Today is a first for our dog and I’m really nervous.
She’s staying out of her crate all day while we’re at work.
Chloe is still very active and playful and still in the chewing stage. She’s very destructive. The Husband bought her a new toy the other day and she had it torn into tiny pieces within a couple hours. So since we got her, we’ve kept her in a crate while we’re at work. At first it was to help with house training, to keep her from going all over the floor while we were gone. But then we had to keep putting her in it because she likes to tear up everything. Blankets, books, magazines, stuffed animals and dolls all cower in fear when she walks into a room. Shoes are still a little jumpy when they hear her name. (She only did that twice though, to one of my shoes and one of The Husband’s, and it was about a year ago. She really doesn’t have much attraction to shoes.)
But her crate had been smelling really bad lately, so The Husband cleaned it Tuesday night. Wednesday morning when I got ready to leave, I could still smell the stuff he had used and a voice in my head said not to put Chloe in there. But it was a really faint smell and I was running late (as usual) so I did shut her in there as I dashed out the door.
I know I’m a bad mom for not listening to my intuition. When The Husband got home yesterday (he gets off an hour before I do), Chloe had been throwing up in her crate. He said she was stumbling a bit when he let her out and threw up a few more times. The Husband didn’t get home in time to take her to the vet so he could look at her and we don’t have a 24 hour vet around here, so we had to just keep an eye on her and baby her with extra attention. By the end of the night, she had eaten her supper and even ate the pig ear we gave her, and was bringing us her toys so we could throw them for her. She even got a bath (she loves baths) and was running around crazily afterward, like she always does. And she seemed all back to normal this morning. No more throwing up or stumbling.
So we decided not to put her in the crate today. The Husband took it outside and let it sit out there to air out. This morning when I got ready to leave, Chloe ran straight to the area where her crate is supposed to be, but wasn’t. She stood in the exact spot where her crate usually sits and looked at me with a confused expression. When she realized I wasn’t locking her up, she followed me to the back door and stood watching as I walked out. So she has complete freedom for eight hours today to do whatever she wants. I’m cringing over what to expect when The Husband gets home this afternoon. What will Chloe have decided to tear up today?
Good luck! Seems like the first few days sans-crate they’ll be model citizens and just when they have your trust, surprise! Ours decided to roll the house….TP everywhere!
Hmm…Chloe’s been good both days she was out, I wonder if that’s what she’s doing, earning our trust until she decides to go crazy. 😉
Our dog goes through those squeaky toys at a frieghtening rate. And yet my wife keeps buying them for her. We rarely leave her out of the crate because she tends to be alarmingly destructive at times. The few times we’ve left her out, she’s managed to get into SOMETHING she wasn’t supposed to be in and we thought was safe. Good luck.
Echo still stays in his crate when we go out because he will eat *anything*, the more inedible the better; and because we can turn on the security system. We only bypass the room he’s in.
It’s not inhumane and it’s good training for the dog when you have to board him or her. Because Echo’s used to the crate and they consider him a model canine citizen.
Have you read Marley And Me? Funny, funny book.
as I recall you have a gifted canine girl there, right?
fingers crossed that she is not creative with her enviroment today!
she will be fine
and one or two mistakes will be ok
🙂
good luck!
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