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Rescue Remedy has not helped. We tried a Xanax when we went to a BBQ on Saturday for 3 hours and that had seemingly no effect. I would say he's just not meant to be crated, but he does FINE at night in the crate. Sure, he doesn't love going in there at night, but he goes in with a little coaxing. He only has issues when we leave him in there and leave the house. I don't know what else to do! I may try "fake leaving" and leave him outside the crate tomorrow for small bits of time and increase the time and see how he does outside the crate, but at 4 months I don't really think it's the best idea to have him free. We tried to gate him in the kitchen but he cried and cried and then started chewing on the gate and tore up a dish towel. When he escaped from the crate (twice) we found him somewhat relaxed upon our return and nothing was torn up and no accidents. However, we don't know how long he was actually out of the crate for since I assume it takes him a while to fight his way out. Anymore ideas??? August is coming quick
I loved the money back guarantee on the Thundershirt; my dog took it off but didn't destroy it. It's good you took pics! We left Edison in the bathroom for 30 minutes to go to Wal Mart and now I have a chewed up shower curtain (I found all pieces of it, whew!) so it's back to the crate for Edison (our 1 year old mini schnauzer). Yes, the small increments leaving idea is good, I believe someone can chime in on the exact method to do it so Chase can get used to it. It takes a little of every advice given and some just trial and error to find what works for Chase. What worked for Edison is to put him in the crate, give him some treats and bolt out the door ASAP. If he hears that we are still inside, he will start his bark/crying noise. Good luck; Chase is just too cute!
So you think we should stick with the crate for now? That's what the trainers/behaviorists I've talked to suggested. But I am afraid he will hurt his teeth or nails in the process of fighting his way out (he busted a nail tonight and the paint is chewed off a lot of the bars---I can't imagine eating that paint is healthy, sigh). He is SUPER cute and sweet/mellow/so well behaved any other time, but when we leave he just can't take it. I am gonna contact more trainers and behaviorists. I need someone to come work with us, but the couple I've talked to say to give it time, that it's only been 2 weeks, etc.
So you think we should stick with the crate for now? That's what the trainers/behaviorists I've talked to suggested. But I am afraid he will hurt his teeth or nails in the process of fighting his way out (he busted a nail tonight and the paint is chewed off a lot of the bars---I can't imagine eating that paint is healthy, sigh). He is SUPER cute and sweet/mellow/so well behaved any other time, but when we leave he just can't take it. I am gonna contact more trainers and behaviorists. I need someone to come work with us, but the couple I've talked to say to give it time, that it's only been 2 weeks, etc.
I think it took us about a month to really figure out what makes Edison calm; your mileage with Chase may vary.
He's still a young dashing pup and having him learn to like the crate when you're gone is key. Edison jumped our baby gate in the kitchen so we got a bigger than needed crate so he has a bit more room but not enough to make him want to poop in a corner. Maybe Chase will like a bigger crate? It's worth to try, you can probably find one on craigslist for half the price of retail. The trainers can help you with that as long as they do it with positive reinforcement.
Willie is much older than Chase (two and a half years old), but he's a rescue and came with separation anxiety and an intense hatred of being crated (even though he was supposedly crate trained). He's the most mellow, chill dog ever as long as you are right by his side. If you try to leave the house, though...anxiety and bewilderment. Regardless of copious exercise, plenty of stimulating toys and treat dispensers, regardless of building positive associations with the crate...none of it matters.
He has done the same thing that it looks from your picture like Chase did, collapsed the wall of the crate in on itself to escape (we reinforced the places where the panels join with plastic zip ties, by the way, to keep him from doing that after one such disaster). He also chewed the plastic pan lining his crate to shards (regardless of the bitter spray I'd liberally applied). When he'd run out of ways to damage his crate, he just started pooping in it and peeing outside of it. Every day, a mess to clean up, when he'd get ample walking before crating.
We didn't trust him to roam freely, because he's a beagle mix and therefore gets into everything looking for food, and has also been a destructive chewer in the past. But after months of daily cleanup, we decided to start letting him stay out, uncrated, for short increments of absence, gradually building the amount of time we're gone. It's been about a month, now, of letting him stay out, and there have been only a couple of mishaps...and most of those have been our fault, for leaving something that's a likely target where he could get at it/poor dogproofing. But it has taken us nearly a year to get to this point, and he's not a young puppy. I would rather not have to crate him, and he's really shown that, if we take care not to leave things in his reach, and leave him his own toys, he won't be destructive. I do have people in my life (one friend, in particular, who owns a dogwalking business and fancies herself an armchair animal behaviorist) who think we're foolish not to stick it out with the crate, but it was too hard seeing him in such an obvious and apparent state of anxiety.
It's still unpredictable, though. Yesterday, he was fine for a big chunk of time alone while we were at a concert...but this morning, I left for under an hour to run errands, and came home to him having toppled the hamper and destroyed ten pairs of underwear (my fault for not putting the hamper behind a closed door or in the basement), and having, scarily enough, chowed down on half a dark chocolate bar that I was not aware he could get at (never underestimate a beagle's nose). So I've spent the day inducing vomiting at the vet's direction, and monitoring general wellbeing. While I'd rather not crate him, this has been somewhat scary. And it does irritate me that he was fine for hours yesterday, only to freak out at my comparatively short absence this a.m.
You may have better luck, since he's still young. I suspect that Willie came to us with significant baggage about being crated, and by this point in his life, it's just too deeply ingrained to be changed.
Willie is much older than Chase (two and a half years old), but he's a rescue and came with separation anxiety and an intense hatred of being crated (even though he was supposedly crate trained). He's the most mellow, chill dog ever as long as you are right by his side. If you try to leave the house, though...anxiety and bewilderment. Regardless of copious exercise, plenty of stimulating toys and treat dispensers, regardless of building positive associations with the crate...none of it matters.
He has done the same thing that it looks from your picture like Chase did, collapsed the wall of the crate in on itself to escape (we reinforced the places where the panels join with plastic zip ties, by the way, to keep him from doing that after one such disaster). He also chewed the plastic pan lining his crate to shards (regardless of the bitter spray I'd liberally applied). When he'd run out of ways to damage his crate, he just started pooping in it and peeing outside of it. Every day, a mess to clean up, when he'd get ample walking before crating.
We didn't trust him to roam freely, because he's a beagle mix and therefore gets into everything looking for food, and has also been a destructive chewer in the past. But after months of daily cleanup, we decided to start letting him stay out, uncrated, for short increments of absence, gradually building the amount of time we're gone. It's been about a month, now, of letting him stay out, and there have been only a couple of mishaps...and most of those have been our fault, for leaving something that's a likely target where he could get at it/poor dogproofing. But it has taken us nearly a year to get to this point, and he's not a young puppy. I would rather not have to crate him, and he's really shown that, if we take care not to leave things in his reach, and leave him his own toys, he won't be destructive. I do have people in my life (one friend, in particular, who owns a dogwalking business and fancies herself an armchair animal behaviorist) who think we're foolish not to stick it out with the crate, but it was too hard seeing him in such an obvious and apparent state of anxiety.
It's still unpredictable, though. Yesterday, he was fine for a big chunk of time alone while we were at a concert...but this morning, I left for under an hour to run errands, and came home to him having toppled the hamper and destroyed ten pairs of underwear (my fault for not putting the hamper behind a closed door or in the basement), and having, scarily enough, chowed down on half a dark chocolate bar that I was not aware he could get at (never underestimate a beagle's nose). So I've spent the day inducing vomiting at the vet's direction, and monitoring general wellbeing. While I'd rather not crate him, this has been somewhat scary. And it does irritate me that he was fine for hours yesterday, only to freak out at my comparatively short absence this a.m.
You may have better luck, since he's still young. I suspect that Willie came to us with significant baggage about being crated, and by this point in his life, it's just too deeply ingrained to be changed.
Yes, that's Chase. The sweetest, most mellow pup ever when we're here with him. But he cannot handle being crated alone. Tears the crate right up, we too tried reinforcing it, but I'm so afraid he will bust a tooth or nail in the process of trying to get out. He didn't do well gated in a room, so we may tried to let him be free with doors closed. He hasn't chewed on anything he's not supposed to when free and he doesn't have accidents, so maybe this will help. I'm just not sure we can work our way up to 7 hours alone which is what we need by August. Tried Xanax again today, and hour before I had to go to a post-op appt (I had to deal with having my wisdom teeth removed through all this fun, too) and I was gona a 1/2 hour and there was still drool everywhere and he moved the crate 3 feet. It hardly has any effect on him. Going to keep trying to find a behaviorist/trainer with the patience to work with us on this issue.
Good luck to you...Willie didn't do well with baby gates (he scales them and/or just bowls them over entirely), and isn't a big fan of closed doors - scratched all the paint of a door at my SO's mom's house when he busted out of the crate...embarrassing.
Good luck to you...Willie didn't do well with baby gates (he scales them and/or just bowls them over entirely), and isn't a big fan of closed doors - scratched all the paint of a door at my SO's mom's house when he busted out of the crate...embarrassing.
Thanks. Just got off the phone with a trainer who seemed like a good fit for us, much better than the others I've spoke with that made it seem like we have a hopeless case. She charges $495 for training that lasts until he's learned obedience and boundaries and we as owners are established as leaders. She can't guarantee success with separation anxiety, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Just gotta talk to my BF and see if he's on board with it. I'm trying to stay hopeful and positive, but to tell the truth I was in tears after talking with that negative trainer this morning who recommended I return him. Sigh. We WILL make this work!
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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I really shouldn't be laughing so hard at that.
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Glad you are feeling much more optimistic; keep us updated on Chase's progress!
