Hi All!

We have had to start locking the babies up due to them destroying the carpet in the stairs in the house we rent. Long story short, I was in such shock I had no idea what to do, or say. They are fine to run the house for short hours at a time. At most 2 - 3 hours. But, anything after that, and the house becomes their war zone; DVD's destroyed, carpet ripped up, walls chewed on things. Hence, the sudden (I guess?) desire to crate them.

Here's what we do when we leave for short amounts of time to get them used to the crate;

1 - We do leave, only because I cannot stand to hear them screaming, and barking. We have talked to the neighbors to let them know that we are crate training;luckily they understand.

2 - Tell them kennel, and reward them with a treat (usually a dog treat), and place their "high value treat" in there with them. High value treats include peanut butter, and Cheez-It filled Kong, and their Nylabones. We also talk to them, and praise them.

3 - We leave. We do not put a blanket over them as they are off in a separate room (my husband calls it the "Harry Potter Room" as its under the stairs). As we leave we can hear them screaming, barking, digging, and hitting their cages.

We often let them do this because we figure it will end in a few minutes. Unfortunately, the neighbor told me that one day they carried on four four hours, and she had to call the community manager (we live in base housing).

My question is, what can we do to get this behavior to stop? We have tried all sorts of things; high value treats, covering their kennels, locking them up together, the slow introduction to their kennels, anxiety spray, anxiety treats, etc. I am at a complete loss at what to do. As long as we "Husky Proof" the house (i.e block them from the stairs), they do fine running the house.

Now, the other issue we have is Bane slithers out of his crate. And of all things its the top part of his gate that he slithers out of. We just bought two carabiner clips to attach to his kennel when we leave. Today we came home from the grocery store to find that he had unclipped one of them, and it was in the crate with him. Where do you clip your carabiner clips? If you use them, and how many do you have on the crate?

The two times that we have crated Bane, and came home to find him lose, running the house, nothing has been destroyed. It just doesn't make sense. I feel bad locking JUST Willow up, and that seems to be when she gets upset the most. We've come home to find her just throwing an absolute fit because he wasn't in the room with her.

Currently, they are getting taken for walks twice a day, fed Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream, they play with other dogs at the dog park at least twice a week (I try for three times a week but sometimes it just doesn't happen), and we play "fetch" in the house (roll the ball along the floor). I just feel like we're missing something with crate training.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Maybe slow it down a bit? Since they aren't used to being crated, its probably strange to them. Kennel them, give them their treat, close the door and if they stay calm open it right back up.

Slowly work up to longer and longer times in the crate with and without you there. That's what we did with Murphy and now she crates like a champ.

As for the escaping, I use carabiners as well. Murphy actually tore the door off of her crate to get out once...

Also some of the natural anti-anxiety meds can help too. I personally like Composure ( http://www.vetriscience.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=900780060 ), but there are several others out there

Can they see any other part of the house from the room under the stairs? Honestly it sounds like you should move the crates to a spot in the house that is a little less creepy (no offense). The might just be really uncomfortable in that room. Try putting the crates in a more common area of the house, living room bedroom etc. Also, it's not too safe for them if there was some type of emergency, like a fire.

I have tried a couple of the anti-anxiety meds for my pup and rescue remedy works pretty well for him. I tried valerian, and it just hyped him up, which was not fun at all! Make sure if you do try something you do it when you're home first, in case there is a reaction of any kind.

wpskier222 wrote:

Can they see any other part of the house from the room under the stairs? Honestly it sounds like you should move the crates to a spot in the house that is a little less creepy (no offense). The might just be really uncomfortable in that room.

This is exactly what I've been telling my husband. I plan on moving their kennels this weekend into the great room/dining room where they can see the back door, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, and the stairs.

I have tried these treats, and this spray. I feel that neither of these helped. I talked to my vet about what they would suggest, and honestly our vet is such an idiot, I didn't get much of anything out of him.

I will let you know how this weekend goes; my husband will be home all weekend, so I think this would be a good time to try them being in the "open room" to see if that changes their attitudes to being in the kennels. Hopefully that works, I don't know what else to do  

I wouldn't expect moving the crates to instantly solve the problem, they've developed negative associations with the crates, but it will be a step in the right direction. :)I would move the crates and restart crate training as if they've never seen it and make sure to spoil them rotten whenever they are in the crate. Lots of treats, the good stuff, like cheese, beef jerky, human stuff that they never get. You could even stop by the butcher and get some raw marrow bones for them, just make sure you supervise them when you give them these. Feed them all the meals in the crate. When I was training Dizzy I would play the "in and out" game. Give him the crate command and throw a treat in, when he went in he got another treat and then I called him out, and would do dozens of repetitions of this throughout the day. I think its important to teach them that they don't always get stuck in there for hours every time they go in. That sometimes they just get a nice little treat and get to come out and play.

Edit - try rescue remedy as well, it works really well for my pup.

Sounds like your babies have some separation anxiety. Welcome to the club!

Is there a small area you can gate them off of in? I ask because when we tried crate training Gus, he would have such a hard time in there that I knew i couldn't just leave him in there right away. So we started gating him off in a small area first, but still continued to crate train. The smaller area was still stressful for him, but at least he couldn't hurt himself there, or destroy anything.

Try taking a look at this thread: https://www.itsahuskything.com/t10377p20-seperation-anxiety-and-crating-help

For us, when we crate trained Gus, we would do it on and off during the day while we were home. But also, we made him sleep in his crate at night. We started off with his crate right at the end of our bed so he could always see us (our mattress is very low). Then slowly moved his crate out, but he could still see us. We feed all his meals in there. And whenever he went in there by himself, he was rewarded (calmly) with a treat.

We still don't lock him in there when we leave as we think his gated room is a better option for him. But he loves his crate now! He naps in there all the time. And he sleeps in there all night with the door open. Occasionally, he'll even send himself to bed haha. We live in a condo, and his crate is in the living room, but he is still able to see us in the bedroom. The bedroom has 2 big sliding doors, so it's a HUGE opening. This whole process took us several months though. Gus also had really negative associations with the crate at first. we coudn't even step out the door without him instantly howling, screaming and peeing himself. So we knew that this wasn't something that we could rush. I understand how you feel though. I would make changes too (maybe too often) and expect something to change overnight. But realistically, that's not going to happen. Having a husky has taught me to keep my expectations in check haha.

wpskier222 wrote:

I wouldn't expect moving the crates to instantly solve the problem, they've developed negative associations with the crates, but it will be a step in the right direction.

I have come to realize that with Huskies, nothing ever happens instantly unless its something that they feel needs to be destroyed or dug up! LOL. I didn't kennel them today due to working until this evening, and thought it would only set us back further if I threw them in their crates, and left for the day.

We blocked them off from the stairs yesterday (they dug up the carpet, and continue to do so while we are gone >.<) only to come home, and find them venturing around upstairs, and more carpet ripped up. Today, I blocked them off using a long table (our doorways are HUGE), barricading it with an end table, and a chair on the one side, and placing the dining room table in front of that so they won't jump over it. If that works, and they don't knock it down, etc. I have no problem letting them run the kitchen/great room area when we leave for long amounts of time.

I wouldn't mind running home either, but due to living in a military community, my lunch often occurs at the same time everyone around us does, and traffic at noon is no fun to deal with. I would also feel stressed about getting back to work on time. >.<

TheBadGuppy wrote:

Sounds like your babies have some separation anxiety.  Welcome to the club!  

Is there a small area you can gate them off of in?  I ask because when we tried crate training Gus, he would have such a hard time in there that I knew i couldn't just leave him in there right away.  So we started gating him off in a small area first, but still continued to crate train.  The smaller area was still stressful for him, but at least he couldn't hurt himself there, or destroy anything.  

 I would make changes too (maybe too often) and expect something to change overnight.

Willow definitely has separation anxiety. When we first got her, I couldn't shut the bathroom door without her screaming, and looking for me. Luckily, she isn't THAT bad anymore, but if I leave to run to the store, and she's outside, she attempts to dig out to find me. Its just when I leave the property that she really kind of loses it now. A huge step from when she was two months old. Poor thing :/

Tyler, and I talked this morning, and he'll be home tomorrow when I'm at work, and he agreed to go ahead, and work with them on crating. They have no issue going into the crate, I've realized. As long as we have treats, their breakfast/dinner, or their Kongs, they run in there, and sit. Its when we close their doors that nothing else in the world matters but them being locked up, and they want the neighborhood to know! I suggest him making it into a game for them, and he agreed with that. I'm hoping it to be a step in the right direction!

Bane wrote:

wpskier222 wrote:

I wouldn't expect moving the crates to instantly solve the problem, they've developed negative associations with the crates, but it will be a step in the right direction.

I have come to realize that with Huskies, nothing ever happens instantly unless its something that they feel needs to be destroyed or dug up!

This is my favorite quote ever!