[KodyandFlash]

Hello all,
I am new here and have two shepherds, well one pure all black and one who is mixed with just about everything. The newest, Kody, is a 5 year old pure black shepherd. Basically our 2 year old mix, Flash, picked him. they get along and play a lot. Flash has full run of the house and is very independent. he caught on quick. Kody is crated during the day and we pay someone to let them out midday and toss a ball with them in the yard. Kody has been destroying everything in his crate when we leave. He destroyed the pan yesterday and bent the wire kennel. I walk/run him twice a day before we leave for work and when I get home. He wakes up all night, does not sleep well. I am not sure if he just has a ton of energy and is bored or if it is some anxiety. I dont want him to hurt himself by eating something. Any suggestions.

Thanks
Keith

 

[1sttimeforgsd]

Welcome, since I am fairly new here also I would think he is probably just bored.

 

[KodyandFlash]

I am starting to think that but he is absolutely fine when we are around. All of this happens in the first couple hours when we leave. right after walks and play.

 

[blcm]

I just went through the same thing with our new had, a 5 year old female. Ours bent up 2 wire crates, pants heavily, she hates being confined even tho she was crate trained supposedly....I also posted about this problem, and it was suggested by someone to get her a varikennel. She scratched herself up on the metal crate we had, we were afraid she'd get hurt. So far so good with the plastic crate, it has a nice strong metal door on it. If I crate her at night, I hear her paw at it for the first 20 minutes then she sleeps. It was $229 at petco but worth it. When I left her loose during
the day, she did some minor damage. It sounds like separation anxiety

 

[BowWowMeow]

i had the exact same problem when I adopted Rafi. Am running to work but buy yourself a copy of Patricia McConnell's booklet, "I'll be home soon." I followed her protocol to the letter and 7 weeks later Rafi was just fine when left alone, uncrated.

Also, is he in your bedroom at night? I let Rafi sleep on the dog futon with my other dog at night right away and he did fine.

 

[Runswithdogs]

i had the exact same problem when I adopted Rafi. Am running to work but buy yourself a copy of Patricia McConnell's booklet, "I'll be home soon." I followed her protocol to the letter and 7 weeks later Rafi was just fine when left alone, uncrated.

Also, is he in your bedroom at night? I let Rafi sleep on the dog futon with my other dog at night right away and he did fine.

You were very very lucky to get such fast and non-regressive results.
We followed the protocol as well and Regen just seemed to stall out at a certain point.

I don't think I ever asked you...what did you do with Rafi during the day during the 7 weeks that you were working on the protocol?

To the OP, it may be that your dog has confinement issues, not separation anxiety. Some dogs are fine in the house uncrated but are holy terrors if you keep them in a crate. Mine does have separation anxiety but she still does better uncrated when she is home alone. If she is crated she will bend the wires trying to escape.

 

[BowWowMeow]

You were very very lucky to get such fast and non-regressive results.
We followed the protocol as well and Regen just seemed to stall out at a certain point.

I don't think I ever asked you...what did you do with Rafi during the day during the 7 weeks that you were working on the protocol?

For the first year I had him Rafi would regress anytime I left him somewhere new but we worked through it. During those 7 weeks I took him everywhere I could with me (even had to take him into the classroom one day because it was too cold to leave him in my truck!) and otherwise left him in the back of my truck. He was not perfect back there (chewed a few things including his sense-ation harness) but did better than in the crate and it was safer than leaving him in the crate.

 

[KodyandFlash]

Thanks for all the advice. When I first got him from the rescue they said he liked to chew if he was left alone, so we crated him. He was doing fine in the crate. He would go in the crate and relax at night with the door open and occasionally chew up the bedding in there during the day. He will go right in if I say get in your crate. He sleeps in our room at night or he will go in the spare bedroom and sleep on that bed with the other dog. This is very recent. I realized this morning that he broke the welds on the crate. I am scared to leave him out during the day, for his safety and my couch. I am at a loss. He is such a great dog when we are around. Very obedient but very energetic. I walk them twice a day and play ball with him and train them. I may try to find a trainer to get his thoughts. the only change is the crate was moved to a different spot in the living room but he started this before I moved it. It is getting worse.