[Dailydrool] Severe Crate Anxiety

[rebecca lando]

Hi All,
I've been out of town for the past 3 weeks and have a lot of Drools to catch
up on, so please forgive me if I haven't passed on personal well wishes or
sympathy drool to those in need recently. I am working hard to catch up as
quickly as possible. Also, please forgive the length of this email. I want
to make sure I don't leave out any details; who knows what may or may not be
vital info.

But while I do that, I need to impose on the DD community for some advice.
Things are a little desperate right now for my little Humphrey.

Up until about a month ago, Humphrey LOVED his crate. He slept in it at
night. He napped in it voluntarily during the day. He'd sit happily "behind
bars" with his favorite stuffed animal and a peanut butter Kong when we went
out. He had never had an accident in his crate and it had never been used as
a punishment. Everything about the crate was good for Humphrey.

But then he had an accident in the crate. Following our usual 'goodbye'
routine (long walk first, music, dimmed lights, peanut butter Kong) I left
him in the crate for 90 minutes while I had a late dinner with friends. When
I came back, it was to a note on the door about my dog's barking, a bedroom
that smelled like sh**, and a wide-eyed puppy, shaking and shrieking with
trauma. I flipped over his blanket and found a big mess. I didn't make a big
deal of it: I took Humphrey out, gave him a bath, settled him on the couch,
and cleaned the soiled bedding thoroughly out of his sight (went through a
whole bottle of Nature's Miracle enzyme solution, let the bedding dry,
soaked it with the enzyme solution again the next day and took it to the
laundry). That night, Humphrey slept on clean bedding in his crate with no
problem.

Since then, every time we leave Humphrey in his crate, he freaks out and,
invariably, has an accident. We haven't changed his pre-crate routine at
all. He gets a long walk first, then we ignore him for 10 minutes prior to
putting him in the crate, and he gets the same music, the same comfort toy,
the same Kong with peanut butter and little biscuits hidden in his bedding.
When we leave, we don't say goodbye to him. We even bought some Rescue
Remedy and massage it into his ears before we start ignoring him. But
nothing helps. When we leave, he's screaming in fear and barking in anger.
When we come back, we don't make a big deal of our return home. We hang up
our coats, wash our hands, get a glass of water. When we come in, he's
sitting quietly in his crate, the Kong empty, but the hidden treats exactly
where we left them, and a big puddle of diarrhea at the far end of the
crate. We don't make a big deal of it. We take him out, clean him up, settle
him in another room, and go to cleaning the bedding.

Last time, the accident was so bad we just threw out everything in the
crate. I don't mean to be crude, but it looked like a poop bomb went off in
his bed. Everything went in the garbage, including his favorite stuffed
animal and the blanket he's had since we got him. Everything was covered in
poop and we figured, we'll make a clean start. I spent three - literally
three - hours cleaning poop out from between the bars of his crate with
Q-tips.

So we're getting him a new crate, a kennel crate, a bigger version of the
kennel crate he came to us in and started out in, before we got him the wire
crate. The hope is that since it's more insulated with the high plastic
walls, he'll feel safer. And it's a little smaller than his standard
300-size wire crate, which is maybe 4 inches too big (it's 36", he can
stretch out in it; the kennel crate we got is 32"); it seems like he's tried
to poop out of the bars of the crate on occasion, and this will curb that,
plus since it's slightly smaller he'll be a lot closer to any mess he does
make. We're getting him all-new bedding for the crate and new toys.

My question for all of you (sorry it took me so long to get  here) is, what
advice do you have on this subject? He's not afraid of his crate - he's fine
in it, goes in willingly and stays calm so long as the door is open. But
once the door is shut he freaks out. Anxiety attack. It's not as simple as
just not leaving him in the crate when we go out. We've tried leaving him
gated into single rooms of our apartment, but his reaction to being left is
the same: frantic shaking, crying, and barking. My theory is that he
associates us leaving with being shut in the crate, and being shut in the
crate with having accidents. We need to retrain him that the crate is a safe
place, that having the door shut isn't traumatic, and then that our leaving
isn't traumatic, either.

Our current idea is to start from scratch. Newspaper in the crate rather
than bedding. Start him going in there, willingly, for 15 minutes at a time
first with us in the same room, then with us in another room of the apt, and
then with us leaving the apt. Work up from there. Continue to not make a big
deal out of his going into the crate, us leaving the apt, or us returning
home. Never use the crate as punishment. Hide treats in it throughout the
day to encourage him to explore it on his own.

But I'm terrified of doing anything that will hurt him anymore than what's
already happened. You all understand; this is my baby we're talking about.
What else can I do to help him get  back to the mental state where the crate
is a safe place, where our leaving is nothing to bat an eye at? How can I
undo the trauma he's suffered?

Thank you for taking the time to read this and respond. I'm sure I'm not the
first person to ever be in this situation and I appreciate any advice anyone
has. Please don't hesitate to let me know, as harshly as you see fit, if I'm
doing anything wrong.

Drool and thoughts to anyone who's lost a loved one, be they 2-legged or
4-legged. Drool and get well wishes to anyone, bi- or quadraped, who's in
recovery. And best of luck drool to everyone else.


-Rebecca
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