Positive Kennel Training Helps a Mini Dachshund Get Over His Fear of the Kennel

For this Omaha dog training session we introduced some positive kennel training to help 7 year-old mini Dachshund Beau (pictured here on the left with his roomie 2 year-old Gus) get over his fear of the kennel.

The dogs were pretty barky when I arrived and I could tell that Gus was pretty insecure so I avoided giving direct eye contact or trying to engage with him. Giving a shy dog space is a nice way to build up its trust in you and feel more relaxed and comfortable.

I spent the first part of the session going over common mistakes people make with dogs. The humans will need to create a healthy leader follower dynamic to help the dogs start to see the humans as being in charge which should reduce their stress and anxiety.

To help Beau get over his fear of the kennel, I showed the guardians how to use treats to create a fun kennel game. You can watch me as I go over a positive way to help a dog learn to see the kennel as a positive place in the free dog training video below.

The key is to help Beau practice being in the kennel while completely calm, then progressively increasing the duration. It will take practice in short sessions throughout the day. One suggestion is to move the kennel into the living room to practice this positive crate training technique while the family watches TV and hangs out.

Another tip we went over was to help Beau understand that barking or protesting actually stops the process of being let out of the kennel. It took a few minutes, but eventually Beau learned that being calm and quiet is the best way to get his human to let him out of the kennel.

To help the guardians remember all the kennel training tips and dog behavior suggestions we discussed in this in home dog training session, we filmed a roadmap to success that you can check out below.