Nico got a new dog crate today, and as soon as we put his mat inside, he went right in. When he was younger, we crate-trained him, and he would often spend the night in his crate all on his own accord. Over the past year or so we haven’t been using the crate because he is good when left home alone in the house. As part of our new training routine we’ve decided to work a crate back into the mix. This will be his “place” when in the house. We’ll be working on reinforcing going to his crate on command and staying there (with the door open) until he is released. The hope is to eventually get to a point where he can do this when visitors come over so we can have a calmer and more polite introduction to guests. Nico has yet to understand that not everyone enjoys his enthusiasm but we are making noticeable progress.

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