Destructive..why now???

[senji]

Hello everyone, its been a while since I've been on. We had one male B and about 6 months ago we adopted two girls from BRAT. All has been fairly good. You know the usual….a few accidents, some minor fights, getting into stuff, the stuff you expect with adding new dogs.

This week the girls who I've always crated together have been very bad. they pulled a blanket off Deke's crate and chewed it along with his leash...all from inside their crate. They have started bending the bars of their crate. Now today they started to shred the hard plastic tray in the bottom of their crate. I noticed Britty limping....she is missing a toe nail !!!!!!!!

Why start this now? They've never been this bad. If I give them a blanket they pee in there, and sometimes they poop but they've never destroyed stuff. I'm affraid what might happen next !!!!!!!

Any ideas what's going on in those crazy little heads of theirs.:(

[TuckerVA]

You'll just have to figure out what has changed for them. Try to see it from their perspective.

Did you move the crate from a position they are used to? Did you block the window they are used to looking out? It can really be a lot of things as B's are so quirky.

Tucker regresses from time to time and when I spend some time thinking about it, I'll eventually figure out what's changed and fix it. It might be as simple as some food they don't like.

The last such incident was a week in a kennel, followed by a replacement dog walker for a week, and then back to the regular dog walker. He peed for a couple days straight, but once we were back into the normal routine, everything went back to normal.

Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes not.

/just my two cents.

[senji]

Thanks for the ideas. I was trying to think about that. Nothing has changed with the crate/house. My husband has been on a long buisness trip. He's due home soon, maybe it took this long for them to miss him and get sick of me.

I've tried leaving them out at night to give them less crate time. Thats been ok, only pooped in the dining room once. But they are still bad even if they are only in there for 1-2 hours a day.

I noticed today Briitty peed and started to lick it up before I even left the house…she was only in there 2-3 minutes.

They're not in there a lot. I'm a stay at home mom, they only go in when I run to the store or to sports with the kids. I always thought they had it pretty good !!!!!

[TuckerVA]

I think that when part of the 'pack' is missing, it affects the whole pack. I would bet that this is the reason they are acting up. Basenji's are, in my opinion, more severe head cases when it comes to separation anxiety. Even though you are still there, your husband's leaving could certainly be a part of their issue.

[senji]

They do always act up a little when he leaves but usually settle down. They usually just fight more, like they're trying to rework the pack order. This is the longest he has ever been gone. I guess we just hang in there and hope he comes home early…it's tough on all of us.

Thanks for the help!!!!!