OK…. so I have a happy follow up to this post. My husband and I called our vet, who recommended that we speak to a behavior specialist, AFTER trying something different first. As many of you suggested, we decided to try again to allow her to have the "run of the house" and NOT crate her when we left. We tried it with 15 minute intervals, then worked up to 30 minutes of us leaving her. We both have iPhones, so we were able to use the Facetime app to watch her live. After whimpering for about 5 minutes, and running from the front door to the back door to check for us, she eventually just curled up on her "spot" on the couch... and stayed there!!!! WOW!!!! It was like hearing our child say their first word... we were so excited that she was so calm out of the crate, and not destructive at all.
So now we are going to continue to increases the amount of time that we leave her alone, and continue to train her. We are SO happy to see that maybe this is a solution that can work for us all, and Zola can be OK and not harm herself.
The only unfortunate thing is: Zola was so destructive in the crate, now she is sick. Like two-year-old-child, coming out of both ends, sick. She ate up the plastic tray of her crate, and also ate carpet fibers from a floor mat she got a hold to. After a lot of cleaning up, taking her out every two hours all through the night, a vet visit, and $300 later.... we still have to wait until the morning to be sure all the fragments pass through her system safely. Poor girl.....
Queen Zola made it absolutely clear.... NO CRATE for this girl.
