agreyhoundmom

It's nice to know our's isn't the only one with this behavior! I hadn't heard of the Patricia McConnell book -- I will definitely look into that. Thanks! She does so well when home alone in her crate that it's easy to forget that being alone is still very new to her. We leave music on, but I'm sure the security of the crate is definitely a huge help. I think we also eventually want a friend for her, but probably not for at least a year. New dogs are such a learning experience! I think after reading this thread, I need to let go of the idea that having a happy, crated dog is still "bad" for her just because she's crated. It's really encouraging to read that others still crate their dogs after several months -- it helps to know that as long as she's content, we have more time to learn to trust her alone, and more importantly, for her to learn to trust that we'll be back. I hope your girl keeps making progress on her separation anxiety! She sounds like such a sweetheart!

Hmm. I wonder if we just need to leave her out alone while we go to the store and see what happens. We've tried just going for a quick walk around the block, but I wonder if she can sense that we didn't *leave* (no car noises from the garage) and is getting stressed about that the same way she does when she knows we're in a room that she isn't in. Six months is probably a more reasonable timeline for letting her run free in the house. Thanks for the advice!

Rocket is so adorable! <3 Thanks for your advice. There are so many people who have posted that they've never crated their dog, which made me worry we weren't moving fast enough to give her free reign of the house. I think we will continue to crate until she is a bit further trained and less anxious, and then try to leave her out in small increments like you suggested.

We adopted a retired racer a few weeks ago. She is generally well-behaved, but is still learning. She tries to counter surf, occasionally chews on blankets or scratches at the carpet, and likes to fling her toys and bones around. She also has the occasional bathroom accident if we don't stay on top of letting her out every couple of hours when we're home. Her adoption group advised crating her when we aren't home, so we do. We are both out of the house every day for about 10 hours (commute/work). They said that this length of time is not a problem, and they're right -- she's never had a bathroom accident in her crate, and she just sleeps until we get home. She gets tons of attention and exercise in the evenings, and usually a bit in the morning, too, so it's not as if she's neglected. But the plan has always been to transition her to having run of the house when home alone so that she has more freedom to move around. However, she gets very anxious if left to roam while we're in other rooms -- barking, howling, and searching for us. In her crate, she's fine -- she'll just lay down and sleep even after we leave. There's also the issue of having accidents in the house -- she can hold it while crated, but she doesn't think she needs to when she's left to roam the house. Plus, she's so energetic and curious about things that we worry about her safety when she's not crated (like, what if she's jumping around and knocks the tv off onto herself, or what if she's zooming and hurts her leg?) So, how do you make the transition from crate to house? Is it necessary to do so? How do you keep them safe, and help them to feel secure? Is there anyway to prevent/reduce bathroom accidents? (We don't have the option of changing schedules or coming home during lunch, so the 10 hours is fairly non-negotiable -- dog walkers are about $300-400/month here, which is out of our budget.) Thanks for any advice!