So we have a 7 year old fawn Boxer boy. He's recently been to the vet to rule out any health concerns, so there isn't anything seriously wrong, although he has a mild degenerative bone disease which has started up in both of his hind legs.
But we've started seeing a bit of a change in his behavior when he is being left home alone now, that started probably 6 months ago. Both my husband I work so we used to have a dog walker walk him for a half hour or more in the middle of the day. She is great and he loves her, so I don't think this could have stemmed from anything she did! However, about 6 months ago, he started peeing even after she walked him and we would come home to find pee or poop on the floor. Keep in mind, this never used to happen and only recently just started. Also, he had never been crated before...usually he is in one spacious room with access to a balcony all day until we get home. My parents, who I adopted him from, only crated him for a bit when he was a puppy. In addition to the little accidents, he has also figured out how to get into all of the drawers and started pulling out stuff and just wrecking it..it's like he's back to his puppy days! We used to be able to leave him in this room with just about anything around and he'd never wreck it.
So we decided to get a crate...started crating him. He was fine for a few days...until he broke out of his crate!!! Haha, if you can actually believe that... Then we reinforced his crate and just kept putting him back in there... we stopped the dogwalker coming because he actually stopped peeing and getting over-excited and anxious when she didn't come. He enters the crate very unenthusiastically even though we do try to make it a positive place for him... we put treats in there, we reward him when he goes in it, he has a nice warm bed in there, we put some toys in there...
We are trying to make the crate a better, safe place for him where he also feels comfortable! It's just impossible to allow him to be out of it from now on since he can't handle it. It just seems like his anxiety has gotten worse as he's getting older? Our vet said it may just be his getting older.... Besides his leg issues, he really isn't in pain everyday.
Any tips for making him feel less anxious in general when he's alone and/or for successful crating, would be appreciated!
But we've started seeing a bit of a change in his behavior when he is being left home alone now, that started probably 6 months ago. Both my husband I work so we used to have a dog walker walk him for a half hour or more in the middle of the day. She is great and he loves her, so I don't think this could have stemmed from anything she did! However, about 6 months ago, he started peeing even after she walked him and we would come home to find pee or poop on the floor. Keep in mind, this never used to happen and only recently just started. Also, he had never been crated before...usually he is in one spacious room with access to a balcony all day until we get home. My parents, who I adopted him from, only crated him for a bit when he was a puppy. In addition to the little accidents, he has also figured out how to get into all of the drawers and started pulling out stuff and just wrecking it..it's like he's back to his puppy days! We used to be able to leave him in this room with just about anything around and he'd never wreck it.
So we decided to get a crate...started crating him. He was fine for a few days...until he broke out of his crate!!! Haha, if you can actually believe that... Then we reinforced his crate and just kept putting him back in there... we stopped the dogwalker coming because he actually stopped peeing and getting over-excited and anxious when she didn't come. He enters the crate very unenthusiastically even though we do try to make it a positive place for him... we put treats in there, we reward him when he goes in it, he has a nice warm bed in there, we put some toys in there...
We are trying to make the crate a better, safe place for him where he also feels comfortable! It's just impossible to allow him to be out of it from now on since he can't handle it. It just seems like his anxiety has gotten worse as he's getting older? Our vet said it may just be his getting older.... Besides his leg issues, he really isn't in pain everyday.
Any tips for making him feel less anxious in general when he's alone and/or for successful crating, would be appreciated!
