Bad Crate Behavior / Separation Anxiety? Need Help
 

Hi all, I am new to this forum, but have used it as a resource over the pastcouple of years with my yorkie (thanks!). Any help for the below problem will be greatlyappreciated!

My yorkie, Scout, is 2.5 years old. He is fully house trained and has beensince he was a puppy. We never have issues with him going in the house when weare home. We keep him in his crate (which is big enough for a puppy pad, a bed,his stuffed animal toy, and his water bowl) all day while we are at work(10-ish hours). We understand that since we are gone for such long periods oftime, he needs “to go” in his crate, which is why we put a puppy pad (he evenwakes up a couple times per night to go outside).

Ever since we have had him, we have had trouble with him making a huge messin his crate. He will rip up the puppy pad and smoosh his poop everywhere, evengetting it in his paws. We have tried giving him calming treats, sprayingbitter apple spray on the puppy pad, using different brands of pads, using a puppy pad holder which is supposedto keep the pad in place, giving him a bigger / smaller crate, and even changing his feeding schedule, all to noavail. I have even tried coming home for lunch and letting him out, but heeither has already made a mess, or he waits until I leave again to go in hiskennel and make a mess for when I get home at the end of the day. I am finewith him “going” in his crate, because he is in there for so long and genuinelycan’t hold it. But what can I do to make him stop these behaviors of shreddingthe puppy pad or smooshing his poop? I can’t seem to get to the root of theproblem, and it is hard to try behavior modification training when I can’t “catchhim in the act” because he does it while we are not home.:confused:

Any advice??

Have you tried pad holder or anchoring the pad with other things? Also, have you tried washable pads yet?

Maybe try something a little more open like an Iris Pen, from Walmart or Amazon...? I would maybe take the crate away entirely, and start a whole new system that looks different, feels different, is set up different, etcetera.

I have tried two different types of pad holders that do not work, as my dog will pull the pad out of the holder and destroy it. I have not tried washable pads, but I did use towels in the beginning and it was just a pain to clean because he would smoosh his poop into the towel. I will look into washable pads.

I tried using a pen similar to the iris pen, but Scout is a ninja and he will climb out of it. Maybe I could get a lid of some sort for it, but even when he was using a pen instead of his crate, he would still make a mess.

I would love to leave him out in the house all day, but I am afraid that he would not use a pad and would leave us presents around the house, or worse, we would not be able to tell where he urinated on our carpet. Any tips for this?

Have you tried this type of grate:

Amazon.com : UGODOG Indoor Dog Potty : Pet Floor...
My Teddy has severe separation anxiety so I totally sympathize with you. If your dog is going in the crate, the crate may actually be making the situation worse since confining dogs with separation anxiety can actually freak them out. Teddy has, thankfully, grown out of going in his crate when he's freaked out but I do not believe I could leave him out in the open whilst I was gone and not find 'presents'. You can talk to a behaviorist about this because there are some treatments, like desensitization, which could help since you may be unwittingly doing something that is making this dog feel insecure. If that doesn't work, it could be the anxiety is innate and you will just have to try your best to keep your house clean and your little guy safe while you're away.

In the mean time, try a pen with a top on it and use this grate. Ensure you are leaving treats even if he doesn't want them. Treat balls keep Teddy occupied. Those are little plastic balls which dispense treats as they roll around. True, he goes all sweaty and crazy trying to get the treats out but that's better than jumping up and down in the same spot (which happens to be on poop!) for hours!

I have to return to work full time soon, myself, so this is a worry for me, too. It's 2 a.m. here so I feel I am kind of rambling so if I think of anything else that I can suggest, following some much needed sleep, I'll come back to you!

If he's locked up for that long he probably gets restless as hell. No stimulization for ten hours straight would make most anybody or anything act out. Give him space. And excersise the hell out of him when you get home. Yorkies need that. I'm willing to bet with space to move about he will be so much more content. It totally worked with Toby. Toby was so destructive and messed everywhere relentlessly. Since he has space to run and play he hasn't messed once inside and isn't as destructive at all. Also, try leaving a radio or TV on for comfort.

Do you have a tiled or linoleum floored room you can confine him in? Such as a bathroom, kitchen or entry hall? It would likely have to have doors you can close, since mine can jump over a child safety gate.

If he does not tear up the door, then you can put potty pads (washable ones) down in there where he has a larger area to play and burn off energy and you can see how he does. If he does well, you may be able to transition to him having free roam of the house. You may have to try to break of scratching on the door while you are home, so you would have to practice this while you are home. When he stops scratching on the door, then you can try it while you are at work.

I have never used potty pads, so I am kinda guessing here.

10hours in a cage is your problem.

I would be in tears if i was caged up for 10hours.

I totally agree 10 hours in a confined crate is not a good thing.
My dogs had free roam of my entire apartment when I was a renter. Then I bought a house, the prev. owners had 2 dogs. I had all carpets professionally cleaned before I moved in. I worked 2 states from where I lived, I was gone 15 hours a day. When I moved here I had 2 yorkies who had to be retrained to pee on pads, they had free roam of the house who also unbeknownst to me were peeing on the living room carpet while I was at work, one would pee, the other would pee on top of that pee. I discovered the peeing when I walked barefooted one day and discovered the wet spots. My kitchen has linoleum flooring, it is a nice size room, I put them in there and gated it off. No more peeing in the living room they used the pads. You MUST give your dog more room, he is most likely bored and entertains him self by shredding his pads, that is a fun thing to do. He needs space to walk around. Look into the x-pen if you cannot confine him to a room like your kitchen. I am not in favor of bath rooms as there is not a lot of room in them, JMO.

I'm not away near as long as you, maybe 4 hours best. My Ruger climbed out of his pen when he was 12 weeks old. I bought a canvas playpen with a zip on mesh top. Just big enough for his crate toy water. He can walk around in it.
No more escaping. And I think he likes it a lot more than the pen. When I'm home I leave the flap unzipped and he will go in it on his own.
Wish you didn't have to be gone so long.
Have you thought of a pet sitter that will come and let him out & play?
Or maybe a doggie day care?

No update yet?

I actually had the exact same issue (might still do, I am not sure since I bring Gracie to work now). She'd hate staying home alone and would pee and poop inside my bedroom every other day - out of anxiety, I believe. She would smear her poop all over the hardwood floors and it would be a huge mess to clean. It would take about thirty minutes to get the mess of the floors and I'd have to use the ice scratcher from my car to get it off.

She's fine most of the time now to stay by herself for about three to four hours max but I think she'd still make a mess if I left her for 4+ hours home by herself.

I've tried leaving her in her crate, one room, the entire place, leave her various toys, the tv on, calming puppy music ... with ehh okay results.

One thing that did help with the problem - it's just not an easy solution - was doggy daycare. She'd go for a couple months, five times a week, and then she'd be completely fine staying home on weekends and days when she wouldn't go to daycare - no matter how long I was gone. So I think LOTS of exercise is key. A tired Yorkie is a good Yorkie lol.

I tried using a pen similar to the iris pen, but Scout is a ninja and he will climb out of it. Maybe I could get a lid of some sort for it, but even when he was using a pen instead of his crate, he would still make a mess.

Yorkies are sociable little things. They like being around people especially their families. Being alone that long is very stressful for them. But 10 hours alone?

I know this sounds counter-intuitive, and it is not a "quick fix", but we have always had a two (or three) dog home. When we worked, they always had a companion at home, and they were fine together. Now that we are retired, we have three who are home with us most days, but will be OK when we spend long days at the theme parks when our grandkids are here. They have their own bathroom for pee pads, and we confine them to the kiitchen/greatroom area, and leave the TV on to the classical music station. Calming treats are dispensed as we exit. Many times, they curl up together for a nap in the large dog bed by our garage door. Of course, all three have a rousing game of fetch before we lave, and immediately after we return!

If you decide to introduce a new little one into your family, be aware that there will be a period of time (many months) when they will have to be separated when you are out. Our newest babies were always confined in an x-pen until they could safely be left together. Even with them separated, having a buddy so close seemed to help our boys feel more secure when we were out of the house.

Just a thought.....

I believe your issue is the pen/crate. I have a two year old that I kept in a pen whenever I wasn't home or in bed for the first 18 months because he was destructive. I tried a few times to let him out unsupervised without success. Finally a buddy, with a yorkie, mentioned that he was going stir crazy and I have to keep him out. I started with getting him super tired one day with daycare and playing with him too. Then left him out one night. Success. I started doing this alot. Then twice a week. Then when he was out more than in I realized he would be destructive right after getting out. He is like a HS kid going to college who never had any freedom. One he realized he had more freedom he calmed down significantly. He is still out of his mind, but I've noticed a massive improvement as soon as he was out of the pen unsupervised most of the time. Once he realizes his home is not just the pen, he will improve.