Crates

[Guest ashphobiax]

just wondering, does anyone crate their grey when they are not home?

 

glider (and our sheltie) have become very destructive while we are not home. they figured out how to get into the cabinets and how to get the trash out. glider is also peeing and pooping in the house while we aren't home. we have them on a very strict walking and potty time schedule and it doesn't seem to be working very well. thinking about using crates while we are not home but still very on the fence about it.

 

any advice?

[Sambuca]

I'm a fan if crates for new dogs or for dogs that don't do well out if te crate. Whatever you are doing is not working for your dogs. It could be some s/a, them feeding off each other, something you think is minor is off their routine, who knows, but it's not working. There are many things you could probably do to try to fix it, but a crate will be the easiest, fastest and probably most effective way. I'm not sure why you're opposed to the crate though.

 

Whats the difference between a crate and a crib? A top. And kids are in cribs all night, during maps and sometimes when parents need the kids safe and can't watch them.

[Guest DragonflyDM]

I crated Boomer for the first month, then put it away. But recently, I pulled it out again when i was worried he might have an UTI. Boomer let me know that he wants to keep it out. He likes having his own space (it is an open cage crate).

[oldrunners]

I crate one of my girls at night and when I leave. She is not reliably housebroken. My other two get into so much mischief that they wear muzzles when I'm gone.

[a_daerr]

There's no way he'll ever be reliably housetrained if you don't crate or confine him in some way when you're not home. I would say it's time to go back to the crate, and make sure you do the right training. Don't just throw him in the crate for 8 hours and leave. That's a surefire way to create separation anxiety and crate aversion. Spend a day letting him go in for a few minutes at a time, giving him treats, and coming back. There are several good threads on here regarding alone training and crates.

[Batmom]

Re housetraining: How often are they taken out? Males (and some females) can pee anytime, anywhere, but if you're getting poop too, they likely need to be taken out more often.

 

Re destruction: Any way to improve dogproofing? I had a very neat and featureless house for my first greyhounds .....

 

Re crates: I crate one dog when we are gone for more than a few minutes. More to do with keeping them from having a spat than anything else.

[Guest twoskinnydogs]

I crate only Rita and of course a foster if I have one. My rule is and always has been that they are crated when I am not here for a year, after that I start leaving them out. That rule has proven to work with all my hounds in the past and the two I have now. I too have a "greyhound" safe home, nothing that they can destroy or hurt themselves on.

[Jimbuck]

I crate when I'm not at home. We've got a consistent routine and as long as we follow it he's just fine. I've had Freddy for about 14 months now and I'm going to begin weaning him off the crate and give him more freedom to roam when I'm gone.

[JAJ2010]

If I remember correctly you were having poop/pee issues in the first few months of your adoption... Did it ever get better? Or has it just continued over the years? I think you need to go back to potty training 101 with both dogs, which included crating is you cannot watch them every second. Then you have to scrub everything, rip up carpets, etc to make sure they don't have that smell there that tells them it's ok to potty inside.

[sobesmom]

Crating may be an option, but I think you need to figure out what the underlying problems are. SA? Housetraining? Not enough exercise? Something else?

 

Crates might help, or hurt in the short-term, but I'm pretty sure it's not a quick fix.

Edited March 13, 2013 by sobesmom