One Dog Left Behind?

[PrairieProf]

Well, I'm fretting about a problem I haven't had yet, but I wanted to get some input.

 

I will be going out of town this coming week and Beth will be staying with my friend Jamie and her two greyhounds, whom she's stayed with numerous times before and is very fond of. BUT: Jamie is working part time now and on two days will be need to be gone for about five hours. On these days she takes her own hounds to doggie daycare. So Beth, who isn't approved for the daycare (this is in another town than where I live, and I don't know that I'd trust her in a daycare setting anyway), will need to stay behind in the house, in her crate.

 

Beth is, of course, an "only dog" at home; she is great in her crate which always I use at home when I go out; she has never shown signs of SA (at least when crated), and has been left crated at Jamie's house before -- but always with the two other hounds staying home as well (one is crated [in a different room], one not).

 

How worried should I be about Beth freaking out or becoming terribly stressed if she's the only one left behind? I certainly imagine a bit of whining at first. But can I reasonably trust that in a few minutes she'll settle down to lick out her Kong and fall asleep the way she usually does, or does this seem like the set-up for a problem?

Edited February 25, 2011 by PrairieProf

[Guest TBSFlame]

I would think that if she is an only dog and she crates well and has been in this home before she should be fine. Take along something that smells like you.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

But can I reasonably trust that in a few minutes she'll settle down to lick out her Kong and fall asleep the way she usually does, or does this seem like the set-up for a problem?

 

I'm no expert, but I think she'll be fine. She sounds a lot like Jayne about her crate. Jayne loves hers and when we took her and it to South Dakota over the July 4th holiday, she didn't mind being crated while the other dogs were outside the house.

[PrairieProf]

That's good to hear. Also nice to know of another hound who really does love her crate! I can't say I love hauling that 48" monster around when we travel, but it really does seem to help her stay comfortably in new places.

[Time4ANap]

Ask your friend to leave the radio or TV playing to mask noise from the street or any other strnge noise that she isn't accustomed to. If she can't hear activity outside, it gives her one less thing to potentially stress about.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

OMG does Jayne ever love her crate! After getting to sleep in it overnight on New Year's Eve, (she fell asleep duing the party and wouldn't wake to come downstairs to bed, so I left her there) she began to bolt for her crate after last turnout each night and was cuddled up before I could even get the back door locked. We've since moved the crate into our basement bedroom so she can still sleep with us. She hasn't spend a single night of 2011 out of her crate, by her own choice. The fish tank light is on plus there is one window, so she's not in darkness when she's crated during the day. Although as much as she sleeps, I doubt she would care. The whole time we were in SD over the 4th it was easy to tell when she wanted to nap. She would strain at the end of her leash toward the house, and her crate.

 

I think she would die of the unhappy if I took it away from her.

[PrairieProf]

OMG does Jayne ever love her crate! After getting to sleep in it overnight on New Year's Eve, (she fell asleep duing the party and wouldn't wake to come downstairs to bed, so I left her there) she began to bolt for her crate after last turnout each night and was cuddled up before I could even get the back door locked. We've since moved the crate into our basement bedroom so she can still sleep with us. She hasn't spend a single night of 2011 out of her crate, by her own choice. The fish tank light is on plus there is one window, so she's not in darkness when she's crated during the day. Although as much as she sleeps, I doubt she would care. The whole time we were in SD over the 4th it was easy to tell when she wanted to nap. She would strain at the end of her leash toward the house, and her crate.

 

I think she would die of the unhappy if I took it away from her.

 

OK, Beth doesn't love hers THAT much. She only occasionally goes into it on her own when I'm not leaving. But the minute she knows I am getting ready to leave, or when she hears the freezer door open as I take out the Kong, she trots right into it. And then when I come home and open the door, it typically takes her a long time to bother coming out. Why interrupt a good nap?

 

She does sometimes sleep in an open canvas travel crate at the foot of my bed ... I tried to use it closed early on for, well, travel, but one greyhound claw and the mesh side was history.