My 4 year old Australian Shepherd decided he didn’t like his crate after being crate trained for 2 1/2 years

[ky_gal]

My husband and I got our Aussie when he was 8 weeks old. Everything went smooth. We crate trained our dog as a puppy and he pleasantly accepted the crate, even going through some health issues (digestive). We had no problems until he was almost 3 years old. I was pregnant with our daughter and he started to bite, claw and chew his way out. The first time it happened we were out to dinner for about two hours and the bars of the crate were a little mangled. We thought maybe he got spooked by something and it got him excited. Then he chewed his way completely out and we knew it wasn’t him just getting excited. The crate he chewed through was metal (his teeth are fine btw). We gave him some time, because he is a very good boy and our problem isn’t him being destructive. We bought a second crate and took the advice of a trainer to take the door off, make it inviting and with lots of praise re-introduce the crate as a safe place. It didn’t go well. He got comfortable and re-oriented enough for us to start actually utilizing the crate when we’re not home. Third time using it he chewed his way out. We have been letting him have free roam of the house at all times which was alright at first because he isn’t destructive or aggressive. Now when we come home from being out, however short of a time, it’s a gamble if he poops or pees somewhere in the house. Yes he is toileted and walked and given every opportunity to relieve himself before we leave. He manages to just squeeze something out, however small, while we are not there. He’s such a good dog and well behaved otherwise. The crate used to really help him with excitement and he used to be so content in there. We never used to have these issues with the crate but we don’t want to buy another one if he may hurt himself in it. Any tips or insight would be helpful.