here's a long, back story.....
we've had Timber for 3 months. he's 16 months old now. My daughter stayed home with him over the summer and he's been staying home alone when she went back to school the beginning of sept. I watch him from my computer on skype, and he sleeps about 85% of the day that he's home alone. He's alone for about 8.5-9 hours.

I walk him before we leave for about 2.25 miles. he plays out side too. I give him a frozen filled kong or a frozen filled bone.

two weeks ago he chewed up a corner of our couch (leather). last week he chewed up part of a leather bench we have. Today he chewed up the leather bench some more.

last week we started working on training him on how to do tricks- we hadn't really been working on any with him. I thought the mental stimulation would help keep him happy and nondestructive.

I also bring him to the dog park almost every evening for 60-90 minutes so he can run around and play, or we take a 4 mile evening walk.

I'm not sure why the sudden destructiveness, other than he's a husky and a dog and sometimes they do stuff like that.

My husband wants me to leave him in his crate all day, currently he has the roam of our downstairs living room and dining room. he doesn't try to get past the baby gates we have. He frequently goes into his crate to sleep at night and during the day, but we don't shut the door. We started off with too much too soon with the crate when we first got him, so we backed off and he started going in by himself.

so, I guess my question is, will he be ok if I leave him in his crate tomorrow when I go to work? He's never been in it that long and I'm freaking out about leaving him in it for so long, but I don't want him to keep eating my furniture either. I've found some chew marks on some of our wooden furniture as well.

he has plenty of stuff to chew on, but he gets bored easily. I've bought him puzzle balls and he's not interested. sometimes he doesn't even eat his kong.

I play a recording for him of my daughter and I talking. when we are getting ready to leave, he's already laying down ready to go to sleep.

I'd like to put him in doggy day care a few days a week, but I can't afford that right now.

nothing else in our routine has changed. unless he's sensitive to the days getting darker earlier? or is he just a teenage PITA husky?

Jennifer, don't know if you'll see this. Is there any possibility someone can come home for a little bit during the 8.5-9 hours? We don't crate, and we don't leave her for that long, so I can't be a huge help. However, when Miya was younger, we had one of those days every other week and I would fly home during my hour lunch, took me 15 minutes each way, but she had a half hour to go out and eat my lunch with me. That made her more calm, knowing I would be back. It is part boredom, but part separation anxiety. The only other suggestion would be to baby gate a more restricted area that has less chances for destruction.

Hope that helps a little,

Renee

thanks Renee.
I could come home, but I'd have about 15-20 minutes to spend with him. do you think that would help?

Jennifer,
I do, sometimes it was for me only 20 minutes but she knew I was coming back. He has bonded with the family and he's a rescue, reassurance when bored and lonely helps with the separation. Can you work out something with work so you can try and stay a little longer? My work was ok if I was no more than 15 minutes late coming back.

Good luck

Renee

Thanks Renee, I can pretty much do whatever I want at work, but I don't look forward to driving home and back every day. I know he would get used to it, but I think in the beginning he would be confused and wonder why I am leaving again. he's so excited when we come home after work and he won't leave my side until I put his leash and harness on him and get him ready to go out for a walk or to the dog park.

Definitely sounds like you're giving him enough exercise and attention. He's being a bratty teenage husky IMO...lol. I know that not everybody agrees, but all of mine have been crated 8-9 hours a day while we're at work. The first few weeks I would come home at lunch and take them out to potty and play with them. I wouldn't suggest just putting him in the crate for 8hrs straight at first, that's for sure. Maybe start it on the weekend and leave for an hour or two, etc? Mya got free roam at 4 1/2 years old and Kody at 3. Asia is about 3 now and still in her crate (don't trust her yet). Mya was the worst by far becasue she was alone, having another dog helped tremendously! Frozen kongs are awesome to leave in the crate because for the most part they don't tear them apart. Good luck!

Jennifer, Indeed coming home is a temporary suggestion at best, I only had to deal with this every other Saturday. Crating is worth a try. To be honest we can not trust Miya for more than 3 hours at a time with free reign, I agree with Melissa once they are 3 or 4 you know their track record. He is after all getting used to your routines, he'll get used to this. My other suggestion as above, using baby gates in a more restricted area that is less likely a place for destruction and give many types of toys and treats to keep him occupied.

Renee

Thanks Melissa and Renee, I have a question about the crate. if you use a crate, do you have a crate water bottle? when we've crated him before, the water would leak all over - not sure if he was playing with it or banging on it.

I give him kongs almost every day. he doesn't really like them frozen - he gets mad and waits for it to thaw out and sometimes forgets it's even there.

I will start on crating him a few hours at a time this weekend. I changed up some things at home today, different music playing for him, and I hid treats around the house for him to find. it's hard because he knows all my hiding places! but I don't want to make it too hard, so he feels he has to destroy something to get to the treat!

The Foobler toy looks interesting, I read about it in another destructive thread.

Do you stuff the Kong for him? We do yogurt with pumpkin and peanut butter and freeze it for an hour. They go insane! Every doggie is different though

I don't leave water in the crate at all, don't want them to have to potty from drinking it. Plus I'm sure that they'd make a huge mess also!

That's a cute idea...hiding treats throughout the house!!

so it's ok not to give him water when he's in the crate for 8.5 hours? he's fine in the house with drinking water and being able to hold it. in fact, he doesn't always want to go outside to potty when we get home.

yah, he likes the kong, but not frozen - ticks him off.

Jennifer,

If you are giving treats as Melissa suggested he is getting fluids, yogurt (greek or regular plain or vanilla, or suitable flavor, although I do stick to those 2) and pure pumpkin (not sure if you knew has to be can pure pumpkin and not pie filling), he'll be fine. I love the hiding treats and toys, I have read this before, but never have tried. Keep us posted, I think Timber is very lucky he found your family, and he is such a handsome guy.

Renee

thanks everyone. yesterday he was fine. I was able to shove a greenie into a ball he has, I saw him playing with it on the video.

He loves vanilla yogurt, won't eat plain and he doesn't like pumpkin! sometimes I put some wet food in his kong and alternate it with some peanut butter and then seal it with coconut oil. one day he got yogurt all over! he must have been smacking the kong around allot!

Today he has a few new treats. I shoved a rawhide stick into a long squeeky tube he has. I don't think he'll be able to get it out, but he's determined to try. he also has a pig ear and a Himalayan chew thing. I had hoped to get the himalayan chew into the ball from yesterday, but he destroyed that ball trying to get the greenie out! we've had the ball forever and he's never been able to chew it up. I've put small treats in it before.

I saw this cool thing at the pet store yesterday that was for himalayan yak chews. it was a hard rubber cover with small openings, but dang it was expensive. I guess not as expensive as new furniture though! I think I'll check for it on amazon.

This am we took a longer walk and I made sure to chase him around and play more before I leave for work.

thanks for all the advice and the kind words.