Anxiety

Question
QUESTION: Hello- I got a dog from a rescue home 2 weeks ago, he is a lovely dog but when i leave him in the house he poos and wees in the house and sometimes cries, he is obviously very distressed and shakes and scraches the door also.
I havent encountered this before in dogs and am unsure how to proceed. Other than when he is left he is housetrained.
He is very clingy and we try not to encourange this behaviour by ignoring him when he constantly demands attention.
We do not know what has happened to him previously.
I work shifts so the dog is left 2 days out of 8 but seems to be worse the first day he is left.
He follows us from room to room and the only door he doesnt scratch at to get at us is the bathroom door. . iv no idea why.
I have bought a crate for him but am frightened to leave him in it in case he hurts himself.
Please help as he is a wonderful dog otherwise and i dont want him to be unhappy when we leave as we both have to work .

Many thanks

ANSWER: Jo, does he behave this way when you leave to go to the store and leave him behind, or only on the 2 days of the week that you work?

What kind of crate did you buy? If it is a plastic crate, there is very little chance of him being able to hurt himself while inside it, especially if you remove his collar before putting him in it. What I would do would be to practice putting him in the crate for short periods of time while you are at home, to see how he reacts and to get him used to being in there.

Let me know how he does the first time you try this. Do NOT let him out of the crate if he begins barking or scratching at the door. Only let him out when he is quiet and calm.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: No- unfortunatly he does this all the time, even if i leave him for a few minutes to post a letter. It is a metal crate that we have, we have used it when we got out, and he has messed in his crate. When i put him in it when we are home he just sits there but doesnt seem to relax.

Many Thanks

Answer
Try giving him a Kong that you have smeared peanut butter, cream cheese, plain yogurt, or even some canned food on the inside of and frozen overnight, whenever you put him in the crate while you're home, and see if he settles down with trying to lick it all out of the Kong.