Ever since he came to me as a foster in February of 2013 he has hated the crate. Before he was medicated for anxiety, being crated was a horrible ordeal for him, and I always felt so bad for making him stay in one during my work day. He would bark and cry for hours, stress drool (where the saliva was the consistency of egg whites. You're welcome!) so much that he would be soaked and the floor of his crate would have a half inch of drool all over,. When we let him out, he would shake off all the wet and it would fly everywhere. Beethoven has NOTHING on Admrial and stress drool. He would also press his head against the door and rubbed a bald spot on it. He has been known to eat the arm off the couch (while crated) so I could never give him the run of the house, for his own safety as well as the safety of my stuff.
Even up until last Thursday (it's now Monday) every morning I had to chase him down and physically touch him to get him to go in. I had done everything I could think of to desensitize him to it: feeding him in there, giving him treats and high value items in there, putting comfy beds in there...most days he wouldn't eat his food or treats, would not chew on his antler, and did not care about his beds.
He was in a correctly sized wire crate that I tried to make more den-like by putting it between the couch and the wall in my living room. He had finally gotten to a point where he no longer whimpered when I put him in before work, but he still wouldn't walk in freely, and he still wouldn't eat until he was let out after my daughters came home from school.
And then I heard about confinement anxiety. I had no idea that was a thing, but it made so much sense! So I set up my old Rottweiler's wire crate (RIP Chuck), made him a big bed, and put it by the back door where he can see everything in the room and he can look out the window. And he loves it! Well, maybe "love" is a little bit of an eggageration, but compared to how he felt about it before, it's a complete turn around.
Even medicated, in the other crate, there was still some drooling and panting, not eating, etc. He had finally accepted that first thing in the morning he would have to go in there, but if we put him in there at any other time he resisted. In the new crate? I stand by the door and he walks right in! He eats his food! There is NO drool! And yesterday I caught him going in and out casually without anyone asking him to!
This is seriously huge for him! His hair is even growing back in his bald spot! I wish I had known sooner what a simple change in crate size and location could do for him. The important thing is, I know now. And I'm spreading the word so this news might help other dogs with similar problems.
They say that confinement anxiety starts in puppyhood. I have no idea if Admiral had this issue as a puppy. I didn't meet him until he was 3-ish years old. But, if he did, along with his separation anxiety, I can imagine it was probably a contributing factor to his mistreatment by the awful people who had him before me. He's such a great dog, I can't imagine anyone not being willing to work on a problem like this, but I guess not everyone is cut out to handle it. These days, I see his anxiety as a blessing. If not for that, he probably wouldn't be with me, and I'm thankful for whatever the reason is that we are now together.
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| Look! He's eating! IN THE CRATE! At a time he knows he shouldn't be in there! |
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