Hi all! So i have been reading trying to find some information on my almost 7 month old husky and his severe crate issues.
First, off he is such a good dog! Very well trained and awesome personality! Very mellow and we are already at the point where at night we dont need to put him in his crate. He sleeps right at the foot of our bed or even IN his crate!! So here are the issues

1. We started crate training him from day 1 when we got him at 8 weeks.
2. He appears to like his crate...its in our room and at night he will sleep in it (we dont close the door)
3. He has been so bad that we finally started leaving him out during the day when we left (got up to about 5 hours at one point). However, for the first time grabbed a wine box i had on a shelf on chewed up the rope handle-when i came home my husband and i decided he needed to go back in when we leave, esp with the holidays, we dont want him getting into any of the decorations.
4. I try to exercise him a lot so when he has to go in he is tired. I also give a couple treats and toys for him to play with. The minute i shut the door...he is screaming, crying and barking. He will drool that its a pool when we get back, he will thrash and chew up his paws.
5. I work from home now so he really doesnt have to be in it all that much. In fact a couple months ago he was doing fantastic with it...it wasnt until about a month and a half ago he regressed

I am seriously at a loss! I love this little guy to death and he is such a good dog, but i am so frustrated because I feel i can never leave him! I feel we have tried everything and sometimes think this will never end! Im not sure if maybe he needs a bigger crate (its about a normal size for a medium sized dog), or if this is sep. anxiety or hating the feeling of being trapped?

Any suggestions or anything i am doing wrong?

Do you have a room that you could close him in when you leave instead of the crate?

Maybe get another crate that's a different type try to go back to square one. Put him in it and close the door while you are in the room. If he gets comfortable with that, leave the room then come back and let him out if he's calm and quiet. Work up to leaving the house the same way you would have done it the first time.

I've found that a piece of my clothing helps to keep her calm while I'm away as well as a good 30 minute walk before I leave. My girl is 6 months old and has done alright in the cage when left alone. I am currently trying to figure out what makes her "tick". Some days we will walk her, give her a Kong, and she does well for 6 hours in the crate (mostly sleeps). This past weekend, I walked her for 2 miles, gave her a bully stick which made her fall asleep but after 2 hours started freaking out, crying, and peed in the crate. We were back after 3 hours so it was a shame to see she almost lasted the entire time. We have been video taping her to try and pinpoint the peeing. She is housebroken so this is an anxiety issue. A piece of my clothing wasn't in the crate this time so that might have been the cause.

Hey All!

I tried a piece of my clothing this time when I went to the gym for an hour. It, along with his kennel was soaked in drool. Im pretty sure he cried the entire time i was gone.

i am thinking of leaving him in the kitchen and trying that...is it possible he hates just being trapped?

I have read that while crating is effective some huskies just dislike being trapped regardless of toys and treats in the crate with them. You mentioned that he was mellow so he might focus on his toys or sleep while you are gone. I would try the kitchen setup initially and leave your place or even just the room for a few minutes and see if the drooling occurs before leaving him for an extended period of time. He might need to see you physically leave and then return so that he knows goodbye isn't forever. Ellie is also mellow when we aren't playing with her so I think she would prefer a bigger holding area while we are away.

I think we might need to try that since right now with xmas stuff out....i dont want to temp him. However it got so bad at a point that we did leave him out and he was completely fine-we had left him up to 5 hours. However, until last week he pulled down something from a shelf and chewed the handle...(this could have been been my fault since i was leaving for an hour in the morning and did not exercise him) Its just odd because right now as im working from home...he is in the other room where he cannot see me and he is just sleeping....so possibly separation anxiety?

Here is my advice because I am soon going to be in this situation with a 2 year old soon when we are no longer living in the house that he has been in since he was a puppy. He loves his crate at home, but I cannot crate him anywhere else without him going through what your dog goes through, so I know its going to be a disaster.

My plan is to start him on anxiety medication, Resources Anxiety & Stress Canine Calming Support two weeks before I move (mine also just has general anxiety in places) and I'm hoping that this calms him down until he gets used to his surroundings and in his crate. He does the same as yours where he just cried and salivates everywhere. Now you could take that approach but these are pills that he would have to take every day. Where I don't think you need it for all around times, I would try like a rescue remedy or something (I'm not sure if there is a healthier version of that) but they are drops that you could give him like twenty minutes before you put him in there. Then I would put him in there with a kong, and leave for short amounts of time and always go in when he is quiet and then take him out. I think if you do this eventually you will be able to get him off of the drops and the problem should be lessened. I just don't think he has ever been calm in there so he doesn't know how to enjoy it and the drops will help that.

I know it was a lot of rambling on my part, but I hope this helps you a little. I think his is just to severe to do normal crate training procedures.

Oh, and also! If you have a plain wire cage, put a blanket over him. It will make him feel more enclosed and den like!

Be careful with the blanket over the wire cage. Ellie loves having the blanket over the cage when sleeping at night but when she is alone, she'll pull it straight into the cage. I think she likes to be able to see out when she is alone. Every husky is different though.

Yeah, sorry! Definitely don't do it if your husky is a blanket eater. One of mine is and one of mine isn't. So watch out for that.

I appreciate all the suggestions! He gets neutered on Thurs so im going to talk to the vet as well! and the possibility of osme anxiety meds! Im wondering if we do some exercises of practicing leaving and coming back..im wondering if that will help!

Though I would let you all know-and for people who view this post and still have questions-we got kato neut. and he has been fantastic ever since with his crate

That is wonderful news! I am glad to see that things have improved.