What is Crate Training and Why is it Necessary for Pet Travel?

Ensuring a pet’s safety while travelling is the most crucial part of any journey with them. With all the strange sights and smells, not to mention a completely new environment, relocating a pet requires careful preparation. 

For their own safety, pets are only allowed to fly in an IATA-compliant pet crate. But the crate doesn’t automatically become a safe space for a pet. To ease the process and help the pet relax during their journey, crate training is prescribed before a journey.

Crate training is a simple practice, but one which requires consistent effort and daily reinforcement. It helps in cases of emergency, training, visitors at home, and travel. While it is useful to crate-train your pet at home to make some of these situations easier to manage, such training is crucial before pet travel, as a pet who lacks crate training can become restless or suffer from separation anxiety during travel, which will only serve to hamper their comfort.   

Why is Crate Training a Pet Important? 

Crate training is like any form of obedience training; it is the simple practice of familiarising a pet with their crate, so they remain calm and comfortable while travelling in it. It has several benefits and serves to ease your pet's travel experience once your pet is used to it.

Here are a few of them:

• It provides an easier and safer travel experience. It can be used for journeys by road, rail, and air.
• It can provide a sense of security and a safer place to rest/to be left alone during stressful, overwhelming, and tiresome times for pets.
• It is useful during house training, as bowel and bladder control can be taught without making a mess around the house. 
• It is useful if you’re ever in a situation where you need to evacuate with your pet quickly. 
• It is useful if your pet is restless or destructive with furniture or personal belongings. 

How to Choose a Pet Crate

A pet crate is chosen based on your pet’s age, size, and breed. The crate itself should be big enough for your pet to comfortably stand up, turn around, sit, and lie down. If you have a younger pet who is still growing, factor in their growth cycle and opt for a larger crate to account for their potential size, and use a movable divider panel to help your pet grow into the space. 

How to Crate Train Your Pet  

Your pet will not enter the crate and be comfortable in by themselves; they will need to be trained to do so. This is where the training part comes in. When introducing your pet to the crate, keep it in an area your pet is familiar with or frequently spends time in.

• Encourage interaction with the crate by leaving treats and toys in and around it.
• Do not force your pet inside the crate; let them explore and check it out for themselves.
• As they gradually become familiar with the presence of the crate, you can start putting a familiar item like toys or clothing inside the crate, so your pet slowly comes to associate the crate with a familiar environment. 
• Eventually, your pet will come to see the crate as a familiar, safe space and begin interacting with it without any issues. At this point, you can start feeding your pet while they are inside their crate, thus continuing the familiarity process that will ease their eventual journey.
• If your pet only interacts with the entrance of the crate and not the inside, try to slowly move their food further and further inside until they are comfortable being inside their crate. 
• Once your pet is eating inside the crate comfortably, you can try closing the door for small durations to accustom your pet to the experience.
  For the first few times, let them out as soon as they are done eating. After they are comfortable, you can slowly increase the duration you let them stay inside. Eventually, your pet should not mind being in its crate while you run an errand or tend to dog-allergic house guests. 
• Before making a big trip, take your pet out for shorter drives so they can get used to the sensation of travelling in a crate and become comfortable travelling in it. Carry their favourite toys and treats along. Start with sitting in a stationary car so they can acclimate to the environment without the added stress of movement.  

What Not to Do During Pet Crate Training 

Any form of learned behaviour is a gradual process. Attempts to speed it up will likely end up doing more harm than good. Here are a few things you shouldn’t do during the training process. 

• Do not push or shove your pet forcefully into the crate. Let them take their time with the crate and become comfortable with it on their own. 
• Crate training should not be used as punishment or as an excuse for neglect. 
• Do not leave your pet alone in their crate for long durations, especially when you are training them. Incorrect training can be detrimental in the long term, and doing so can cause further issues like caged-dog syndrome, where dogs show anxiety, depression, or aggression because of a lack of human interaction and spending long hours alone in a crate. 

The key to comfortably crate training your pet is your patience. It's important to build a positive association and help your pet see their crate as an accessible, safe space instead of a small space where they’ll be ignored. Make sure that your pet doesn’t associate the crate with fear, sadness, or separation. Patience is key, and you’ll find that if you’re willing to put in the time, effort, and a little bit of patience, your pet will be more comfortable while travelling.