You did not crate your dog as a puppy. Now there is a reason to: a house move, surgery, travel, a new baby, or a dog who cannot be loose at night.
Yes, you can start now. It takes weeks rather than days, and the common mistake is closing the door too early.
Starting late is not the same as starting again
If your dog used to like a crate and now plants their feet at the doorway, that is a different problem with a different cause. It is written up separately, and it is linked at the end.
A dog with no crate history is not frightened of the crate. They are indifferent to it, which is a much better place to begin than most owners expect.
Decide whether you need one at all
A crate is one management tool, not a requirement. A gated kitchen, a pen, or a bedroom with a bed in it does the same job for many adolescent dogs.
Rest after surgery or an injury, where your dog needs to be off the stairs for 6 weeks.
Travel, boarding, or a stay with family, where a familiar box is the only familiar thing in the room.
A house where loose at night means chewed skirting boards, a raided bin, or a dog on the kitchen counter at 3am.
A dog who needs to be able to get away from children or another dog, behind a door, on purpose.
If none of those apply and the crate is about tidiness, a gate is easier and your dog has nothing new to learn.
Set it up so it can be ignored
Buy for your dog's adult size, not today's size. They should stand without ducking, turn around, and lie fully stretched out on one side.
Put it where the family actually sits. A box in a spare room is a box nobody chooses.
Bed it deeply, so a hip is not resting on plastic or wire. Tie the door fully open so it cannot swing or clang.
Then leave it alone for 3 days and ask for nothing. Your dog will walk in on their own at some point, and that is the first rep.
Two weeks, mostly with the door open
Days 1 to 3: toss 1 treat inside the doorway and let your dog walk in, eat, and come straight out. 10 reps, then stop. Nothing closes.
Days 4 to 6: feed every meal in there with the door tied open, and walk away while your dog eats.
Days 7 to 10: give a chew or a filled and frozen toy in the crate while you sit in the room doing nothing. Door still open.
Days 11 to 14: close the door for 3 seconds while your dog is eating, then open it before they finish. Build to 30 seconds over 4 days.
Only then start leaving the room, for 10 seconds at a time, with something good still going on in there.
Relaxation is trained as a behaviour in its own right, in short repeatable sets below your dog's threshold. A crate is a place to be relaxed, so relaxing is the thing being practised.
If the point of the crate is being left alone, treat that as a second job. Gradual, sub-threshold departure practice is the core of separation-related work, and it starts after the crate is already a good place.
The adolescent-specific parts
A 14 month old dog has a much lower tolerance for boredom than a puppy. Something to chew or lick goes in every single time, rather than an empty box.
Plan in hours, not in working days. For a dog this age, use a pen or a gated room for anything longer than a couple of hours.
Do not let the crate become the only place your dog can settle. Practise settling on a mat in the living room in the same fortnight.
Never use it after something goes wrong in the house. A crate cannot be a place to relax and a place you get sent.
Two dogs do not share one crate, even when they sleep in a heap on the sofa.
Safety note
Open the door at the first sign of panic, and do not wait to see whether your dog settles. Panic looks like drooling, scrabbling at the bars, broken nails, injured gums, toileting in the crate, or barking that does not let up. A dog who has never been shut in anywhere can injure themselves in the first minute behind a closed door. Stop crate work and speak to your veterinarian and a qualified behaviour professional who uses reward-based methods. Gradual, sub-threshold departure practice is the core of separation-related behaviour work, and a panicking dog is already above threshold. Never shut a distressed dog in and leave the house.
Do not push, drag or lift your dog in, and do not tell them off for coming out. Punishment-based approaches are associated with fear, avoidance and defensive aggression, and a crate is a small space to build any of that in.
Behaviour change is built from management plus reinforcement together, and reward-based methods are what the veterinary behaviour guidance recommends. The management is a door that stays open, and the reinforcement is dinner.
What to expect
Expect 3 to 6 weeks before a closed door is ordinary, and longer if a deadline is making you hurry. Nobody can promise you a dog who loves a crate.
If the real question is what your dog does when you leave, the Assessment covers that alongside everything else you have ticked. It is free and takes about 3 minutes.
Today's version, in one line: tie the door open, move the crate to where you sit, and feed tonight's dinner inside it.