Your dog’s crate is their “room”
I crate trained all my bulldogs from the time they were about three months old. They don’t have the door shut very often but when they do they love being in their “room”. All I have to say is “Go to your room” and they toddle off to the crate. When Tank wants to hide from me he will go in there and turn his head to the wall so we can’t see him. When you do have a crate like the one pictured above be sure to close both latches all the time if you’re not leaving the door open. A dog can catch their heads while trying to get out and strangle. Make sure the crate is large enough for your bulldog to comfortably stretch out and sleep. Watch putting blankets with stuffing in there because they can chew them up and choke on the stuffing. Mugsy even pulls off pieces of the blankets I use and eats the material. I can’t leave her in the crate alone with any bedding. We always bought our crates on Ebay and they were HUGE. We went for the ones that could fit six dogs in them to make sure there was enough room in there for a bed, potty pad and a bowl of water. We never left them in there with the door shut longer than a trip to the store too. If you’re using a puppy pen those are safe for trips to the store as well. Dogs are not meant to be left in a crate longer than an hour or so. It’s not an all day solution to a work schedule and should never be used for that. If your baby is being left for half a day or something like that please use a puppy pen with at least a 10 X 10 area for them to have.
No one knows your bulldog better than you so take the proper precautions. You can encourage them to use a crate by keeping it in a family area with a soft bed for sleeping and a few toys, letting them know it’s “theirs” and soon they will begin to want to take naps in there and fall in love with their own special space. Bulldogs are very unhappy if left alone too long so give them a doggy daycare option or a pup sitter a few days a week if you work full time and can’t be with them during the day.
If you’d like to see the playard options I use visit the merchandise page on this website.
