separation anxiety in crate/excessive drooling

[boxerallie]

We rescued our boxer about 2 months ago. She’s around 2 years old. Up until about 2 weeks ago, getting her into her crate was the worst part of the day. She would run upstairs or avoid us. We’d have to carry her over and push her in which I know isn’t good but we had to go to work and just didn’t have time. She was always fine when we left her for the day. I’d come home on my lunch break to take her out and spend some time with her. When it was time to leave, it was the same thing. I finally taught her to go in the crate on her own which has been great. The problem is she learned out to get out of it. The first couple times she found things to eat like her old food that doesn’t digest well, chocolate, the garbage, etc. One time she peed in the house (we’re still working on completely house training but I think we finally got it!) The last 2 times she didn’t do anything which was awesome. Each time she got out, we took another measure to secure her in the crate (zip ties, extra latch locks).

Our main concern is that the past couple weeks since she’s learned out to escape, she’s getting worse in the crate. The worst was when we left for 20 minutes while our parking lot was being cleared from snow, we came back to her being out and blood drops on the kitchen floor because she scratched her nose getting out. We’ve now found a way to lock her in very securely but she still moves the crate half way across the kitchen and there are puddles of drool when we get home. The bedding and her front paws are soaked.

We have her kong with peanut butter, two nylabones (one with holes drilled in it with peanut butter stuffed in it), a soft toy and a ball with treats in it in the crate and we leave the radio and lights on. We even bought her a more fluffy bed for the crate. Yesterday we bought a Comfort Zone diffuser and are starting that today. I’ll be going home shortly to see if that helped at all.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. If she hadn’t gotten into things and peed in the house the first couple times she got out, we’d just leave her out but since she did we’re not ready to trust her yet. Our trainer said to keep working on the crate vs. gating her. It’s just crazy to us that all of a sudden she’s freaking out so much when she was fine for over 6 weeks. My only guess is she’s more attached and comfortable with us now and doesn’t like being left alone. What else can we do?

 

[Cami]

Some just will never grow to feel comfortable in their crates.
If you do opt to keep crating her you are going to have to spend a TON of time getting her use to it and actually liking it.
I'd almost nix the crate.....even though you have been told to continue with it.
My girl is not a fan of her crate IF it is latched. She too, as a 9 week old puppy scraped her nose in an attempt to get out. We were home at the time!
After many MANY days of training I decided to pick my battles. She still goes in her crate however it does not get latched. I close the door and she is gated off in the kitchen which has been puppy proofed. The area she has is larger and she has the option of coming and going in and out of her crate if she desires but the anxiety she showed previously has gone.
Every single time I return home she is IN the crate. Sometimes the door has been opened and other times it has not. I don't know if she exited the crate through the open door or merely just pushed it open but she has always been back in it when we have returned home.
You may want to work on getting her comfortable just being ALONE. Create a safe area for her and your belongings. Leave for 1 minute....then 2....working your way up to longer stretches of time outside of the crate. If you can eliminate the anxiety of being alone you can work towards crating. Take baby steps. Don't think about how she was previously. She isn't that way NOW. Work with the situation you have.
Urinating in the home isn't always about not being potty trained. It is a biggie for some dogs with SA (so is going #2). Helping to build up her confidence will go a long way with her being comfortable alone in the home.
Their concept of time isn't what ours is. A good portion of dogs with SA will start their erratic behavior just seconds after they realize their owners have gone. If you have a routine for leaving the home....CHANGE IT. Even small and simple every day things we don't pay attention to they are able to pick up on. A lot of times when people grab their car keys this will alert their pets of what is about to happen.
Some will run happily to their crates with the anticipation of a tasty treat. Others, like your girl will run away!
Break things down into small battles that you (and she) can win.
Dog proof a room. Fill up a Kong. Lure her to the area with the Kong. Leave.....walk out the door and without even thinking about it walk back in. She will learn to realize that nothing bad happened to her while you were gone AND she won't have had a chance to injure herself or damage any of your property (in theory).
Most people will say when you return and everything is GOOD then to praise them like crazy!
I am sure this works for a good portion of dogs however....I have found that Boxers just feed off of our energy. If I am excited my girl is jumping to the ceiling. If I walk in and put my stuff down and stay relaxed and calm she does too. No big deal that mom came back home.
It is entirely possible to help her you just have to figure out the best way for her to have a positive response and stay patient and persistant for as long as it takes.

 

[boxerallie]

thank you so much cami. i spoke to my trainer on my lunch break because unfortunately she was out of the crate again and had the most scrapes so far. luckily she didn't eat anything again but she did pee in her crate for the first time ever. my guess is she may have gotten stuck and panicked since it was right at the door of the crate. we're going to give up crating and try gating her in the kitchen. a friend is going to let me borrow hers for a few days until the extra tall one can get delivered. she doesn't jump things yet but she's a boxer so i'm sure she'll try! like you said, we also have to start leaving her alone in rooms without us and pretending to leave. she is pretty attached to me so it's going to take some work but she's a smart girl so i'm sure she'll get it. we're not giving up on her. someone else already did and we won't let her down!