Our dog does everything to destroy his crate!

[buffytwin]

I can't beleive our dog... He's such a smart boy, great dog when we're home, but when it comes to him being in his crate I swear he has a whole other side to him. It's been one thing after another and I'm at a loss!!! We bought a gorgeous metal huge crate for him. He has done everything to destroy it! We can't put water in it, forget it, we've tried every way to make sure he has water and every single time its everywhere, and I mean every single time! Can't put blankets in there b/c he'll just pee on them, and then he's not uncomfortable b/c the blanket soaks the pee and he's fine. He kept escaping from his crate, god knows how we are completely baffled as to how he gets out. So we had to use plastic twist ties all over his crate to stop him from getting out. He would move his crate across the floor, so we chained his crate with a metal chain to our breakfast bar, so he can't move it. We thought we've won every battle so far, but this just tops it, I dont know what to do now. We came home tonight and he's completely destroyed the tray that he sits on! Its shattered, into pieces! This just boggles me! And before anyone asks how long we keep him in there or starts to think its b/c he's in there a while.. no thats not the case, I'd understand if that was the case! But we video taped him a few days ago and he does all of this first thing in the morning within minutes after us leaving. He just goes nuts in his cage! He spent an hour going nuts in his cage, and didn't sit down once until about an hour went by, then he finally lays down. Its like he's not even our dog, he gets posessed. He goes in his crate fine, and we would have never known he was even like this if we hadn't video taped him. Does anyone have any suggestions?? At all??? I'm so at a loss and so fustrated! I mean he's such a great dog EXCEPT for this.. I dont get it.. There is nothing else we can do with him, we've tried letting him out of his crate and he destroyed anything he could get. We have no rooms to border him into, the bathroom is almost the size of his crate, so no point in that.. And I wouldn't want him in any other room b/c of the trust issue. He's still a puppy, he's 7 months old. Any help would be appreciated

[coppperbelle]

I can sympathize with you. I went through similar problems with one of my dogs. She even pooped in the crate then stepped in it. That was a sight when we got home. After a few days of this I gave up on the crate idea. She did other things too but this was the last straw for me. A trainer once told me that some dogs are claustrophobic and I assumed this was her problem.
Some things that may help are exercise and lots of it before you put him in the crate. A kong with a little bit of peanut butter and frozen overnight may keep him busy while you are gone. Can you get someone to come in during the day and let him out for a walk? How about doggy daycare? Expensive alternatives I know but might be worth it.

[buffytwin]

Oh ya we've tried all that. This is while we're at work, it's the only time he's in there. We have someone come in half way through the day to walk him and she plays with him for about an hour. We walk him in the morning before we go and we've left him with kongs but still when our friend checks on him he's always done something with his crate...This has only been going on for the last month, i think once he figured out he could do stuff with his crate that was it. We live in Shelburne which is north of Orangeville, so there's not much around us at all. There is doggy daycare in Orangeville through our trainer, but she doesn't open till 9am and I have to be at work for 8am which is a half hour from Orangeville so its impossible. But I can promise you we've discussed it all and have thought about all those options, unfortunately its impossible for us. But he gets plenty of excercise... What did you end up doing with your dog? We've tried letting him roam free and even though he's such an angel when we're here, that just wasn't the case when we left him alone. He chewed things, and peed and pooed in the house which is something he's never ever done.. Don't know what else to do.. our warranty on our crate is for a year we just read, so we're going to try and get the tray replaced but even if we do, I'm sure he's just going to do it again. Once he learns something thats it...

[jessi76]

oh no! Didn't you start the crate training when he was a very young pup? and he's just now having issues? how long has this been going on?

IF I were in your shoes, I'd probably start from square 1 with the crate again. Starting with using it OFTEN when you ARE home - so you can praise the good behavior when he's in there. On the weekends, I crate my dog when I'm home, I'll give him a really special bone or kong, crate him (1/2 hr - 1hr at a time), and clean the house - basically so he knows just because he's crated, it doesn't always mean we're leaving the house.

Have you tried putting the crate in a different room? The reason I ask is when I was crate training my dog, we tried the crate in the livingroom (he cried and cried), tried our sunporch (hated it), tried in the dining room (he broke out, and even destroyed a soft pad we put for him to lay on), next was the kitchen, and viola! we had a winner!

as for water being everywhere, have you tried a water-bottle? I use one for my dog, and it's drip-proof.

another option may be a Bach Remedy - all natural flower extracts to calm anxieties - safe for pets.

good luck, it sounds like a tough situation, I do hope you get it resolved quickly, for your dog's safety and most importantly - your sanity!

[buffytwin]

we've crate trained him since the day he came home with us, when he was 8 weeks old, and he's been fine in it, up to the last month. He does it to do something I think. Its out of boredom, not anything else. We haven't tried different rooms though. We always kept him in the living room so he'd feel close to where we always sit. I dont often have him in there when we're home, so we could try doing that on the weekend when we're home. On the video tape you can tell he's just doing it to do something. Like he's not in there freaking out b/c he's in there. He jumps up and down alot banging his tray and as he does it he barks everytime, and I dont know if you know what I mean, but he's not barking to get out, he's barking at the tray as if to say I'm gonna get you type of thing, lol.. I know it sounds funny but you can just tell by his actions and the look on his face, he sits and stares at it for 5 seconds and then does it again, lol.. its funny really but not funny what he ends up doing to his crate. We've tried everything with water, he's figured it out every single time either how to get it down, get it everywhere and just destroy what the water is sitting in. Again he does it out of pure boredom. And he only does it the first hour after we leave, after about an hour goes by he sleeps until our friend comes, then he does it again for an hour after she leaves and then sleeps again till we get home. Thats what the video tape showed. And like I said we're excercising him and tiring him out before we go, but the first hour always does all this. I don't see any solutions except just hope he grows out of it and gives up. I dunno? lol...

[hounds003]

It sounds like your dog has separation anxiety especially because he acts out in the first hour of your leaving. The "panic" they feel is much the same as a mother who doesn't know where her child is. Hopefully with a lot of practice and patience you can get him to a point that he's comfortable with you gone.
Here's a link on how to work with him. It's slow going because your literally leaving the dog for seconds at first, not minutes but it does work!

http://www.wagntrain.com/SeparationAnx.htm

I'm working with a dog right now who has separation anxiety. This is just my personal opinion but I find hand feeding them, making them do basic commands, especially stay really helps the dog to learn self control. I like to start some where like a bedroom, when they're good with a stay start leaving the room and go around a corner out of sight, come back and treat. Then go on to leaving the room and shutting the door. ALWAYS keep it very short, we're talking seconds. After practicing that for a while and your dogs comfortable start feeding him where you have access to an outside door so while he's in a stay your actually leaving the house. I also find if you always leave for work etc from one certain door, when your practicing start leaving through other doors, not always the same one.

When you are practicing and it's not feeding time, you wouldn't give commands or treats when your leaving or coming back in. Just completely ignore the dog, no eye contact, nothing.

I hope this helps and makes sense! If you do decide to work with him and need some help along the way please feel free to PM me and I'll send you my e-mail. I'm just not able to check into the pets web site every day. Good luck!

[jessi76]

if you think it's just boredom, then it's time to get creative! maybe try to GIVE him something to destroy - get some "tuff" toys that can be combined w/ food to keep his attention on them. frozen or just stuffed kongs - big hollowed out marrow bones that you can fill w/ goodies, basically things that can take a beating, and allow him to work to get the goody.

I used to give my pup a toy called "tire-biter" a small tire w/ a rope through it - spread some pb or cream cheese inside the tire, stick some treats or kibble to it, and let him have it. like a kong, but more fun - tire texture and a rope to destroy.

try some new recipes for the kong - my dog's fav's are cream cheese, pb, canned dog food (merrick), hot dog pieces w/ cheese, canned tuna, pb mixed w/ plain yogurt & then frozen

you might want to try a different location for the crate, and try crating while you're home.

[buffytwin]

Thanks for all the advise both of you, we really appreciate it! Yes hounds003 I tend to agree with you after reading your post. We took Rex to his highschool today (obedience school) and talked to his trainer about it and she said the exact same thing that it definitely sounds like seperation anxiety. She also gave us the same advise as you did, so we're going to put him in his crate when we're home too, so he doesn't think that being in there necessarily means we're going out. I will definitely take your advise and use it all, and I'll take a look at that link you gave us! We also learned other dogs in his class are doing the exact same thing so that made us feel a bit better, lol... It just amazes us, he's such an angel with us, never does anything wrong at all, and learns everything so quick, he's good as gold.. EXCEPT when were at work and he's in his crate, lol... so thanks again, I'll let you know how it goes!