Once your dog understands the "Kennel" command, you can reinforce it with low-level e-collar stimulation. The collar is not punishment; it is the dog's cue to comply.

You’ve probably often heard that it’s a good idea to “crate train” your  dog. A dog that accepts his crate or travel kennel as a pleasant place is much easier to manage when you’re on a trip. If you don’t have your dog in an outdoor run, a crate can also provide a safe place to keep your dog when you’re away from home for a few hours. This is a better option than leaving him loose in the house or garage where, as most people find out the hard way, a dog will figure out a way to get into trouble if you’re not there to watch him.

Teaching a dog to enter his kennel starts early. Every time you put your pup in his crate, praise him and give him a treat. It won’t take long for him to think of his crate as a good place to be. The next step is to get him to run into his kennel from a distance. Start with the dog on a lead and stand 3 to 4 feet away from the kennel. Lead him in and reward him.

After a couple sessions of this, you can add an electronic collar to the process. Without giving a command, apply the lowest stimulation you know your dog can feel and lead him into the kennel with the lead. It’s very important to use a collar with ultra-low, easily adjustable correction levels. I prefer the SportDOG Brand™ e-collars because they allow this. You are not supposed to be punishing the dog. Instead low-level stimulation becomes his cue to head to his crate. As soon as his front feet are in the kennel, turn off the stimulation. Repeat the process over several days, gradually moving back to 25 feet. If you’ve progressed out to that distance gradually, the dog should be happily running into his kennel, which he now sees as a safe zone.

Finally, you can add the command, “Kennel,” to the process. But the word isn’t really what’s important here. What matters is that you have taught your dog to go away from you on command and that the dog doesn’t think of you as the safe zone

An additional point to remember during this phase of your dog’s training is to continue working on other commands your dog already knows at the same time. You want to keep your dog “balanced,” responding to all commands equally well. You don’t want your dog to go away every time you use an e-collar because there will be times when you need him to come back to you on cue as well.

As with all dog-training programs, teaching your dog to go away is a step that builds upon previous exercises.