nursejess80
Well-known member
Lately, Ruby has really gotten upset with the whole crate thing. She cries more than before, and I'm worried about separation anxiety. Whenever we say "kennel up", she kind of whines and moans at me. She usually still goes in, but then she howls at me like crazy. I've tried keeping chew toys and giving her treats when she goes in, but as soon as she eats the treat, she cries. Also, the frozen peanut butter in the Kong toy only lasts about 10 minutes. Since my husband and I both work, we've tried to give her a "nursery" area with paper and such so that she doesn't have to hold her bladder so long, but she always seems to escape no matter what we do. The kitchen is out of the question because we have 2 doorways, and she's such a good escape artist. Today, I tried our 1/2 bath downstairs with paper, water, toys, her crate, etc. and left the door open with it barricaded so she wouldn't feel closed in. She FREAKED. I went upstairs instead of leaving just so I could see if/when she stopped crying. She cried for about 15 minutes and then stopped. I thought she must have gone to sleep, so I crept downstairs to get my purse to run to the mailbox. The little stinker came running up to me!! I took her out to potty and put her back in there a few minutes later, with a few minor corrections to the barricade. I ran about a 15 minute errand, and I could hear her crying when I got out of my car. When I walked in, she was absolutely shaking. I feel like I'm traumatizing her or something. She's in her crate right now in the living room, and she's sleeping soundly, but I'm concerned about her when we're at work. She's done fine in the past, but I've been on vacation for about a week and a half. (I've still crated her plenty while I've been off.) I hate to leave her in the crate, but I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself trying to break out of "jail" if we confine her any other way. My husband comes home to let her out during the day, by the way. She doesn't stay crated for like 8 hours or anything. I've read lots about crate training, but I just don't know what to do. Any suggestions??? Please help!! I'm worried about my baby!