Crating issues

[maya_baby]

We have been having a little issue lately with Maya and her kennel, and it's starting to get to us. She's 13 months and getting worse in her kennel all the time. Normally one of us is home either during the morning or afternoon, so she only has a few hours in there at a time. On other days, I have to see clients in both the morning and afternoon, so my wife comes home to take Maya out for lunch. When she does this, it's usually short (1/2 hour or so) and then puts her back in the kennel. This situation is normally only once every two weeks! On these days Maya has taken to chewing apart her bedding, a pillow, blankets and anything else in there (she always has toys to play with as well).

This is very frustrating for us as we don't want to keep replacing things and cleaning up cotton-y poops. Could this be separation anxiety, boredom, bad-dog-syndrome or something else?

 

[Hberry23]

I can relate to what your going through, I tried for 5 1/2 months and Sadie destroyed everything I put in there even chewed up the crate, I talked with my vet and we decided a doggie door would be better...granted the crate is the safest way to go, just didn't work for us.
The vet's guess was separation anxiety. I've read it's common in boxer's

 

[gtntuf]

Brutus has broken bars off his crate and chewed up all his bedding that we leave for him. He even learned how to break the door to his crate open. We've started leaving towels and a few chew toys in there and he's been doing really well. Except for yesterday. It seems he had a tummy ache and he messed in his crate really bad. I felt so bad for him because I'm not sure how long he had to stay in there with all that mess.--I don't know if it happened shortly after we left or later on. Poor baby had an upset stomach all night long. No more table food for him--even if it was a treat.

 

[Jan]

I would remove all the bedding. Boxers often go through a stage where they destroy all bedding in their crate. You may eventually get to put it back in.

Make sure that your coming and going are non-events. Don't make a big fuss over your dog. Just leave and when you come home, ignore her for at least 5 minutes.

Good luck!

 

[craZ4HERKIE]

I was going to suggest what Jan did. Remove all the bedding,etc. It's taken Herkie until he was 4 yrs old to have a bed, he would just tear the rest of them up! Well, he wasn't alone in that, Kuma would rip them to shreds as well! Hopefully she will grow out of it.

 

[maya_baby]

You don't think she'd be too uncomfortable laying on a hard surface?

I'm just afraid she'd be miserable. She has very little padding on her, just muscle skin and bones!

 

[Jan]

I assure you that she will survive. A lot of boxers go through the same destructive phase and end up with nothing in their crates. The alternative is that she eats her bedding and gets and obstruction. Would you rather that?

 

[mancin]

My boys have had their beds taken away from them. They've both destroyed their old ones (they have new ones, but aren't allowed to have them yet). I completely agree with Jan, I'd rather them lay on hard plastic than eat some bedding and get an obstruction. They destroyed one bed all over my living room (pic in my gallery) and Tyson threw up green fuzz the next day. Not a pretty sight!

 

[RsbrySwrrl]

We just got Manny on Friday, and we crated him that night and Saturday night. Friday night, he whined and yelped for about 2 1/2 hours, then when we got up he had pooped in his crate :(

Last night, my husband pulled the crate into the living room and crated him while he was in there playing video games - he stays up later than I do. Manny cried for about 15 minutes, then went right to sleep. Daddy took him out after being in there for about 3 hours so he could go outside to go potty, then he cried another 15 minutes or so when he put him back in, then again went to sleep. We also put him in his crate while we went to the store today (about 30 minutes), and he did fine.

Tomorrow will be the real test - my husband and I both work days so we'll be crating him around 7:45 AM and then I'll come home at lunch around 12:15 to let him out. Then he'll go back in around 12:45 until daddy gets home at 5 PM.

On the one hand, I feel awful that he has to stay in there. But he is too little to be out wandering the house all that time and getting into things. We've put a blankie and some of his toys that he can chew on unsupervised in there. I think we will try leaving his crate in the living room so he knows it's not "isolation" and can still be around us, especially at night. Also, I think I might leave the tv on, because I've noticed that he LOVES the tv. He'll hear something and pick his head up and watch - it looks like he's "reading" the tv screen. Anyone else do this for pups that have to stay crated all day?

 

[abby's mum]

Mayababy - I totally agree with taking way the bedding. If you think that is bad, just think of the damage that could be done to your house if let loose. They do survive on the plastic bottom. Have you tried it yet BTW?

Rsbryswrl - re:

But he is too little to be out wandering the house all that time and getting into things.

If you just got him (I assume 8 weeks) he is WAY to young to be loose. The crate is a safe place for him to be. When Abby is crated we always have the TV or radio on. Many other people to do. Good luck