So Lexi is almost 1 year old. She definitely has some separation anxiety and we have tried to deal with that, but she still has it some.

To start off, we borrowed a crate from a friend, for her. It is a 42" wire but has a divider in it, so we made it work. At a pretty young age she started to try to open the latches... She also pulls on the door in an attempt to open it. She can usually get 1 latch open (usually the bottom one), but we have seen the top one open before (never had both YET).
Because of the pulling she has managed to pull a couple of the welds apart that hold the horizontal and vertical bars together. And she has also bent the crap out of it. ... we can't give it back in this condition, so my friend will be getting a new crate when he wants it back!
I have tried putting no bite stuff on the door, so she will leave it alone, but that doesn't seem to work.

Another friend gave us another crate. This one is a 36" wire with a different latch, that Lexi can't seem to figure out. She also seems to not try to destroy it as much. BUT it is only 20" wide... And when Lexi curls up in it, it seems like it is too narrow for her. This one also has a metal tray which is a little bent and disfigured. I feel like it may not be enough room and that she isn't happy.

Other than that we have been through some other options:
Soft portable crate - no problem wrecking it at a very young age (silly us)
Hard plastic (airplane) crate - within 1 hour of being in it, she put a hole in the side of it
42" portable fence - pushed this around, and eventually just jumped over it (of course)

So right now we have 2 crates (42" and 36") and are trying to figure out what to do. Keep her in the smaller one, or put her in the bigger one? Do we try to put the divider in the bigger one to give her less room?
Does she need us to do something differently (more crate training, more anxiety training)?

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks!
Scott + Sara

I know how you feel. I bought a used airplane crate for my girl it was 42 inches. She popped out of it in 25 minutes by gnawing at the sides. Next I tried a Heavy duty 37 inch crate and she is comfortable and doesn't/can't get out of it. I would say the 36 in crate sounds fine but I think that my 37 inch one is wider than 20 inches. As long as she looks comfortable put her in the crate that can contain her. Is she on the large side?
BTW I can try to find pictures of the crate I have. I only paid 75 bucks and its one of the best crates I'f ever seen.

I personally use a 42" crate, but I know there are several people here that use 36" crates. Unless she's larger than average, I'd imagine that the smaller one is fine. The smaller one might also be more comfortable to her, and that might be why she hasn't actually tried to get out yet. And if you're discussing putting a divider in the larger one, then I think the smaller one is probably fine.

I wouldn't say that she is too big... within the average range for a female.
She can curl up in the husky ball (or whatever you call her) in the 36", but she is touching both sides when she does.

Lexis - would love to see pictures of it and know where you got it from.

I have also tried to put a blanket over the crate to make it more like a cave/home... but she can't be trusted with blankets... she pulls them in and rips them to shreds. that's why I thought the airplane crate would help (less open wire). It didn't.

Thanks for your opinions!

Scott

Sky just turned 1 last week. She about about 45-50 lbs. She's already broken 1 crate completely and is about to break her second one. She tore the bottom plastic trays into pieces for both crates. I've been using the wire crates, and she doesn't escape, but she bends the metal. All sides of the crate are chewed or bent, and I'm sure she's going to escape soon. Any suggestions and what brand of crate to buy? I need something strong and pretty much indestructible.

Thanks!

Feliz

Feliz - first welcome from a fellow Texan, I'm over by the Big Bend.

A couple of questions first ... are you Sky's first owner? How long is she generally left in her crate at a time? Is she crated when you're at home? ... at night?

*My interpretation* is that you're not reading this right. If she's unhappy in her crate then no matter what you get she'll have a problem with it. You can get bigger, better, stronger till she can't damage the crate - but in turn she'll probably hurt herself trying.

Unteaching a behaviour you don't want is almost always harder than teaching a behaviour that you do want. She's telling you that she doesn't like to be crated - in whatever situation she's being crated - *you* have to convince her that her crate's a good thing and that being crated isn't punishment and you will let her out as soon as you can.

Basically, my suggestion would be to review the threads here about how to crate train a dog and then go back to basics - Crate Training 101.