Addie's Crate-Break

[PrincessJenni]

Hi, all... I've been away from the Boards for a while now, mostly because life's been too crazy for me to spend all the time on here that I'd like to. I have a little "issue" with my sweet Addie puppy that really need some input on, so it looks like I'm back...

 

A little background:

I adopted Addie a year and 9 months ago when I failed Fostering 101. I was the 4th place she'd been in a year (including her original person, her first foster home, the lady who adopted her from the Rescue and then turned her back in 6 months later), and I couldn't stand the thought of sending her on to a 5th one. She seemed so sad when she came to stay with me, but she warmed up to me very quickly. I was going through a pretty sad time in my life too, and could somehow relate to her. My thought was that every time she was supposed to be somewhere someone was supposed to love her and take care of her, they just shuffled her off to someone else. I was relating a little too closely to that and absolutely refused to do that to her.

 

Anyway, she's been a fantastic pet for me. She and Molli are polar extremes. Molli's always been a wild and crazy girl with high drive and energy. She has, at age 3.5, begun to tone down a little bit, though, and is actually becoming a little more pet-like in that she'll FINALLY approach me for me to pet her. This after over 3 years with me! To say I'm enjoying her much more these days would be an understatement!!

 

Addie is 4 years old. Both girls are crate trained and there have been no troubles with that until recently. Things are still cool in crate-land for Molli. Addie, on the other hand, has gotten to the point of wanting to break out of hers. Ad's crate is of the all-metal variety with a plastic tray in the bottom and a dog bed in the bottom. It's a very good sized crate and she's seemed very happy with it.

 

A few weeks ago on a Friday afternoon I got off work early. It was a rainy, yucky day and when I came home I took a nap. Addie thinks if I'm home, she's supposed to be glued to my side. When I came in that day, though, I didn't immediately let them out. Addie began barking when it began storming outside. It hailed that afternoon for at least the third or fourth time that day, and I figured that's what her problem was.

 

When I went in the room where the crates are a little bit later, she had red marks on either side of her nose, and a portion of the wire at the bottom of the crate was curved outward. She'd even managed to get her food bowl outside the crate. She also destroyed the collar she had on. It was in little pieces no larger than 1" in length. I'd been meaning to get a new leather collar for her anyway -- she destroyed her last one when the vet's office left it hanging on the door to her kennel when she was there for a bath -- so I loaded her up and we went to get a new collar. (She's so cute; she always stands perfectly still and holds her head up just so when I go to put her collar on. Such a sweet girl!)

 

Anyway, she's never had trouble with the crate before -- other than having figured out how to open the door from the inside; twist-ties solved THAT problem -- so I wasn't worried about it.

 

A couple of weeks later, I came home to discover that she'd bent the crate out in a different location, and that she'd broken the plastic tray in the bottom of the kennel. I was not exactly overjoyed, but continued using that crate out of fear of what she'd do to a molded plastic one. There were no further incidents until today...

 

Today when I came home, I discovered that one of the metal pieces has been pried away from it's previous location and is sticking straight out. She's done new damage to the plastic tray inside the crate, AND the alignment on the crate is not longer right.

 

What am I going to do? The lady who adopted her from the Rescue and subsequently turned her back in claimed that she had separation anxiety. I won't dispute that; that would be why she sleeps with me. For me, though, she's never seemed that upset about being here while I'm gone; it's been more about not being right next to me if I'm here. She's freed herself from her crate several times in the past and hasn't destroyed anything; rather, she met me at the door when I arrived home from work, doing what I can only describe as a full-body wag. I'm concerned, though, that if I left to her own devices all day while I'm at work, she might get busy and destroy something -- like my furniture.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd LOVE to take her to daycare, but I'm not sure I can afford it every day, and that really would only solve the problem while I was at work. What about on weekends when I want to run to the mall or go grocery shopping, or go out to dinner? She's the sweetest dog in the world and I hate that she's obviously been distressed enough to cause damage to her kennel. I want to do what I can to fix whatever's causing her to do that, but I don't want to give her the opportunity to destroy furniture and such, either. I would never consider leaving her outside all day for several reasons. First, I just don't think that's very nice; She's a black dog and she gets hot out in the sun. It's also boring out there and she's a digger. I'm a little concerned that she might try to dig a hole to China -- or at least out of the fence... What do y'all think?

 

Thanks!

Jenni

[stockdogranch]

How much of her time does she spend in the crate? Might sound simplistic, but is she just bored? Would more activity, both physical AND mental be of help? Could she go with you shopping, etc., at least somtimes?

Anna

[PrincessJenni]

I forgot to mention... She goes into her crate just before I leave for work in the morning, and I generally let her out as soon as I walk in in the evening. She's out from the time I get home, as well as all night and all morning while I'm getting ready. Today, for example, I went to the office around 10, and was home by 5:30. When she first came to live with me, she slept in her crate and never offered to do anything like she did today. Her former person claimed she tore up furniture and anything else she could get her paws on.

 

If I travel out of town, she goes with me rather than boarding. She rides in the front seat in her seatbelt harness. I'm happy to take her anywhere I can, but I won't leave her in the car unattended, so our destination has to be somewhere that's dog-friendly...

[MaggieDog]

Can you try short periods out of the crate? My Maggie used to break out of crates regularly and still shreds anything left in a crate with her, but if left loose in the house she's perfect. A treat dispensing toy might be a good bet as well.

[bailey44]

Hi Jenni,

 

I think your dogs are lucky to have you, and it is wonderful that you have given Addie a home!

 

My dog has mild SA, only at night, and in the form of occasionally scratching the bottom of her crate as almost a way to settle in. She also starts clinging to us when she senses we are getting ready for bed. I mention this because I am always on the alert to see if she is showing any other signs.

 

I'm no expert, but in my experience, a few things have helped:

 

Making sure she is really, really exercised before you leave. I know you work, but if you could squeeze in a real peppy workout for her before you leave for work, it might help. My dog is way less anxious when she's tired.

 

Don't gush over her before she goes in the crate or right after she comes out. This is hard, but I have found that my Polly gets more anxious and over-stimulated if I am. I keep it low-key when she goes in, I don't let her right out in the morning or when I come in from errands, and when I do let her out, I ignore her for a bit.

 

I pop Polly in the crate for short periods of time-even on the weekends --and putter around. She can see and hear me moving around the house or going out to the yard. I do this for the same reason you described with Addie. She is often glued to me or my husband and I want to reinforce her knowing that the crate is a great place to be whether we are gone from the house or just hanging out working around the house.

 

I think it is a good sign that Addie has a good track record with her crate, meaning that maybe she will come back to a good comfort level if you can figure out what she needs. I do think it is less about the time spent in the crate and more about how the dog is trained with the crate. Does that make sense??

 

My dog ignores toys in the crate, but I think some folks have had luck with kongs and other safe toys.

 

 

I hope this helps a little!

 

Charlene

[Beth G]

That was my Q too. How is she if left loose in the house? Maybe, do you think, she is ready to try it? She may be letting you know she prefers to be left loose.

[Macks mum]

Hi jenni,

Is there anyone you could get to call in to check on addie while you are at work? and maybe take her out for a walk or have a play session with her? I think some dogs are people dogs who need as much human contact as possible. B4 i got mack i had a staffordshire bull terrier called cassie she was the perfect dog she never did anything wrong she just used to steal my shoes and cuddle them i'd have to search all over the house for shoes she stole as she had free run of thye whole house. I could leave her overnight and my nieghbour would just nip in and let her out to do her buisness a couple of times and check her food and water bowls where full.

You could also try giving her a blanket or something that smells of you so she feels safe and close to you even when you are not there i think this is why cassie always stole my shoes she never chewed them just cuddled them. I kept a pup out of her 1 and only litter he was called barney he was supposed to go to live with my dad but his other dog didn't like him so i kept him for 3 yrs until my dads other dog passed away. he suffered terrible seperation anxiety he would foul in the house and destroy anything even if i just nipped out for 10 mins . He had to go to the vets to have his paw stitched and he needed to have a anasetic so they where supposed to keep him over night an hour after surgery i got a call to pick him up he was going nuts barking he fouled his cage and was really stressed when i got there they opened his cage door he launched himself out of it to get to me and ran straight in to a door frame as he was still sedated. The vets couldn't believe how bad he was and advised me not to get him castrated as it could make him worse. He however has improved since moving in with my dad as there is always some one there he just needs constant people contact then he is fine.

mack is crate trained i wasn't going to but he is such an escape artist i had him locked in my hall kitchen and dinning room as they are open plan so plenty of space for him to play i thought he manged to figure out how to get past the saftey gate to get upstairs and ate my carpet i had to push my 2 seater sofa across the living room door to stop him opening it so i thought crate time.

He barks when i go out and leave him but i have had no complaints so he can't be that bad he destroyed his pad that came with the crate so now he has some blankets and 1 of my old tshirts to cuddle and aselection of toys and hasn't destoyed anything else . I put him in the crate while we eat and at different points throughout the day as the crate is in my living room other than that i generaly leave the doors open as i feed him in there to so he can come and go as he pleases when i'm in the only time i close the doors is when my 18 month old daughter trys to eat his food Mack sleeps in my room to on this dog bed.

We once had a whippet who my mum used to leave a radio on for so he didn't get lonley and could hear sounds and voices that maybe worth ago too.

Good luck i hope you find something that works maybe your bedroom is her safe place you could try her in there .

[PrincessJenni]

I really don't have anyone who can check on her or drop in while I'm at work. In addition to just being short on folks to ask to do that, neither of my dogs is especially fond of guests -- particularly if I'm not around. Molli stayed at a friend's house for a week when I went out of town about 6 weeks ago, and Addie stayed home with another of my friends coming by to check on her. My friend said she couldn't keep her in the crate, that she broke out every day, despite the use of twist-ties to prevent break-outs, and that she thought Addie "wanted to eat her." That surprised me because she's really MUCH better with other people now than when I got her; I suspect the problem was this "stranger" coming into her home when I wasn't here...

 

Anyway, today Addie is going to go to doggie daycare for a tryout day. I really can't afford to take her to daycare every day, but I'm going to at least give it a shot today and see how she does. At least that'll buy me another day to figure out what to do about the crate, and/or to figure out if I want to leave her out alone. (I hate to start with all day, even if I come home at lunch to check on her.) My plan is to take her to daycare today, then when I bring her home, I'll go for a run and leave her out in the house while I'm gone. When I get home, we'll work on her being in and out of the crate some with me in the house. (She barks as if she's being tortured when she's in the crate and I'm home... I don't let her out until she's quiet because I don't want to reinforce the barking behavior, but in a year and nine months I've never broken her of that habit!)

 

Oh, and interestingly, she doesn't destroy the things IN her kennel... She has a dog bed in there that's just fine. She also has a towel in there that she likes. Not a problem. I usually give her a greenie or a pigs ear when I put her in the kennel so she'll have something to chew on. I'm always hesitant about doing that because I worry she'll get choked, but she's never been a "gulper" so I don't worry as much about doing that with her as I do with Molli who IS a gulper... The problem NOW, of course, is that she's caused some pretty serious damage to the kennel... I've attached a couple of pictures... (Note the food OUTSIDE the crate... The first thing she does with her food bowl is dump it out. She eats the food IN her kennel, and when I let her out, she eats the food she spilled OUTSIDE her kennel... Funny girl!)

[hoku's mum]

In seeing your pics, I'm wondering if it's the food spilled outside the crate that she is focused on... just a thought. Maybe stop feeding her in there, so she can't dump the food. Also, have you tried a stuffed and frozen kong, or frozen meaty bone in with her to keep her occupied? I think I would try and not let food fall outside the crate, just more reason to want OUT.

 

Good luck, and keep us posted on how she does out and about.

[PrincessJenni]

Well, Addie did well at Daycare on Wednesday. Ironically, though, they said for the first little while that she was there, she wanted to be in a crate!!! I was happy she did well, though, because that makes that an option for her when I need to take her there.

 

A conversation with a coworker brought me around to the fact that it stormed on Tuesday. I totally missed it. I was at my office, which is only about 10 miles from my house. I remember looking outside at one point and thinking that I should go to my car and get my umbrella because it was looking like I might have need of it later in the day. Another coworker went for her noon-time walk but missed it because just as she and her walking partner hit the trail there was a huge flash of lightning. Apparently just a little further sout, nearer my house, it really stormed.

 

I KNOW the first time she did damage to a crate it was during a storm. I really think the second time may have been as well. This leads me to think it's not the crate that she's adverse to at all. She just doesn't like storms. Obviously it's stormed other times in the year and 9 months I've had her, and there have been times when I was home that I was pretty certain she didn't like the fact that it was storming, but she's never reacted quite so strongly before. What do you think? Could that be it? If so, what I'm going to try to do is pay attention to the weather and take her daycare when storms are expected. That doesn't help for the storms come on unexpectedly, but...

 

Note: The weather's been nice and she's been home and crated the last two days while I was at work. I was able to come home and check on her a couple of times yesterday and she did fine. She also did just fine tomorrow.