Hi as you know I have had a few probs with my pup in the crate department. I am trying to make her experiences in the crate better for her and more enjoyable.

I have tried moving the crate and covering it, I am not awar if thre is a prob while I am out as no complaints of the neighbours, and they are friendly people and would nicely say something to me if there was a problem. All i know is that she is extremely anxous before I leave her, when she noes it is time to go in the crate and be left alone. But when I tell her 'in your crate' she will go in, I dont need to guide her in or anything. She used to cry all way back home from her walk (as she noes i walk her before i go out anywhere) but the past couple of days I have been doing alot of training with lead walking (she has been a start with this) and down the field on lead and so past couple of days she has not been crying all way home, only when i get to the front door, but an improvement :)

I leave the telly on for her, she has treats and toys in there, and covered all around apart from the door. As you no I have had to remove the tray as she was eating it, and have to tuck all blankets under the crate as she drags them to the back corner. The reason she is crated is becasue when she was not she used to tear up every single bit of paper she could find. Nothing else just paper, not sure weather this was becasue of anxiety or weather just becasue she liked it. So my question is, if i was to put some old paper in there with her, would it be enjoyable for her and occupy her and add enjoyment to the crate or would I just be adding to her anxiety and re-inforcing some anxiety ???

I didn't ask you this before but how long are you leaving her for? The paper shredding is undoubtedly a sign of anxiety. I undertand yoyur issues about her being destructive but it is not good or advisable to crate a young dog for hours on end- assuming this is what happens?

The anxiety is most likely due to the fact that she associates the crate with separation and long hours of confinement- pretty scary for anyone if you think about it.

As I said before, she needs to have periods of separation slowly, slowly built up over time. I'm talking 15 minute intervals or less here. have you a relative she could stay with during the day- crate and all? Could you get someone to come in to break up the day for her?

I'm a bit uneasy about the scenario you paint because, in all honesty, it sounds like you may be asking too much of her too soon. I wonder if she is actually the right dog for you if you have to spend many hours away? Perhaps I have misunderstood. Please feel free to correct me.

Please understand, I do not mean to criticize but some dogs simply cannot cope with much separation, it is the way they are made. She is also clearly very bright with a busy, busy brain. She's what I call a full time breed.

To comment on the paper tearing rather than the crating issues.
My youngsters don't have any sort of anxiety but love to tear paper and as a special treat I will give them a couple of cardboard boxes to rip up when they are left. They thoroughly enjoy it and will spend a long time making sure that all the pieces are tiny. It doesn't take a lot to sweep it up, but I do have to be sure to not leave important boxes on the floor because I can't expect them to tell the difference lol

Hi. I am not leaving her for long periods at all. I do not work. Im jus talking about, 2 hours a day !! and she gets enough exercise and enough disstractions while in the crate.

Hi, I didnt think the paper was a signe of anxiey becasue nothing else in the house was disstroyed or even showed signs that she had tried. She used to have the run of the house (downstairs) and would not even try to get into the bins in the kitchen (they are easyily accessable for her if she wanted to). So maybe I could start giving her it as a special treat when in the crate ???

To me it sounds like pure boredom. I know what my own dogs are like (high energy Malinois) -if they have to be indoors more than usual due to bad weather, we get opened cupboards and drawers, stuff carried around (frying pans seems to be a favourite with my Roxie!) -it's amazing what they can do given half a chance. Have locks on everything now. When they get out as usual it never happens. It's always worse with pups of course.  I know not everyone will agree but I really feel the more a dog is kept away from something, the less likely they will be to leave it alone. Keep the dog caged for the first year or so when left alone, then once let out it can FINALLY have a chew at whatever it's had its eyes on. I find they grow out of it quicker not being locked up.

Personally I don't like regular caging during daytime -especially not for big dogs. I'd much rather use one room and make sure to remove anything that could be damaged, give plenty of things allowed to chew etc. But the chew things have to be REALLY high value to the dog. (And that of course will vary from dog to dog, what means most to them.) Nothing beats a huge raw bone with plenty of meat on.

Thanks for the advice :) Do you think its a good idea then to get a stairgate and confine her to one room rather than the crate and then just hope that the probs will get better with age??. And put bed, all toys, bones, etc in there with her ?? I have just brought a Kong aswell, not tried her with that yet, so hopefully tht will work. And also like you said with high value stuff, would paper be a good idea (as she loves it) or will i be adding to her anxiety??

LurcherOwner,

My apologies to you. I made an assumption there and ended up with the wrong conclusion.

Boredom could produce anxiety but, yes, a lot of dogs just like ripping up paper- ripping things up is a natural doggie thing to do. Might be best if you can channel her oral gratification onto something that requires her to work and think, as well as rip/chew. A carefully stuffed kong might work- never let her have it other than when she is in the crate.

TBH it would be nice to confine her to a room rather than crate but you probably will get damage- she just sounds like one of those dogs that has to be busy. and has trouble switching off. Careful use of the crate may help her to learn to settle- just don't leave her in for too long.

I do agree with Goldmali though. If you can just accept that you might get a bit of damage short term it probably would help to give her the kitchen (you can try putting something like bitter apple spray on table legs and chairs and other chewable furniture, my breed love a piece of wood- even as adults- doorstops are a fave). She sounds a nice girl so very high value items will probably be okay.

I had one old girl who loved ripping paper - even dropped till receipts would be seized upon with joy and reduced to confetti! It wasn't boredom or anxiety - it was fun!

No need to appologise. Its me just not explaining myself properly :) But thank you :)
I was thinking my bedroom, she has a connection with my bedroom, often curls up in there happy as you like while im in the bath etc and she sleeps in there aswell all night, in her own bed and does not make a sound untill I am ready to wake up, so she oviously feels secure in there. I have not given her her kong yet was going to wait untill i sort out a room for her to stay in. So will tidy up, and puppy proof it, and leave in there water bowle, bone, kong, toys etc. I have accepted by doing this I will prob have some damage, but am not afraid she will start on furniture (she has never done so before) so if any bad bhavour was to occur it would be my fault for not tidying away properly :)

I think I am going to get rid of crate all together, I think maybe it is anxiety over the crate rather thank over being left (like I said only left for a couple hours and good exercise before and after) !1 I think she is just one of those dogs that just does not take to a crate and yes gets bored easy. So hopefully the kong will help, and also abit of space so she can 'play' with her toys (she likes to throw them and jump on them) rather than just lie and chew them.

And then hopefully things will start to improve :) I am not planning to be unemployed for the rest of my life haha

I think it's important to find out whether it's boredom or anxiety.  If it is indeed boredom them confining her to a single room and giving her stuff to entertain her would be a good solution.  But if it's anxiety then I think that might be counter-productive, and giving her more freedom might actually increase her anxiety.   Several short training sessions a day will help tire her out.  Also you could look into Thundershirts - they really soothe lots of dogs.  Even wearing a T-shirt can calm some dogs.

LurcherOwner,

Yes, it might simply be the crate. Why not just leave the crate open and put her kong in it? It is useful to sometimes be able to crate a dog without them falling apart.  But up to you.

Try her without and see what happens.

I think lots of dogs find paper ripping enjoyable, not only the ripping action but the tearing sound. When my current dog was a pup I used to put a ball inside a thick brown paper bag and scrunch it all up. He loved ripping it open to get at the prize inside. Your dog obviously likes pouncing on and catching her toys and that fits in with a love of ripping.

Have you tried hiding things around the house and asking her to find them? Use the sit wait command, go off and hide the toy/treat, go back to her and release her and let her find the toy/treat. You'll have to teach her a 'find' command first but I doubt she'd have a problem- and you may have done it already. For a dog like her you can make it really difficult and then generalise to finding other items. As I said, you may already be doing this. Clever dogs, lurchers.

Yes I do play that game with her :) She loves it :) although I dont make it to difficult for her, so I may step it up abit :) and yes she always throws her toys and then pounces on them, but had no idea that tied in with enjoying to rip. Today I think I amgoing to go to my boyfriends for an hour and leave her in my bedroom, and armed with loads of fun things for her and see how she gets on, and ask my neighbour to listen out for an sounds and report back to me :) Only thing worries me is pooing. Before she was crated she used to poo when ever left alone, but I am now hopeing that was just becasue she was younger then, and now that she is older, a little more wiser and toilet trained properly it wont happen. I hope anyways :)