Good afternoon everyone,
I am hoping that you all can help my wife and I. Here is our situation.
A couple of months ago, we rescued a 1 year old Shepard/Bulldog mix from our local SPCA. She was doing really well for about a week. Over the past few weeks however, she has been a terror. The main issue we are struggling with is she has SEVERE seperation anexity. We will put her in her crate in the morning when we leave for work. She is in there for 7-8 hours. When we get home from work, she is usually out.
She figuered out how to open the crate, so we put locks on the latches so she couldn't get them open. She managed to bend the metal of the crate and escape through the openings she makes. She has damaged the crate so much we can no longer use it. We got her one of those very large metal crates from Petsmart.
When she escapes, she chews things up. She has gotten hold of TV Remotes, Loaves of Bread and in one case, she pulled a steak knife out of our sink. We have talked to our vet about the problem and he put her on Kloacalm. (I know that is not how you spell it). The medicine has no effect on her. We tried buying one of those comfort zone things that work kind of like a Glade Plug In and that has no effect either.
She gets approx one hour of excersise a day.
We are coming to the end of our paitence with her. We really do not want to get rid of her but it is looking that way.
I guess here are the questions I have:
1. How can we get her to stay calm while we are gone?
2. How do we teach her to chew on her own toys? She has lots of them.
3. I was thinking about getting her one of those large plastic crates with the door on it. I would put her in there in the morning, come home for lunch and take her outside to use the bathroom. Than I would just let her roam while I go back to work. Would that work?
If anyone can help us, I would be very thankful.
Sorry this is so long.
I am hoping that you all can help my wife and I. Here is our situation.
A couple of months ago, we rescued a 1 year old Shepard/Bulldog mix from our local SPCA. She was doing really well for about a week. Over the past few weeks however, she has been a terror. The main issue we are struggling with is she has SEVERE seperation anexity. We will put her in her crate in the morning when we leave for work. She is in there for 7-8 hours. When we get home from work, she is usually out.
She figuered out how to open the crate, so we put locks on the latches so she couldn't get them open. She managed to bend the metal of the crate and escape through the openings she makes. She has damaged the crate so much we can no longer use it. We got her one of those very large metal crates from Petsmart.
When she escapes, she chews things up. She has gotten hold of TV Remotes, Loaves of Bread and in one case, she pulled a steak knife out of our sink. We have talked to our vet about the problem and he put her on Kloacalm. (I know that is not how you spell it). The medicine has no effect on her. We tried buying one of those comfort zone things that work kind of like a Glade Plug In and that has no effect either.
She gets approx one hour of excersise a day.
We are coming to the end of our paitence with her. We really do not want to get rid of her but it is looking that way.
I guess here are the questions I have:
1. How can we get her to stay calm while we are gone?
2. How do we teach her to chew on her own toys? She has lots of them.
3. I was thinking about getting her one of those large plastic crates with the door on it. I would put her in there in the morning, come home for lunch and take her outside to use the bathroom. Than I would just let her roam while I go back to work. Would that work?
If anyone can help us, I would be very thankful.
Sorry this is so long.