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The doghouse

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Crate breakthrough

9 replies

butterfliesinmytummy · 18/12/2013 02:56

We 've had our 6 month old rescue dog for 4 months now and bought a large crate when we got her. It's been sitting in the corner of the living room since she arrived and occasionally she would wander in, sit for a minute, then wander out, so no fear of it but no great affection either. We didn't crate her from the beginning as she was generally a nervous dog and came from a cage at the dog shelter....

However, our house is very open plan ( no doors downstairs) and our gorgeous spirited pup has eaten shoes, remote controls and most recently fairy lights. She has even chewed on the hand of my prized antique house Buddha (poor Buddha now has mustard on his fingers as a deterrent, thankfully a forgiving religion...)

Our trainer advised us to pursue crate training to stop her chewing (and sleeping on the sofa) so we've been crating her for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour at a time with treats over the last 3 to 4 days. The last 2 nights, she's sleep in the crate and today I told her to go to her house and she just went in, happy enough. I do feel the reticence about the crate was 99% on my part now. If anyone is undecided about crate training, it's really worth pursuing and generally not difficult.

Our dog trainer says that he knows dogs who go straight to their crates when the doorbell rings .... That's worth training for!

OP posts:
Floralnomad · 18/12/2013 09:46

That's very good that it is working for you ,well done . Personally I like seeing my dog asleep on the sofa and have taught him not to chew things he shouldn't .Thats the thing about animals ,it's working out what works for you .

HotPanda · 18/12/2013 13:23

floral how did you teach your dog not to chew?
When we are there she wont chew anything but as soon as we go out it is like a free for all and she will chew ANYTHING. Doesn't eat it - just chews to destruction.

She is 8 months and I have been told the crate is now no good when we go out as we are "managing the situation" instead of teaching her not to chew. I have no idea what to do!

Floralnomad · 18/12/2013 22:35

If we saw him we would just say no and replace whatever he had with a Nyla bone or antler . When we first started leaving him we fenced him off a small bit of our hallway where there was basically nothing for him to chew apart from skirting boards ( which he didn't) ,as he became more trustworthy we let him have the whole hall. I do think that some dogs you just can't stop ( my mum had one ) but in just not a lover of crates as I think they're too restrictive .

HotPanda · 19/12/2013 11:19

Hmm, that is how we dealt with it for when we were there, so sounds like we were on the right track - just when we are not there it is an issue.

We don't really have a "safe" area we can leave her in with nothing to chew. We keep testing her with short times (20 mins) with the aim of increasing gradually but when we get back there is always destruction!

I'm praying she grows out of it......

Floralnomad · 19/12/2013 12:30

What sort of things is she chewing ? My mums used to eat the oven housing ,in the end she just always kept a spare for when it got too bad ! I assume you've tried leaving her with frozen kongs .

HotPanda · 19/12/2013 16:28

Chair leg, net curtain, window sill, her dog bed, the other dog bed, the toy box.
Anything hard and wood/plastic-y

Prior to us realising she could jump up on her cage to reach a shelf we thought was out of reach in a one hour period she has also had the TV remote, a camera, a USB stick, DVD cases......

She used to carry things round like shoes, which we would exchange for a treat, but she has stopped doing that now.
I leave her with a frozen kong in the cage, but I don't like to leave food stuff when we leave her out the cage as she is a bit naughty with stealing our older dogs food, so we supervise treats/chews/bones.
I have left them with antlers straight from the freezer before, and I rotate nylabones in the freezer too - just in case the chewing was connected to teething but I think we are past that now.

HotPanda · 19/12/2013 16:28

Thank you for answering btw! Apologies to the op for gatecrashing.

Lilcamper · 19/12/2013 16:32

Even if they no longer are teething, some dogs just like chewing, it releases endorphins and makes them feel good.

Floralnomad · 19/12/2013 16:36

She sounds like a lot of fun!

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