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Problem Crating


Guest BeccaAnn1991

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Guest BeccaAnn1991

My greyhound absolutely hates his crate. I wanted to put him in there while my fiancé and I are at work or class, but he refuses to go in. I got back from class this morning and he had completely bent many of the bars and chewed through the water tray, despite the many toys layed out for him. I'm suspecting this is separation anxiety. I am willing to leave him out of the crate while I am away, but I am nervous he is going to hurt himself. The adoption agency suggested he wear a muzzle while we are away. What does everyone else suggest? I don't want to put him In the crate again, I don't want him to hurt himsel.

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Has he given you any indication that he will hurt himself? For instance, does he counter-surf? Eat your laundry? Dig in the trash?

Did you do any alone training? DOES he have separation anxiety? Freeing himself from his crate does not mean he has separation anxiety, just that he hates being crated. Or does he just chill out when you're not home?

What is the longest that he's been alone and free? That should tell you whether or not he is trouble when he's on his own and if you can start trusting him.

 

If he just hangs out... I wouldn't worry about it.

 

ETA: I would recommend NOT crating him again. Period. You sound like you got off pretty lucky without having to take him to the vet. You might not be so lucky the next time. I've heard of horrible injuries to dogs who are desperate to get out of a crate.

Edited by OwnedBySummer

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Lisa B.

My beautiful Summer - to her forever home May 1, 2010 Summer

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I would dogproof as best you can, close doors to any rooms you don't want him to go into, put his basket muzzle (kennel muzzle) on, and leave him loose in the rest of the apartment. As someone else already said, I would NOT crate him again. I would also NOT shut him in a small room -- most dogs will go nuts in that situation.

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You might want to leave a TV or radio on as well. This will create some background noise and mask anything that might be going on outside. Use the search function on this site for "alone training". We leave Rocket out of his crate 24/7, but left the crate setup with the door open. Sometimes he still just likes to go in there and hang out, especially if there's a sun beam involved.

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Camp Broodie. The current home of Mark Kay Mark Jack and Gracie Kiowa Safe Joan.  Always missing my boy Rocket Hi Noon Rocket,  Allie  Phoenix Dynamite, Kate Miss Kate, Starz Under Da Starz, Petunia MW Neptunia, Diva Astar Dashindiva, and LaVida I've Got Life

 

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I would dogproof as best you can, close doors to any rooms you don't want him to go into, put his basket muzzle (kennel muzzle) on, and leave him loose in the rest of the apartment. As someone else already said, I would NOT crate him again. I would also NOT shut him in a small room -- most dogs will go nuts in that situation.

 

I would try this. :)

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Michelle...forever missing her girls, Holly 5/22/99-9/13/10 and Bailey 8/1/93-7/11/05

Religion is the smile on a dog...Edie Brickell

Wag more, bark less :-)

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Guest BeccaAnn1991

Thanks everyone! I just muzzled him and left him out for an hour and so far he's done great so it might just be the crate he didn't like.

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Guest Scouts_mom

Some dogs love their crates and some hate them--it has nothing to do with whether they will be destructive when left uncrated or if they will have separation anxiety. My first dog hated her crate. She spent 2 days in it when I was at work, then she absolutely refused to go into it. So I left her out when I was away and I had absolutely no problems (well, she did decide the sofa was her bed). If your dog hates the crate and you've done "alone training", leave him out.

Edited by Scouts_mom
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Obviously it's the crate he hates! My dog hated his crate with a passion. One I ditched the crate, everything was just fine.

 

I never muzzled him. He's an adult dog. Puppies are virtually 100% guaranteed to be destructive, but an adult dog who has had sufficient exercise in the morning before you leave (and that does not mean he goes out in the yard for 20 minutes by himself) will probably sleep for at least 7 of the 8 hours of your workday.

 

Dog proof (and that means absolutely NOTHING that is food is out on a counter, top of fridge, anywhere but inside the fridge, cupboard, microwave, pantry, etc.) your house, provide him with a comfy bed in a central location, and see what happens. If he destroys stuff, they sure, use the muzzle.


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Our Kingsley hated the crate...

once we allowed him free-reign of the house, he was fine. He never ate/destroyed anything or had accidents.

 

I bet it was about 1-month into our having him that we tried leaving him without the crate and were so relieved to find THAT was the stressor, not our being gone.

 

good luck! Hope it ends up as easy for you as it was for us.

Amy and Tim in Beverly, MA, with Chase and Always missing Kingsley (Drama King) and Ruby (KB's Bee Bopper).

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With our first grey Jimmy..almost 20 years ago...we were told crate crate crate. I had no problem with crating if it made him feel better. So, we got the crate and put him in there and he HATED it. One day we came home from work and he had gotten out of the crate. He had managed to pull the door inside the crate. He was just roaming in the house.....nothing was touched but we had no idea how long he had been out....a few minutes or a few hours. That was on a Friday, so the next day we went out for about an hour and just left him to roam free in the house after we dog-proofed it. Nothing was touched....JImmy wasn't interested in much of anything....including us at that point. :lol On Sunday we went out again...this time for a little longer. Again, he was fine. After that he was never crated and never bothered anything in the house.

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