Rio chewed through her crate! (The hard plastic kind, not the wire one) We put her into it when we went to the movies. We got home and she was greeting us at the door. I went to check what happened and she had chewed the bolts off (plastic bolts) and chewed through the "window" slates and get out of her crate!

Has anyone had this happen before?!

I guess they weren't lying about her being a chewer!

lol time for a wire crate

The bad thing is that they told me she chewed through the wire crate, that was how she got out of their house.

Some one told me to muzzle her, but I don't think that is right to muzzle her all night.

uh-oh. embry has really bad anxiety, has since I got him at 10 weeks. Last week he bent the bars to the wire kennel and greeted me at the door. Naughty puppies.

Jennet&Embry wrote:

uh-oh. embry has really bad anxiety, has since I got him at 10 weeks. Last week he bent the bars to the wire kennel and greeted me at the door. Naughty puppies.

That's what I'm afraid of. I know that all dogs are different, but after having the BEST dog (Kya), I am not prepared to deal with naughtiness lol!

Brewer has suffered from SA since we rescued him ~5 months ago. 2 plastic and 2 metal have fallen victim so far! We are currently on a really good stretch of kennel behavior with the 3rd metal crate... <crosses fingers>

I can only recommend patience, obedience training (reinforces good behavior and increases confidence), and creating a positive atmosphere with the crate....but you already knew this.

Hope you start to see some improvement!

After I started clipping her crate shut because she figured out how to open the door, Keeonah finally decided enough nonsense, and just broke the front door of her wire crate clean off. I wanted to be impressed, but was too busy cussing at the mess she had made once she was free:P.

Everything I read says to just be steadfast and wait it out, but her SA seems pretty bad for having her and crating her since 8 weeks.

The last two times I have crated her before leaving for work, I have given her frozen peanut butter in a kong. Roommate says she hasn't made a peep i started doing this. I dont want to keep giving her gobs of peanut butter every time I have to leave, but in the short term, it may be helping her feel better about the crate. If you find a permanent solution though, let me know )

Chewing like this?


After he destroyed the plastic tray in his metal crate, and I had to leave him for 3 hours, I came home to this:


I'm certain he would have gotten that end off if it weren't clipped in 3 places on each door, and zip-tied every 6in.

And chain link??? My husband fixed it, but the rod on the latch side that holds tension on the fence? Niko bent it in a few places and forced it down and then bent the chain link over so he could climb out. Thus the wire to hold the fence in place.


Penut butter kongs work well for us also, but only last around an hour. and we're usually gone for 3-4hrs at a time.

Yes, EXACTLY like that!! That is a mirror image!!! OMG.

We put her in te garage with two frozen rib bones today. I am in class for about 6 hours 2 days a week and she did that last night in a hour in a half. I wont be shocked if she tire up the screen and wood door into the house when I get home. Ugggghhh

Oh and she has ripped off zip ties like they are string lol

Tiff&amp;Kya wrote:

Oh and she has ripped off zip ties like they are string lol

I believe we have upwards of 20 carabiners strategically placed throughout the metal crate...

MicroBrewer wrote:

Tiff&Kya wrote:

Oh and she has ripped off zip ties like they are string lol

I believe we have upwards of 20 carabiners strategically placed throughout the metal crate...

I am going to have to look into those for the new crate.

I have a HUGE crate, like big enough for me, my girlfriend, both huskies and the poms to lay in, but that's too big for her. It was given to me for kya so she would be kennelled but not SQUISHED the entire time i was at school. Now she roams the back yard/garage or the house while I am gone.

Either way it is too big.

What size would you all suggest for a 30 lb husky?

You could still use that crate and put a partition in it to cut down on the size...

Demon&amp;Dakota wrote:

You could still use that crate and put a partition in it to cut down on the size...

It doesn't fit in our bedroom and she will howl all night if she is in the living room.

i can't remember if ours are the 36" or the 42" the first one we took sierra to the pet store and had her go in them and then we just got that size for Jack, he can sit in it but his ears stick out the top im glad we don't have to crate them any more

For an average Siberian I've been told a 36". Only room for the dog to stand up, lay down and turn around in.

I'm gonna try the 36 inch. I will be glad when I don't have to crate Rio anymore. The only reason she is crated at night is because out bed can't hold anymore animals and Kya takes up the entire bed as it is and we have to conform to sleeping AROUND HER. lol

If she isn't destructive and can actually be left unattended - why bother to crate her? Why not just train her a good "off" cue or a "Go to bed" (would just be a get off the bed because we're going to sleep) cue?

She has to associate the crate with good things and not bad. If she's the only one being crated and kept away from her "pack" it's already being associated as a bad thing.

The two youngest ones are crated: Pingo, the male pom bc he still isn't housetrained through the night. He has a TEEENY WEENY bladder, and Rio. Rio is mostly crated because she does like to chew on things, and we don't really know HOW she would act with the little ones while we aren't home. She was fine when we found her at the door, but since Pingo is an instigator, and she already snapped at Drama, my female pom, I am afraid to leave her unattended.

Another reason I crate her at night is that if I tell her to get off the bed, Kya gets off the bed too, and I need Kya on the bed to help me get up in the middle of the night, sit up, etc. (I am missing half my spine and while I can walk, I have difficulties maneuvering while laying down bc I don't have the support in my back to do it myself) I have been working on getting Kya to realize what commands are for her, and what aren't for her, but she still thinks that any command is telling her to do it.


Any suggestions about that?

Tiff&Kya wrote:

The two youngest ones are crated: Pingo, the male pom bc he still isn't housetrained through the night. He has a TEEENY WEENY bladder, and Rio. Rio is mostly crated because she does like to chew on things, and we don't really know HOW she would act with the little ones while we aren't home. She was fine when we found her at the door, but since Pingo is an instigator, and she already snapped at Drama, my female pom, I am afraid to leave her unattended.

Another reason I crate her at night is that if I tell her to get off the bed, Kya gets off the bed too, and I need Kya on the bed to help me get up in the middle of the night, sit up, etc. (I am missing half my spine and while I can walk, I have difficulties maneuvering while laying down bc I don't have the support in my back to do it myself) I have been working on getting Kya to realize what commands are for her, and what aren't for her, but she still thinks that any command is telling her to do it.


Any suggestions about that?

rename her commands
make the "sit" command for example "at ease"
make the "down" command "rest"

Those are just examples

The EASIEST way would just be to get Rio to enjoy her times in the crate. Which could be anything from giving her a Kong filled with something spectacular while she's in there (she'd only get it while she's in there) or to giving her treats every time she is in there and isn't doing anything destructive.

So say she walks into the crate on her own and sits - give her a treat. Then say she stays in there for 30 seconds without doing something destructive - treat. Keep it really short and do it multiple times for every time she doesn't do anything destructive - treat. Then when she's okay with being in there - start shutting the door (not locking it). When you shut the door treat right away if she doesn't make noise or try and bite the cage. Then open it and treat. Practice shutting the door and making it an awesome place where she's getting treats. Once she's okay with shutting the door - prolong the amount of time the door stays shut before she gets a treat. But never ever treat her if she starts anything that looks like she's going to chew. If that starts end the session.

If you don't want to do that (or can't) you can always name associate the cue. "Kya, stay" "Rio, off".
It would take some work but if they know their names and the cues well enough it would/should work.

For every time you told Kya to stay on the bed she'd get a treat (also reinforcing the stay and hold) and every time you told Rio to get off and Kya would stay (and Rio would eventually get off). You'd treat them both.

I'll try that tonight. Kya knows her commands well, Rio.. not so much lol.

Thanks for the input!