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Such a thing as "Confinement Anxiety"?

Behavioral Issues
  • It makes sense to me. I have heard of other dogs with the same issue. Glad you found a solution. It's too bad he had to go through 4 homes to figure it out.

  • Sugar just hates to be confined to a crate. I've had her from a puppy, so I'm sure it was an anxiety thing. She would poop, eat it and scream for her life. She is slowly getting better. I've found the best thing I've done with her is to feed her in the crate. I first fed her with the door open, then closed and now finally shut tight. She has to wait until the other dogs are done their meals to get out, and she's getting better everyday.

  • Well, I don't know if it is claustrophobia, but we definitely have a dog who absolutely hates to be crated. He never worked himself up enough to urinate or defecate in his anger at being crated…but he did just about everything else, including destroying plastic crates, and his teeth. We found that he was reliable in the house when he was between 1 and 2 years old, and we never went back to crating him when we leave. He still must ride a crate in the car and at a hotel, and he barely tolerates it....

    Same thing, he doesn't care when we leave as long as he isn't in the crate..so it isn't separation anxiety per se...but I guess I would call it crate anxiety.

  • Manning had a similar experience with the crate. He started out just crying in the crate but then he turned into the little tasmanian devil inside the crate. He even started ripping up the plastic bottom piece in the crate (I now only have half of that piece left). So I did the same thing and left him out. I was a little nervous about leaving him out with the cats so I locked them in the room I keep all their cat stuff in. When I came home Manning had figured out how to open the door into the cat room and everyone was hanging out together on the rug at the front door. After that we discontinued use of the crate with no problems. I think its a great training tool but I'm with you…Manning is so much better without it.

  • I've always left mine loose in the house with a dog door out to the back yard. They're OK. The only time there was a problem was if there were health issues. I have a large thermal bed cover on the couch they crawl under and sleep. The couch is a cheap thing but I have another cover over that just in case of throw up. It's easy to wash.

  • Mine are all crate trained, but during the day I have a dog room with a doggy door outside so that they didn't need to be crated… Well, it didn't start out to be dog room...gggg, but works great....

  • When we just had Lexi, she refused to sleep in her crate. She would pee, poop, roll in it- throw it out every corner of the crate and have it all over her all the while shrieking like a woman being murdered. It was so unbelievable that such a cute LITTLE puppy could incessantly make that kind of racket. She eventually won the battle of getting to sleep in the bed… for a while.

    If Lexi is crated alone, she used to destroy anything she was close enough to touch. When my husband and his dobie entered the picture, we crated the two dogs together and they LOVED it. Neither would destroy anything and they always used each other for pillows. It was very cute. My parents have our dobie now as we moved to a tiny apt 700 miles away... so we went back to just one dog until last February when we rescued Miles.

    Miles howls like MAD when you crate him. He used to pee just by being inside the crate- before you even shut the door. But we have gotten him to the point (with treat training) that he will energetically get in his crate. We haven't gotten him to quit howling after he eats his treat though. Neither dog is destructive in their crates anymore, but I would definitely say that there are a lot of Basenji's with crate anxiety as well as separation anxiety.

    I would love to be able to leave our dogs out in the house, but I absolutely would never try it. I did that several years ago with Lexi & the Dobie and it was a very expensive mistake-- bye bye every set of blinds in the house- pulled down and shredded, bye bye entire couch-- back ripped open and all the fluff pulled out, bye bye duvet/comforter--holes galore. But those are just my dogs. So... they get the crate.

  • Keoki SCREAMS and tears up everything in his crate when crated alone. When he is in Jazzy's crate he goes right to sleep.

    My problem is: While she didn't complain about it at first, lately I hear her complaining at him in the crate. I don't think she is as crazy about sharing as he is anymore. Also, she is scheduled to be spayed this month, and I'm not sure he should be in there w/her for the days following surgery.

    I think I'll crate him alone for short periods in the day time and try to transition him to nights alone, but honestly, I am pretty sure it ain't gonna work, LOL.

  • She does need her peace and quiet after the spay…. and she most likely thinks he is getting to old and big to sleep with her... I used to have Maggii and OJ together as pups, but when they hit 12 wks, she kick him out... with a "get your own crate!"

  • Jazzymom, I know Jazzy will have to have her space after the spay so this may not be much help but what about an ex-pen?

12/12

4 Jun 2007, 12:21

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    This I always my "rule of thumb" and only based on my experience but frequent long urinations= possible UTI and several quick squirts=marking….but every dog is different, even so my mind still automatically looks for those signals
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    Uzie will do the same thing as Kipawa-dead sleep, I move, he follows. I ignore him when he does this. I luckily have two other dogs in the house for distraction/companionship, but if I leave for a long period of time, he does better when not crated. Otherwise he baroos like, like, like the loneliest Basenji in the whole world! I usually throw some kibble all over the floor of one room and leave the house. Like I said, he only baroos when crated. But for you, maybe you can try the Kibble Throw. As for the car, maybe you can start the engine, turn it off, wait, then give praise and/or kibble and start it up again until you can leave it on for a minute or so. The calming spray may help too.
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    Basenjis just have front ones, which most show breeders have removed from their litters. They can be nasty if they catch on something and rip. I do know German Shepherds sometimes have rear dews. Not sure about most other breeds. lol Again they are removed as newborns (the rears).
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    Glad to hear that he is doing better….
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    @Quercus: …I can't imagine a dog in a real fight taking the chance of turning his back on the attacker. Though, I am used to seeing girl, girl fights...where neither girl is willing to surrender...it could be that a dog who really doesn't want to fight will try to protect his head and neck by offering other 'parts'...it would definitely indicate that the other dog wasn't reading his signs correctly...either by the dog offering surrender, or running away...it isn't really appropriate for the attacking dog to continue attacking... This is probably what may have happened. I don't think anyone actually saw the fight… So it's hard to tell, but my friend now thinks it is a part of male dominance fighting! I told them I would ask on here and see if it is common or not...
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    yeah, it really was… especially with all the drama i have going on with my current living situation it is a relief that something is going right. My boyfriend has been having a heck of a time finding a place to rent that will allow my dogs and me to visit on the weekends. So we finally found a place that would allow it, and then we had to visit to make sure the dogs got along. i was so relieved that not only was Lenny polite, he was playing! yay. anyway, i'm moving out of my apt at the end of November... thankfully my company is going to move me again so I don't have to do it myself! Good thing i haven't really unpacked yet!