dogs no longer comfortable in their crates? help please...

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Postby LoveABull » August 1st, 2006, 10:31 am

ok... for those of you who REMEMBER me :oops: i AM still alive... life kinda overwhelmed me for a bit, and i had to take a break from it, so to speak.

now i have a question... to start with, both Luna and Solar are crate trained, no problems, Solar has always been a bit... active... in his crate (acting a bit nervous, pulling stuff in and shredding it if he can reach it, etc) but other than that, no major problems...
we've working on fixing up the house recently, and moved their two crates from the living room to the bedroom... and since then their behaviour has deteriorated some...they still go right into their crates perfectly willingly and quickly, but the second i leave, i can hear them barking when i'm out in the driveway... they used to be nice and quiet... my bedroom is in the BACK of my house, and i can hear them in my driveway, in the front of my house.... while IN MY CAR...Solar started frantically trying to get out of his crate (every time i would come home, even if it was just a 5 minute trip, he had pried a bit of the wire near the bottom up, and usually ended up shooting the pan liner out, too...i guess he thought that since it was a little door that opened to let the tray liner out, if he kept working at it, he would be able to get out the hole... i finally zip-tied it shut so he couldn't do that anymore, and when he realized that he couldn't, he absolutely SHREDDED a solid rubber toy i'd left in there with him.)
they BOTH throw a royal fit when i come back... banging around in their crates, whining and carrying on... i of course wait till they calm down, and they do eventually, but i'm wondering if there's anything else i can do to help calm them down?
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Postby Maryellen » August 1st, 2006, 10:46 am

hey Vicki!! good to see you again!! i would say with the renovations going on, its probably what is causing the dogs to act up, solar is probably reving luna up too.. is there any way to tire them both out before you put them in the crates? like walking /running them, major exercise, so that this way they are to tired to act out??

can you put their crates back inthe living room for a spell?? what i do is move the crates around all over the house so rufus gets used to crates every room all the time, this way hedoesnt freak out.
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Postby Romanwild » August 1st, 2006, 10:46 am

Welcome back!

Exercise. I know that's a pretty standard reply but I truly belive that all undesirable behaviors can be greatly reduced if not eliminated by real exercise. Running, weight pull etc. Walks don't do much fsor my crew unless it's at least an hour.
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Postby Hoyden » August 1st, 2006, 12:25 pm

Sounds like you had my dog Birdie at your house!

Birdie was hell bend on destroying her wire crate, ripped up the plastic pan, bent the bars, shredded anything that was in the crate or that she could reach through the bars. I'd find the crate in the middle of the room from her jumping around. She would deficate within 5 minutes of being put in her crate, even though she had just gone potty outside and I had watched her do it.

Here is what we have done so far, while she still makes the strangest noises that I have EVER heard come out of a dog at times, her crate behavior has improved.

Chris Fraize told me to put her in a plastic crate, he said that the plastic crates are more den like and the dogs feel more secure.

I also work with her for 2-4 minutes about 3 to 5 times a day doing "handler awareness" or obedience.

I play with her outside for at least a half hour daily to give her some exercize.

I leave a marrow bone in the crate with her or a frozen kong with peanut butter and kibble in it. I deduct the amount of kibble from her evening feed as to not over feed her.


And she seems to be content in her crate now. I don't have to fight her to go into it anymore and she actually goes into it to lie down since she isn't allowed on the furniture anymore.

I put her dog bed into the crate and she hasn't destroyed it yet. In the wire crate it would have been a big mess of fluff in less than 5 minutes.
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Postby Magnolia618 » August 1st, 2006, 2:22 pm

Chris Fraize told me to put her in a plastic crate, he said that the plastic crates are more den like and the dogs feel more secure.


Definitely!!!

Also, dont make a big deal about seeing them when you get home. Just walk in, let them out, say hello, but dont act like its a really big deal that you are home.

and make sure to always feed them in the crate!
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Postby LoveABull » August 1st, 2006, 4:14 pm

mmhmm... yeah... he's been fine in this crate for the past year... they ALWAYS get fed in their crates... and like i said... they don't get let out till they calm down... i barely even LOOK at them till then... *sigh*

i say "go in your box" and they both RUN to their crates, go in, turn around, and look at me expectantly... the problem arises the second i try to leave :-/
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Postby concreterose » August 1st, 2006, 4:41 pm

Do you have to have them in the same room? Possibly they are feeding off each other and it's making it worse?
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Postby LoveABull » August 1st, 2006, 8:35 pm

i suppose its possible... but they've always been in the same room... they used to be right NEXT to each other in fact (with a piece of wood between the 2 crates so they couldn't directly see each other and/or crate-fight or anything nasty like that), and now they're on opposite sides of the room from each other

:|
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Postby LoveABull » August 23rd, 2006, 10:04 pm

ok... reviveing this topic... sorry. i'm still having problems. Luna has calmed down considerably from last report, and at most will just whine a bit from time to time. Solar, however.....

he did calm down alot, and i thought the worst of it was over, but then the past few days he's gone back downhill again. he broke all the zip ties on the bottom of the crate and pried the bar back up again... and twice within the past two days he's pushed the door so hard that the door bends out, allowing the bottom latch to slip out of its recieving loop... both times i was lucky that it was a SHORT trip... i was back to the house within an hour both times. he's worn his nose red and raw and even has a small open sore on one side now from pushing and rubbing against the door. however... i have a bit more info this time than last time: i shut the dogs away intending to leave, and ended up staying about another 10 minutes... everyone was fine for about the first 5-6 minutes... and then Solar started banging around in his crate, whining and carrying on and whatnot. i of course ignored it. letting him out would have just rewarded him. i left and did my erand, and when i came back he'd done the damage to the crate as i described above. i was just stopping by the house for a few minutes, so i couldn't actually let him out (but its a darn good thing i stopped by... i'd hate to think what would have happened if i'd been out all day!) and i actually zip tied the door itself shut to avoid any possibility of him shoving the door open like he did before... but because i never let him out, i got the chance to observe his reaction... and it's not boredom or excess energy (altho i know that excersizing the crap out of him would make him a BIT calmer....) he was FRANTIC and nervous and panting like crazy.... and he didn't used to be like that :( he's been FINE in this crate for over a year now... almost two. this sudden change baffles me :|
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Postby a-bull » August 23rd, 2006, 10:41 pm

Sounds like seperation anxiety to me. Life changes, changes in routine, environment, etc. can trigger it, regardless of age---also, sometimes illness.
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Postby Sue » August 24th, 2006, 8:53 am

a-bull wrote:also, sometimes illness.


That was the issue with Rory. She started freaking out all of a sudden.
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Postby LoveABull » October 26th, 2006, 2:36 pm

well... after this issue coming and going at random for a few months, i got tired of Solar ripping his nose apart on a regular basis trying to pry the door open with it, so i switched to the hard plastic vari-kennel type crate. problem disapeared within a day... like magic. now he's back to being calm like the way he was before...

i have no clue what set him off, but i'm glad its over now.
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Postby iluvk9 » October 26th, 2006, 6:04 pm

Good news! :greenWave:
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Postby Carla » November 4th, 2006, 12:45 pm

On Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:36 pm, LoveABull wrote:well... after this issue coming and going at random for a few months, i got tired of Solar ripping his nose apart on a regular basis trying to pry the door open with it, so i switched to the hard plastic vari-kennel type crate. problem disapeared within a day... like magic.


LOL - good! Someone recommended that type of crate back in August I think it was!

Anytime they can make "progress" in destroying a crate (like bending a wire or able to get there nose between wires), they are going to keep trying. So you can't let them have any initial success! Seems to me the wire type with those pans are too easy to make progress on...

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Postby Gatsu » November 4th, 2006, 7:27 pm

i think the problem was, by reading through, that the dogs could see each other, u said opposite sides of the room but that doesn't mean they couldn't see one another, where as before they couldn't see each other and they were fine. Now once again with the plastic crate he cant see Luna so hes calmer.

Just my 2 cents
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