sweet_ceana Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Every time we leave Poco in his crate He moves it across the room. Does anyone have any ideas on how we can stop this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiegirl Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 He's pretty unhappy in his crate- work on things that you can keep him occupied with when he is crated to stop that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixie_Girl Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Nail it to the floor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet_ceana Posted December 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 We have been wrapping him in the crate and that has helped, he would not take a treat or even chew a bone while he was in there until today. Poor little guy. The wrap has helped him so very much. I can't wait until he realizes that he will never have to go anywhere again. I wish I could tell him this is his forever home, but he will have to learn to trust that we will always come back and be there for him. I thought this was a nervous behavior, but I wanted to make sure. Unfortunetly, Poco cannot be trusted outside the crate yet so we were not able to take his crate training as slow as we would have wanted to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC-Liz Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Nail it to the floor! That's exactly what I thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnLloydJones Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Nail it to the floor! Perhaps a rubber pad/mat under the crate would work and do less damage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Can you set up a video camera to catch what he's doing in there while you're gone? How is he if you crate him and stay in the room? I would suspect some crate or separation related anxiety. If that's the case then I would follow a behavior modifcation plan for separation anxiety and ask my vet for anxiety meds for him. You'll get more accomplished and make more progress if you can reduce the anxiety to where he's not so worked up that he can't think and to do that, you may need meds.. at least in the beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb Scott Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 My nephew's white shepherd either escaped (wire crate) or moved (airline kennel attached by straps to plywood) across room; when they videotaped him, he was in a panic. They started not crating him and he was fine. And from all my past posts everyone can see I'm a believer and user of crates... Barb S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieDog Posted January 1, 2008 Report Share Posted January 1, 2008 Yup I whole heartedly agree with Barb. If at all possible giving a dog with crating/separation issues space outside of a crate is often the best choice, no matter how counterintuitive it may seem. Maggie has major crate issues, yet once we let her have access to some of the house she stopped the anxiety based problems. To this day (7 years later) and after meds, gradual reintroduction, and innumerable other attempts at crate training, she still can't be crated unless someone is around. My bosses dog broke his canines attempting to escape a crate. He now does absolutely fine left loose in the house for 9 hours/day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayar Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 While it is likely that the dog is uneasy about being crated, this thread title caught my eye because I have a dog that does this too, and it is possible for the dog to do this and NOT be in a panic, so don't automatically assume they are. I definitely think a video camera or web cam is a great idea and probably necessary before you "treat" this behaviour. My Kelpie does this. Every time. He learned that he can jump and push at the same time and very successfully move across the floor to whatever it is he's aiming towards, provided he isn't on carpet. On carpet he is less successful and so doesn't even bother. He isn't in a panic, and actually he's very methodical. Even barricading him in, he finds the weakness, and exploits it if he's on a "slippery" floor. He isn't crated very much (maybe a couple hours at a time, once or twice a week) and if he starts into moving the crate I just tell him to knock it off and he's good for the rest of his crated period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet_ceana Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Poco definetly has Seperation Anxiety, but it is getting better. The reason I am afraid to leave him out is this lovely scenario: 1. Poco and Ceana still have not fully worked out who is in charge so about once a week there is a squabble. All toys and bones have to be supervised until they get everything worked out. 2. If I crate Ceana and not Poco she gets violently aggressive at anyone who even comes near her crate. Things are ok if we crate Poco first and then put Ceana in her crate moments later. 3. If the dogs are in seperate rooms they will destroy anything to get to each other- and I do not own the property where we live. 4. He howls if we leave whether he is in the crate or not. I think we need a trip to the vets. He gets really nervous in the car as well. He drools & lucky me, leaked his anal glands on me. The car has gotten better somewhat, I think he is realizing that a car trip doesn't mean that he has to live somewhere new. We have been taking lots of trips to hike, but if we are in traffic for more than 20min he starts to get upset. I tell you though, despite these slight issues he is an amazing great dog! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Not to go on a tangent, but that reminded me of something. I went to a seminar one time with Maddie and Speedy. At the time I only had one portable crate, so a friend loaned me an extra. It was a big tent-like crate, but for most of the day, Maddie was fine in it. I left the room with Speedy at one point and came back to the sight of the borrowed portable crate making it's way across the room and a group of about 6 confused people just standing there blankly watching! Maddie figured out how to make it go across the floor and was trying to get to where the action was! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 Devils Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 I would try and video why he is moving the crate. If he is anxious you may need to find an alternative or work more on crating in general by making it a wonderful thing which means working on it while you are home - all meals in crate (don't give in), just throwing treats in for no reason, putting in crate for a few minutes then letting out when calm. Have you tried covering the crate? If he is moving the crate just because, maybe find a way to bungee in place. My acd has/had separation anxiety as a youngster. She busted a couple teeth while chewing on the metal door. Her canines look really rough. She had to have an upper front tooth surgically removed. After that we decided to just leave her out of the crate since she was about a year old. She was fine most of the time but we would lose things like books, magazines, etc... we decided this was better than more surgery for teeth. My acd can be crated at flyball tourneys etc... without issue. She just can't be crated at home. This has made her knee surgeries an experience. This last time we got her used to the xpen and she loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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