2 Year Old Dog- Crate Problems

Question
I realize that you do not want to read anymore house training questions, but I went through the archives and all I seem to find are puppy questions. I have a 2 year old rescue dog, that we got when she was about 6 months old. She struggled with house training, but we got it mostly figured out, and then we installed a doggie door and never had another problem. She would go out whenever she needed to, etc. Now my girlfriend and I live in an apartment, so the Doggie door is not an option. She is perfectly well trained when we are home- sometimes she will go all day without having to go, and she tells us when she does need to go. When we leave it is another matter. For a while we had been locking her in the bedroom and it had worked well. In the last couple weeks though about 50% of the time she pees or poops on the carpet when we are gone.

Now we have gone back to the kennel- (We abandoned the kennel because she whined and barked so much while in it we were threatened with eviction) Now we have an electronic bark collar that emits a high pitched sound when she barks, and it seems to be effective.

SO, back in the kennel, and for the second time, she pooped all over the inside of the kennel. I was only gone for about 3 hours.

Everything I read indicates that she has a textbook case of separation anxiety. We do not know what to do, and I cannot spend my life cleaning up excrement every time I come home.

BTW- She is a black lab retriever mutt mix about 50lbs from the humane society.

THanks for reading, we need some help.

Answer
It >could< be that your dog is suffering from separation anxiety, or it could simply be that she is not given an opportunity to empty her bladder and bowels before being left alone. Are you taking her out at least once right before you leave? Does she go potty at this time? Do you praise her?

Are you giving her anything to keep her occupied while in the crate? With a bark collar (especially the kind you have, because it will go off at the slightest noise - I do not like the sonic ones at all), you have to be careful because if you give your dog something to gnaw on, the gnawing and chewing could set the collar off. You might not >need< the collar if you give her something to do. A Kong that has peanut butter, cream cheese, plain yogurt, canned dog food, etc. smeared on the inside and frozen overnight works very well, and most dogs go crazy for that. A Nylabone might be appropriate, or a cow ear, as well. I don't recommend rawhide because it swells up when wet, and can cause a blockage if the dog were to swallow a piece that is too large to pass through the digestive tract once it swells up.


You can find more information about separation anxiety online, but what I would recommend doing would be to desensitize her to you leaving. You don't have to crate her for this. It does take quite a bit of time and consistency, so it's best if you can start, say, on a Friday evening and work with her throughout the weekend.

Basically, you ignore the dog completely as you get ready to leave. Don't look at her, don't talk to her, don't play with or pet her. Just get ready. Before you start getting ready, you should take her out to potty.

When you are ready to leave (you aren't really going to go anywhere, but you should act like you are), just leave. Don't tell the dog bye, don't pet her, nothing. Close and lock the door, count 'one, one thousand,' and unlock the door and go back in, put your things away, and go about your business. Ignore the dog until she has settled down, and then you can call her to you for some quiet petting and praise if you want. Repeat 30min to an hour later. Stay on 'one, one thousand' for at least 5 repetitions before moving to 'one, one thousand,' 'two, one thousand,' and so on. Repeat this process many, many times, gradually increasing the amount of time you are 'gone.' When you can stand outside for 5 minutes without your dog becoming anxious, you should be able to try going for a short trip (like, around the parking lot or block). If, at any point during this training, your dog starts becoming anxious before you go back in, you've progressed too fast.