So, as most know already we recently adopted another Husky from a rescue in NC. Well she has been an absolute doll and so well behaved until today.

I work 12 hour midnight shift, and every 3rd day my husband works a 24 hour shift so every now and again our girls are left at home for about 12 hours, always crated. Well this morning I pull into my driveway and my neighbor is standing in my front yard waiting for me to get out. I get out of my Jeep and he proceeded to tell me that he let the pretty little black and white dog that we just got back in our backyard, and that somehow the gate had been opened. I asked him if he was sure it was my dog because she was supposed to be in our house crated as there had been no one home to let her out. He told me he was positive, and at that point I'm in an absolute panic thinking someone broke into our house! I push my way in our front door and there sits Skyler looking at me, the house absolutely trashed!! I let Kota out as she was still in her crate and took them both to the backdoor to potty and the back door was standing wide open. Needless to say I am terrified at this point and am frantically inspecting my house for missing items.

Luckily nothin was missing! I guess Skyler has a bit of seperation an anxiety and broke out of her crate and somehow opened our back door and let herself out to run the neighborhood! I am dumbfounded. I have heard of them breaking out of their crates but this is a new one to me!! Anyways Skyler is fine, and Kota is fine as is every thing in the house but my nerves are not fine. They are fired!! She got into the trash and just about anything not important that she could get. She didn't tear up furniture or anything like that but mainly paper and garbage.

I am a mess because I am now at a loss of what to do. There are going to be times that they are left for 12 hours alone and more often 8 hours but I never seen it as a problem since Kota has always been fine and up until now so has Skyler.

I have no clue what to do at this point. Also, please excuse grammatical errors as I am posting from my phone.

What kind of a crate you have? I heard its pretty easy for them to get out off a plastic crate. I'm happy she didn't go far and she didn't Destroyed your Furniture.

I know Erica had to use reinforcement ties on her crate to keep Maggie in, I'm sure she will post.

She has a metal crate now but I suppose we are going to have to use some zip ties to keep her from breaking out!

Wow that's crazy! I'm glad she didn't get hurt or ruin anything of value. I would for sure invest in a different crate. You can usually find some decent ones on Craigslist. Our military trainer recommended we invest in one of these, but they are pricey!

http://elitek9equipment.com/Crates/index.htm

(They are the first two listed on the site)

I feel for you - we had a crazy separation anxiety husky! First of all, take a deep breath and know it gets better. *hugs*

Here are some helpful threads from others that ran into this:
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t5699-photos-and-update-dog-sitting-severe-anxiety-need-help
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t5167p40-at-my-wit-s-end-still-crating-horribly
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t3112-2-year-old-female-that-hates-being-alone

I have a wire crate for my kids and I use the hook styles that are on leashes and reinforce the door closure with them in addition to the latch system the crate uses. Also, you can use zip ties, but there are aluminum wire that is pretty easy to bend that they use for chain link fences in the hardware store that can reinforce things also.

Glad to hear they are safe, sorry to hear about the mess though.

Heather, I chimed in hehe!

I have the same issue with maggie. I have to lock all doors. All doors. She can open the gurage door. I don't crate her much anymore because I work at a dog kennel and she comes to work with me. However I am a radiology/MRI student so I will have those crazy shifts like you have. When I do crate her I have tried zip ties. She chews them right off and gets out. I have padlocks one side and carabeners on the other. I recommend the good ones that can twist lock because maggie can open the cheaper ones. You can get them at REI or Outdoor world or something like that. I also have an old lead connector on there too. lol

The real issue is that she didnt just get the latches open she lliterally broke the welds on the crate and pulled the side panels part. I haven't ever really noticed her having any seperation anixety and her foster mom just told me that she never experianced any of that with her while she had her. I am at a lose because typically she is my golden girl. I am still a little shook up even after several hours!!

The zip ties are just temporty to hold that crate together because she really made a mess of it. I wish I had gotten a picture before the hubby came home and fixed it that best he could. I am terrified that she is going to get sick or something like that because of all the stuff she ate/tore up and I really have no idea what all she got into, ya know! We have talked about getting some of those locks though since zip ties will probably not stop her for very long if she really wants out!

I am very glad though that she didn't run off and that she actually let my neighbore put her back in the yard, and I assue she went right back in the open back door. I have literally no idea how she got the back door open though as you have to pull it towards you to open it, and it sticks. All I can figure is the rope with training bells we can around the handle acted like you would think, and she just grabbed it and yanked. I still am having a hard time grasping that. Luckly I am at work again for 12 but my husband is off and at home with them trying to reinforce that house. Poor guy, he isn't trilled about her to begin with since he really isn't a animal person but he loves me and humors my obsession!!

I must say though Kota was PISSED to say the least that Skyler was out and she was stuck in her crate! She had scooted the crate almost all the way out of the bedroom and was screaming when I came in the front door! Once I let her out she literally attacked Skyler and I had to break up a dog fight because she was so angry. Funny in a way, but on top of the house being a wreck, Skyler escaping, and just having worked a 12 hour midnight shift, breaking up a dog fight was not exactly high on my priority list.

Guess its time to start reading up on seperation aniexty. Ya think I can just give her some of my prozac?

KotaBear wrote:

The real issue is that she didnt just get the latches open she lliterally broke the welds on the crate and pulled the side panels part. I

yep that's what maggie does. lol

If you just got her then she'll need to time to settle in and realize this is her forever home. Frosti is a runner but she now knows this is home and doesn't brainstorm ways of getting out. She can now be out in the house without being crated for up to 5 1/2 hrs with her brother. Definitely hang in there!

BTW - we had to upgrade to an airline crate for her at first. The rattling of the wire crate freaked her out even more.

We have had Skyler since the first weekend in November so for about a month now, and she really seems to love it with us. She is very loving and is good as gold when we are home, but when we are gone I guess its a different story. Im not mad, I understand that she is probably still a little scared but its like 2 different dogs from when we are home and when we are not. She loves her crate when we are home, and spend a lot of time laying in it, but I guess once we latch the door and leave its another story.

We're not giving up on her by no means, and it really humbles me to know that even though she got out she didn't go anywhere but in front of our house. My husband thinks she was probably just looking for me since she didn't run off. Its just one more little habit of hers that we'll have to break but no big deal. Just scared me more than anything.

Is it possible that you could hire a dog walker to come on that day for a mid day break?

We have thought about that but because Skyler is still very timid around people we are not sure how she would be around a stranger. We're just biding our time trying to get her adjusted. She barely trust my husband, but we have a girl that we know that use to do it with Kota before we got Skyler but have had her stop for the time being. Hopefully once Skyler gets over being so nervous then we can slowly introduce her to them.

Danzig used to the same exact thing, except he never got out of the house, thank god. He has a wire crate and Dustin had to zip tie all the panels together about every quarter inch (which by the way is a pain in the you know what when you need to break it down) and then we use carabeaner's on the latches. He's never been able to chew the zip ties off, but Dustin stole them from work when he was an electrician, so maybe they're stronger?

A dog walker may be a good idea. I try to never leave the dogs londer than 8.5 hours. But my work schedules allows for that.