppies.One thing I disagreed with the book about was the size of crate to start a puppy in. The book says to get one big enough the puppy will still fit in as it grows. The crate has to be small enough so the puppy feels like it is his den in order for him not to go to the bathroom in the crate. A friend had a White Highland Terrier and bought a huge crate about 4  foot square so the puppy would have room to run around in. The puppy would soil the crate then run around in it getting his feet and body really messy. She complained about needing to give him a bath every day. About a year later we babysat the dog and he loved his crate. He no longer soiled it and didn't even bark once he was in it at bedtime. I think it would have been worth the money to buy a smaller crate for the puppy then get a bigger one as the dog grew.With out puppies we used a hex pen which is a six sided metal mesh pen that can be clipped together to make a hexagonal pen or folded up when not in use. We kept the puppies in the pen and each had their own crate inside the pen to sleep in (we took the doors off). When they got old enough not to need the pen all we had to do was say "kennel" and they would run into their crates and we could shut the doors if needed like for a trip to the vet. Otherwise they were happy to sleep in their pens at night without the door. The crate was each ones own little den.