It's happened. Please help.
I no longer have a crate for him, so he stayed in my room again today and behaved well. After coming in from playing outside, he threw up a little bit. I credited it to eating some grass and cleaned it up. Next thing I know, the dog throws up a pair of my underwear. I leave everything cleaned up in my bedroom since he stays there. He must have gotten into the hamper and taken them out. Any advice? Seriously, anything at all...We go outside to play like three times a day. He usually gets his exercise and comes in tired and ready for a nap. He doesn't seem antsy in the apartment like he needs to get out and run more. Oh yeah, the little guy is about five and a half months now. |
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He needs a real crate. A plastic or wire one. Anything else is going to be frustrating for you, and possibly deadly for him. He's just a baby - and has proven himself not ready to be loose and unattended. Like leaving a toddler home when you go to class.  |
| Get a wire crate. Can you shut him in a bathroom until you can get the crate? Bathrooms are generally smaller and have less stuff to get into, just make sure you put everything chewable out of puppy reach. Even the plunger. Eevee loved chewing on the plunger! With Eevee, I never had a crate, so she was loose in the house all the time except at night when we shut her in the bedroom with us. I also never left for very long, no more than 2 hours when she was little. We put everything chewable in places where she couldn't get to it, and things that couldn't be moved had barriers in front of them. A few things still got chewed, but it wasn't too bad, it was usually because I left something on the floor. I think what really helped a lot was having a good variety of toys for her to chew on, and giving her new stuff every so often. Even if it's just a plastic bottle, it kept her attention and she didn't go after my stuff. Two of her favorite toys are an empty cottage cheese container and a v8 bottle! Just make sure if you use stuff like that as free toys, that you throw it away once it starts to break into pieces that can be swallowed. The v8 bottle is really thick, so that's a good one to have. We also shut doors to other rooms while we were gone, the bedrooms were always shut. |
| It just sucks because he's always been great. I always put away the cords and anything that's seriously dangerous and now I need to completely re-evaluate how I leave him. For four weeks, he was perfect staying in the bedroom. He'd be waiting for me on the bed when I came home. I can put him in the bathroom for a bit though. I left him with a nice new edible soft bone today and he loved it. I'm just bummed that he hates the crate so much and he'll have to stay there. He was actually crated for the first few months I had him and he did fine. He never liked it but he didn't hate it by any means. |
| He was just too young to get in real trouble. Now he's in the curious and teething stage. It's not a waste of time crating him - it's actually a very valuable skill for a dog to have. Knowing how to relax and chill in a crate is important - travel, boarding, vet, or even going to fun events like herding, agility, etc. all come into play. And especially now it will be important to reintroduce it w/ a sturdy crate - as he's learned the bad habit that he can eat/scratch his way out of confinement of the soft side crate. And soft side crates are never recommended for a puppy anyway - for exactly the reason you have found out. Sorry to seem harsh, but this is serious stuff, and you are letting idealistic (I don't want/need to crate my sweet puppy) wishes enter into it. His very life or at least big vet bills from injury or bowel obstruction are very real possibilities. And if you are renting - having a puppy wreck a room is a different deal than if it's your own home.  |
| The teething discomfort is driving him batty. Plus he's not needing as much sleep as he did as a pup. He want to run, run, run and chew, chew, chew, dig, roll in smelly stuff.....jump at birds.....all the things puppies do. |
| When you leave this puppy behind you go DO something. I don't think it is realistic to expect this 'toddler' to sit and wait and do nothing while you are out. Crate is a great idea as stated above. Give the poor guy something to do while he waits. Just please please please be careful what you give him. If he is a vigorous chewer (like he seems to be) DO NOT give him anything he may take a chunk off of and swallow. If he chokes on something you thought was safe you will feel horrible. Think toy rather than bone. Kongs are great, some here go with something more for teething. Just think what you would do in a crate while waiting. He's just bored and probably a bit anxious. Shellie |
| So are antlers a yes or no? I have always counted on those because he sometimes wants something soft and other times wants something hard. And you guys are right. I know he has to be crated. I'm just bummed, haha. |
| Antlers are a no. I personally feel that only a Kong is safe. This is about separation anxiety. Many dogs have it. My previous sheepdog always got upset when school started up again - though I never put it together until she was about ten years old. Duh huh? Anyway, using my experience with her as a learning tool, I was proactive with Harry. He ONLY gets a Kong when we leave AND it always gets picked up the minute we get home. No exceptions. The reason: Kong = something good therefore Leaving = something good Also you want to keep leaving low key and returning low key - the more you coo and wind them up the more they stress over you leaving, even if you only do it when you return. You don't want the dog to be stressed. That is why they chew things up. |
| Thanks for the tips. I do my best to only greet him when he's sitting and calm. I will walk away and turn my back until he calms down and sits. What you're saying makes complete sense. It does seem to be stress because he gets so much active time when I'm home and in the evenings he just likes to sit with me while I get some work done. Can I fill the Kong with peanut butter or some other treat? Also, since he doesn't have accident problems, can I get him a bigger crate with a little more room for him to wander? Or should I still shoot for just big enough to turn around and lie down in? |
| Fill the kong with peanut butter and freeze it, it will last longer. |
| Yes, you sure can go with a bigger crate now. Kongs are fun - not using them now, but I have (just as Judi mentioned) in the past. They got them as crate toys only - put in when we left, picked up when we got home. You can stuff them with pretty much anything. I used to make them up for the dogs the night before and freeze them - it takes them longer to get the goodies out that way. You can even make up a paste of sorts - PB, leftovers (dog safe), yogurt, veggies, treats, etc. ahead of time. I was stuffing 5 of them when I used them - as we had a couple new rescues and fosters who we were crate training at the time. It was so handy to crate and give them each a kong before I left for work. Then whoever got home 1st let them out to potty and picked up the kongs. There are several different kong strengths now. The swirly light blue is for puppies and soft chewers. The red is for normal (that's what I use), and there is a black harder rubber for strong chewers. They come in the standard shape, and also balls, etc now too. I have a variety, and each dog kind of has their favorites.  |
| He's done wonderfully with the metal crate. Wasn't a fan of the plastic pan at the bottom, so we subbed that out for his favorite blankie. No, he's not wild about it but I'm surprised at how quickly he will give up his desperate pleas for attention once he knows he's stuck there. |
| If you check at the pet stores, most of them sell a bed (or cushion) that exactly fits the bottom of the crates, on top of the plastic tray. If he moves his blanket around, he could expose the wire floor and could possibly get a toenail stuck. Better to be safe than sorry. Glad to hear he's not fighting the crate. It really is the safest place for him. You may even find that when he wants to be alone or is sleepy, even when you're home, he may just go in there to lie down. |
| We put a blanket over the plastic pan so Eevee could be cozy. Eevee and Bailey both really like to go in the crate whenever I give them something extra yummy! It's funny, because they both will make such a fuss to get out if I actually shut them in. |
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