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.
No one knows your bulldog better than you so take the proper precautions. You can encourage them to use the 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. Too much time in a crate will have the opposite affect. They will begin to resent it and fight you to go into one. Be sensible about time in the crate. No bulldog should be crated for longer than a few hours. It is not a suitable solution for an all day alone situation. If you have to do this buy a play yard from Petsmart that attaches to the open end of the crate and allows the puppy or bulldog adult to use the crate for their sleeping and move around into the play yard when they are done with the crate. 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.
