Test your dog’s understanding!

• Once you can count to 10 without your dog getting up, it’s time to test their understanding! In your next session, click and treat for lying down in the crate.
• Then, count to 10 in your head without intermediary steps.
• Click and feed in position.
• Use your release word and toss a reset treat outside the crate.

Phoebe demonstrates the test. Her room service marker is “Good!”

Successful? Excellent! You’re ready for the next step!

Did your dog get up before you reached 10? That’s okay – you’ll explain the exercise again:

• Go back to slowly building duration: count to 1 in your head – mark and feed. Count to 2 in your head – mark and feed etc.
• After counting to 10 without your dog getting up, give them a break.
•  We’ll start the next session by testing their understanding again.

Adding the Cue

• Say the crate cue of your choice right before your dog is about to do the behavior anyways. To an observer, it should look as if they were going in the crate because you told them to.
• Mark as they lie down and feed in position.
• Count to ten in your head. Mark and feed in position.
• Say your release cue and toss a reset cookie outside the crate.
• As soon as they are done eating , say your crate cue again.
• Mark and feed for lying down in the crate.
• Count to 10 in your head. Mark and feed in position.
• Say your release cue and toss another reset treat outside the crate.

Feel free to talk to and praise your dog when increasing the duration of a behavior! The next video shows how chatty I am when building duration for life skills.

Phoebe’s crate cue is, “In die Box!” (German for “Go in your crate!”). I use two different marker words in this video (“Good!” when feeding her in position and “Okay, get it!” when throwing a cookie for her to chase). Don’t worry about this if you only have one marker cue for your dog – just use your usual click or marker word!

So far, I’ve asked you to count in your head. This allowed you to increase duration in steps smaller than a second if necessary. From now on, you’ll work with actual seconds to keep track of your further progress. Use the timer on your phone for help!

Extending the Duration

10-20 seconds

Now that your dog knows their crate cue and can lie in their crate for 10 seconds, it’s time to extend the duration even more.

• Say your crate cue and mark and feed in position as your dog lies down in the crate.
• Wait 10 seconds. Mark and feed in position.
• Wait 12 seconds. Mark and feed in position.
• Wait 14 seconds. Mark and feed in position.
• Wait 16 seconds etc.
• If your dog ever sits up, stands up or leaves the crate, wait for them to go back in and start with 10 seconds again. (Followed by 12 – 14 etc.)

Work your way up to 20 seconds in 2-second steps.

20-60 seconds

From 20 to 60 seconds, you’ll increase the time between treats in 5-second increments: 20 seconds – 25 – 30 – 35 – 40 – 45 – 50 – 55 and 60 seconds. The time between treats is getting longer!

Even though you marked and treated in between, your dog has now spent quite a long time lying in their crate without getting up – substantially longer than the 60 seconds of your very last rep! And you didn’t even need to close the crate door in order to convince them to stay in!

Stay at this stage until your dog can work all the way up to 60 seconds!

You don’t need to watch all of this video … take a look at the beginning and the end to get an idea of the progress. Feel free to talk to your dog throughout the session.

Test your dog’s understanding!

• Send your dog in the crate, mark and feed in position.
• Wait for 60 seconds right away. Mark and feed the 60-second treat in position.
• Say your release cue and toss a treat for them to chase out of the crate.
• If your dog struggles with this step, explain the game again: start over with 10 seconds – 12 – 14 – etc. between treats before testing their understanding again.

Phoebe demonstrates the test for building duration on a mat. Just imagine the mat was a crate – both skills can be trained in the exact same way.

Up until now, what we’ve been working on could just as well have been an obedience stay. In the video you just watched, Phoebe holds a sphinx down and focuses on me – this is not the relaxed crate (or mat) behavior we eventually want! Check back for part 4 to see how I transition to relaxation and extend the duration further next week!

If you’ve been following this tutorial with your own dog, leave me a comment – I’d love to hear how it’s been going!

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All parts of the crate training tutorial:

Part 1: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/crate-expectations-part-1-shaping-interactions-with-a-new-crate/
Part 2: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/crate-expectations-part-2-lying-down-in-the-crate-and-starting-to-build-duration/
Part 3: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/crate-expectations-part-3-adding-a-cue-and-extending-duration/
Part 4: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/crate-expectations-part-4-building-relaxation/