Using baby gates can be an effective dog training tool to manage your dog’s environment and keep them from practicing behaviors you don’t like in your house. Here are five scenarios where using baby gates for dog training can be helpful:
Blocking Off Areas in Your Home
Using baby gates keeps your dog from getting into areas of the house where they are not yet successful. For example, if you have new carpet in the living room and don’t want your dog messing it up, put up a baby gate so your dog can’t get in that room. If you don’t want your dog in the nursery while the baby is sleeping, put up a baby gate. Being behind a closed door can be isolating for your dog, but using baby gates allows your dog to still see and hear you while building good habits, such as working on a dog-friendly toy or resting during family activities.
Potty Training
Even if your dog is starting to get the hang of potty training, it doesn’t mean they are ready to have full run of the house. Keep your dog in the room you are in by using baby gates. This way you can relax knowing they can’t get out of your sight to make mistakes in other areas of the house.
Keeping Your Dog Away from the Kitchen Counter
Dogs learn all kinds of bad habits when they have access to the kitchen. While you are busy cooking, block off the kitchen with a baby gate to keep them out and unable to put their paws up on counters, steal potentially toxic human foods, or lick the clean dishes in the washer. If you are up for multi-tasking, you can work on or reinforce your dog’s “go to place” command while they are behind the gate and encourage them to rest on their bed while keeping an eye on you.
An Alternative to Crate Training
Though crate training is highly recommended for early stages of puppy or new dog training, baby gates can be very helpful if you decide not to crate train your dog or have a dog that isn’t tolerating their crate well. Pick a small room in your house that you can use as your dog’s room. Put your dog’s bed in there and block it off with a baby gate. This allows you to confine your dog when needed and also gives him a room that he can call his own.
Providing a Safe Space for Your Dog
If you have young children decide to throw a party, you can teach your dog to go behind the baby gate to get away from the chaos. Your dog will enjoy knowing that they won’t be bothered when they are behind the gate. Be sure to communicate with kids and guests that when your dog is behind a gate, they aren’t to be disturbed.
Baby gates can also provide a safe space from potentially dangerous parts of the home, like stairs. Even large breed puppies start out small, and the spindles on a home’s second floor hallway or a high rise building’s balcony can be wide enough for them to slip through. Using baby gates to block the space between spindles can be a lifesaver until your dog is too big to fit through (owners of small dogs might need a more permanent solution).
Picking the Right Baby Gate
You can spend a lot on fancy gates or very little on the basic baby gates that are sold everywhere. There are those that can fit the size of a door frame or ones that extend the length of a room. Depending on your dog’s tenacity to get through a gate, you might not have to use “official” baby gates. A folding screen can extend across a doorway when you need it and fold back against the wall when you don’t.
Regardless of what you use for a baby gate or where you use it, make sure that the bars are appropriately spaced and keep your dog from getting stuck between them if they try to squeeze through. You’ll also want to make sure that the gate or divider is stable so that it doesn’t fall over with a big noise or on top of them if they give it a shove.