Question:
So i think its time to start crating Nellie,,,shes starting to have some major seperation anxiety when we leave the house, which trust me, its not often

there is novody home for maybe 4 hours every 2 weeks or so,,usually Craig or I are home,,,,but lately every time we leave, we come home to a HUGE mess

garbage, sandles,,,toys, dosnt matter,,Nellie chews it, and now its getting to the point, that ONLY and EVERY time we leave, she jumps the baby gate, comes into the basement and has diarhea,,,,,,thats the only time she does this,,so im thinking shes so stressed about us leaving

yeserday afternoon, we went into town for 2.5 hours,,,Sasha, nellie and me played fetch for about 45 minutes, Nellie was tired out, came in the house, got a big drink and crashed,,we picked up everything we thought she could chew, gave her her big knuckle bone and left,,,,,we came home to find she destroyed the couch,,she literally ate one cushion,,,,WHAT A MESS!!!

so Craig is buying her a crate,,just for when we leave,,I HATE HATE doing this to her,,,but i cant have her destroying the house everytime we leave,,,its getting worse, were going to out tonight, I need to buy some new jeans,,so this will be the test

were going to put her blanket in it, plus Craig is going to pick her up a new bone,,,,is there anything else we can do to make her 'crate time' a positive experience???

does anyone else deal with this,,and what are some things I can do to hopefully get her to stop


Answer:
HI Brandy,
Ahhh the labs We started crating Pippin very early ( right after we brought him home) I hated the idea of crating him, I thought I was being so cruel. We put him in the crate at night and at different intervals during the day. By placing him in the crate only when you leave, she is going to have negative association with it. If you are home during the day, put her in the crate at different times of the day for different lengths of time.

Pippin became so comfortable in the crate, that when he was tired he would lay down in there ( we always kept the door open) I had always heard of dogs doing that, but I never believed that.


Answer:
i agree start putting her in the crate for short periods at a time. even barring her to an area so she cant follow you around the house is a good idea too. you taught her that she can always be near you and she is showing her grave displeasure when you leave her alone. when you put her in the crate make it a no nonsense no baby talk no big deal and she will probably bark or howl at first. make sure you do not reward this behaviour in anyway. that means no verbal sounds so that its a bit like a kid in a store that wants something and thinks screaming and crying will help. you have to IGNORE her until she quiets then go and let her out but again you cant make a production out of letting her out and maybe take her out for a quick walk then play with her. the idea is you want her to know that being alone is OK. and a kong or big knuckle bone like you mentioned is a good idea. and only give these to her when shes in the crate. a kong stuffed with peanut butter or canned food and frozen is great.
good luck!!


Answer:
Brandy, I agree with the advice that has been offered. I know how you feel about crating but it is better for Nellie to be safe versus ingesting something that can cause serious harm to her.

Kongs stuffed with treats are a great way to keep her entertained.


Answer:
Thanks guys

we crated Nellie for the first time last night and I must say it didnt seem to bother her in the least

Craig bought her a big rawhide plus a coconut,,,,I kind of gave her a little push to get her in, she seen her new things, laid right down and started chewing away, we stayed home for about 15 minutes and she didnt even notice, she just laid there chewing away,,lol

the only problem is her crate is HUGE,,,,we could easily fit her and Sasha in there(were not going to) but its way to big to leave out 24/7.....i dont know how I can use it for her all of the time, we left it up for her last night but she didnt go into it,,just to get her bones out then she brought them into our bed, Craig collapsed it and stored it under our bed for now,,,hopefully we can find a way or a place that we can leave it up for her

she barked when we came home which is unusual,,,but she couldnt get to the window to see who was here,,so I expected her to bark,,I didnt mind,,her bark sounds HUGE,,,and I know it would scare people off if they came there when we werent home,,,lol


Answer:
I'm glad to hear Nellie seemed to be okay with her crate!

We have to crate Emily at night too. I didn't want to, and the first night we had her we let her sleep with us, but her snoring and farting were soooo terrible, we just couldn't bear it. We've tried leaving her out loose at night and just closing our door, but then she scratches and whines, and has even gone garbage surfing which ended in her pooping and peeing in the guest room. So its back to crating at night. We leave her crate open all day, and she will go in there to sleep sometimes. And in the morning when we get up, we open her door, but usually she stays in and sleeps for another hour or so!

I hope this works out for you guys, its no good to have to worry about Nellie when you're gone. Its better for you, and it really is better for her too, it will keep her safe and out of trouble!


Answer:
Is there any way that you could return the large crate & get a smaller size? It would be better for her to get used to it if it was available to her 24/7.. plus it must be a pain in the *ss to set up every time you leave the house..


Answer:
Hard to imagine Smelly Nellie barking. LOL She's such a friendly puppy.