Recently adopted crate trained, 8 y/o GSD, who is having a tough time being left alone at home in crate. Any advice?

[theremnant]

So some background, my fiancee and I recently adopted an 8 year old GSD after her old owner had to downsize to a smaller home due to divorce.

As a result, she had to find homes for 2 of her shepherds, as the HOA would only allow her a small dog.

The old owner was a breeder and trained our GSD and the others meticulously. They were all crate trained and always slept in their crate at night and would be in the crate whenever the old owner was not home.

Now the challenge we have been faced with.

While our GSD was trained and never had issues sleeping or staying in the crate ever since she was a puppy, her sister was always in the crate next to her at night and during the day. She was always part of the pack and was never the only dog in the home.

Unfortunately, as much as we would have loved to adopt her sister as well, it was not an option.

When we adopted her, the first few nights we attempted to have her sleep in the crate. The first night, she started crying immediately after we went upstairs and continued to do so for a few hours until I could not take it any longer. After a few hours, I went downstairs, let her out of the crate and slept on the couch with her at my feet. She didn't make a peep and slept like a baby. The next night was the same thing, after a few hours I let her out and slept on couch. While this was not ideal, I needed to get to sleep since I had to wake up very early for work.

After the first few nights, we decided to just let her sleep in our room. Which she has done every night since then, without any incident or crying or whimpering or anything. In fact, she looooves the doggie bed we got for her.

From this point, we would let her roam the house with the exception of certain rooms which we put baby gates up to keep her out, whenever we were at work.

We had not had any issues with her chewing stuff, having accidents in the house, or getting into mischief. We always made sure to leave her favorite chew toys out for her to play with and always returned to our home like we left it and her happy tail.

About a week ago, we came home to find she had gotten to some picture books that were within reach on a book shelf. She had chewed up the corners and destroyed the cover/bindings. This happened two days in a row. We have since removed any items from the shelves she is able to easily reach.

A few days later we get home and again she had gotten to other stuff in the home, made a huge mess, and even started chewing a can from the recycling, chewed up a tissue box, chewed up a head band, and peed in the guest room.

We have since started to put her back in crate while we are at work, to both prevent her from trashing the house, but for her safety as well, don't want her to chew anything that can make her sick/hurt her. We have made sure to leave the TV on, hoping the ambient noise may comfort her, not sure how well it has worked.

While our pup has no problem going in her crate when commanded to, or being in there when we are in the home, she will start crying/whining/yelping within minutes of us leaving the house.

Our neighbor has informed us that she does this for a long time after we leave and during the day while we are out.

So while she has always slept/stayed in the crate, with her sister at her side, we believe that she is experiencing some sort of separation anxiety that arises within minutes of us leaving the house.

Is there anything we can do to improve the situation short of getting her another companion? We recently moved to the neighborhood and don't want to get on the neighbors' bad sides just yet, not to mention we don't want our pup to be unhappy or uncomfortable while we are at work.

Our GSD is normally extremely calm and quiet. We have not even heard her bark yet! With the exception being the cry/yelp/bark combo noises made when she is in crate. She doesn't even bark or pay any mind to other dogs or animals (except the rabbits, she always wants to go after the rabbits). The old owner said she has always been very quiet but will absolutely bark when it is warranted/needed.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! We absolutely adore our pup and want her to be comfortable when we aren't home. We are already exploring the ideas of a dog walker/doggie day care to break up the monotony of our work week.

 

[kammajos000]

@theremnant If your pup was younger I would say that it's just going through that stage and that it'll grow out of it, but I think your dog needs a buddy.

We rescued our GSD when he was 9-10 months old. He was originally living with a bad pit bull breeder that eventually had all of the dogs confiscated by the humane society. Then he was at a rescue for a month or so after that. In that time alone he was so socialized that he needed a friend. Once he was out of his puppy stage he stopped destroying everything and is trust worthy at home. He gets walked morning, noon and a few times at night. The biggest thing though is his little friend Rin, an 8lb Pomeranian. They love each other and play well and most importantly keep each other company.

Shepherds tend to have separation anxiety anyways, and 8-5pm is a really long time to be crated and alone. A dog walker that can tucker your dog out would probably help, but I think your dog is just bored and lonesome since it's not a puppy anymore.

If a buddy is not an option, I would try to make the crate the best little den that dog has ever had. Then I would hire a dog walker for lunchtime amusement.

Hope it works out!

 

[theremnant]

@kammajos000 Hey thanks so much for the response!

As much as I would love a second pup, I don't see it happening in the near future.

We are looking into walkers and the possibility of doggie day care for at least 1-2 days during the week.

What else could we do to make her crate more comfortable? We already put her favorite blanket inside and leave here with her favorite toy. Just ordered a Kong to start filling with peanut butter goodness for her to hopefully keep amused for a little while.

 

[kammajos000]

@theremnant I covered the top of my dogs crate and you could maybe cover the sides too depending on if your dog responds well to it. A nice comfy bed that hopefully won't get shredded. Both of you could sleep in an old t-shirt a few nights and leave that in the cage so your pup has your scent. Old shoes would work too. Bones to chew on are great, and the Kong should help!

Doggy day care is great, even if it's just a few days a week your pup will get some good exercise and socialization for the week.

 

[theremnant]

@kammajos000 Excellent suggestions, i'll start letting one of my tshirt marinade haha.

 

[emxcore]

@theremnant What's your daily routine like? How much exercise is she getting? A lot of behavior issues German shepherds have are caused simply by being bored and under-exercised.

Are you leaving her anything to do while you're gone? Toys, chews, puzzles, stuffed kongs, etc?

 

[theremnant]

@emxcore I'm up by about 5:45-6am, usually when my pup is nudging me as my alarm is going off. She knows it's time for breakfast when my phone alarm goes off.

I go downstairs with her to give her breakfast and she usually goes back to her bed to lay down while I get ready for work and while mom sleeps, or she just waits in the hallway, staring at the bathroom door, waiting for it to open.

I am out of the house by about 6:45, at which point mom is getting up and getting ready for work. Mom takes her out for a long walk before leaving for work by about 7:30-8am.

At this point she is in the crate, with her favorite ball, and a few treats until I get home from work at about 5pm.

When I get home, we go out for a walk (30 min) followed by some fetch in the backyard. Also just got a nice 'tug rope' this past Friday that will be incorporated into the daily routine, she seems to enjoy playing tug.

Then we go back inside, wait about 30-45min, and then she gets dinner.

She will then go out for another long walk to do her business about an hour after dinner.

Going out one last time before we go to bed.

In regards to her toys. I did recently get her a Busy Buddy Magic Mushroom food dispensing puzzle toy. While it does keep her occupied and she does visibly enjoy it, I am reluctant to leave her with it unattended since I do not believe that the plastic will hold up if she decides to start biting it instead of knocking it around to dispense food.

I have read up on some folks stuffing kongs with peanut butter or other foods which we will most certainly try.

 

[kammajos000]

@theremnant Hahaha sounds good! Let me know how it goes!

 

[dfomin]

@theremnant Don't give in to the crying. Never give in to crying. First few weeks, I was in tears from having to listen to all that crying. Lack of sleep was torture. I don't know why she had separation anxiety so badly but she did. I took off time from work to work on her. Every time she was quiet and calm, I would reward her. Every time she cried, I would leave and just listen to her scream in a different room. In addition, she was very anti crate so I wouldn't let her sleep anywhere except the crate. If she fell asleep hanging out with me, I would gently wake her and direct her to her crate. At the beginning, she would immediately come out and I would allow her. I didn't want her to feel trapped. She loves her crate now and sees it as a place of peace. From your dog's perspective, the fear of abandonment is quite real and that she should feel this way. After all, when she exhibits these fears, you comfort her. It seems like she was doing better before but it's becoming worse as time goes on and I think that's pretty good proof that her anxiety is worsening by the way you accidentally validate her concern. If you're able, take some time off and work with leaving her for a minute and returning. Then 2 minutes than returning. Keep stretching the time out until she realizes you will always come back. It takes a lot of repetition but I feel the best way to resolve their fear is show them over and over again that their fear is unwarranted. Calming treats that take a lot of work are also great for before you leave. Our trainer had us freeze kong toys with wet food in it and give it to her to slowly work on. Highly recommend getting a reputable trainer. I learned so much about my dog through the trainer.

 

[theremnant]

Update - 10/25/2016:

Many thanks for the replies; my fiancee and I have made some changes over the last week and seem to be making progress!

• Began to 'fool' her into learning that we will be coming back when she is crated. We have crated her, waited a bit, then left for small amounts of time (5 min, 20 min, 45 min, 1 hour, 2 hour, 3 hour, afternoon). I actually took off work on Friday which really allowed me to not only drill this home, but also give her extra exercise and remove a 'crate day' from the week for her. It seems to have really helped with the process.
• Increased activity/exercise. She now goes out as soon as I wake up (before she eats breakfast). It helps wake me up and helps her burn off a little energy before breakfast. We have also incorporated a game of tug into the morning routine after breakfast. I am also making it a point to take her out more in the early/late evenings, even when I don't think she needs to go out. Just to burn some more energy.
• We have left her with a peanut butter filled/frozen kong ball each morning, which she LOVES. This has really helped with allowing us to leave the house 'without being noticed', keeping her occupied when we first leave.
• After wearing the same shirt for 4 days to bed (both mine and my lady), we have left them in her crate with her, which has hopefully added to her comfort level.
• She has taken a new love to her Nylabone, which we leave for her in her crate for her to chew on during the day. We make sure to inspect it every morning and snip off any little pieces that may come off.
  

All in all, we are very happy that our pup is making progress. Yesterday, my fiancee got home and there was SILENCE! No crying/howling/yelping to be heard as she parked and made her way into the house. She didn't make a peep until my fiancee was in the house and opening the crate door! Not sure, how much she has cried during the day, but taking baby steps!

We are currently going through to process of getting the required vaccines for her that the doggie day-care requires. We hope to have her in doggie day-care at least 1-2 days a week once we go for the 'interview'.

Many thanks for the suggestions, this sub has been invaluable to both of us as we both learn to live with our new companion. Thank you all.