Crate Saga part 2: Is it possible some Basenjis just can't be crated?

[Quercus]

I think this sounds like progress. Where does Gypsy sleep? I wonder if you had Keoki in the Xpen in th spare room, would he sleep if you weren't in there with him? kwim? Is it your presence that is allowing him to relax, or just the feeling of NOT being in a crate?

[JazzysMom]

I guess that is what we'll be working on finding out.

The three dogs sleep in the same room, with the Basenjis crated and Gypsy next to them on a large pillow. She's not crated because she doesn't get up at all during the night, and if she did she wouldn't be a problem in the house nor with the cats. Besides, I just don't have a crate big enough for her, nor is there space in there for a crate that large!

[JazzysMom]

@WBL:

I wonder have you thought about a bigger crate or maybe an ex-pen with a top (if he's a climber), also i know some people have said they can push their way out the bottom so maybe two of the ex-pen toppers (one for the bottom)?

I don't think the crate size is the issue, I think it's the closed door.
His crate is already a Petmate SkyKennel Ultra, which is pretty large.
Anything bigger really won't fit in the room w/Jazzy's crate, Gypsy's pillow, the bed, the bookcases….. it's crowded in there!

I do have a pen top, but he's never really tried to climb out {we've used the pen outside when we've had crowds over for bbq's to prevent food stealage AND escape when idiots leaving the yard gate open}.

I'll see which direction the behaviorist wants to go after her eval. today, and may wind up using the top.

BTW, thanks to everyone for listening/advising. This list is such a great resource; I do wish that every B owner would find it!

[etzbseder]

I believe that some can't be kenneled, but I am not sure about the crate. My B eats food in a plastic kennel (better floor protection) but when he is done, no matter when, he will fight to get out. I can't put him in there ANY time unless it is for him to eat without him fighting. he has scratched up the inside so badly that it is almost corrogated.

[Quercus]

@JazzysMom:

I don't think the crate size is the issue, I think it's the closed door.
His crate is already a Petmate SkyKennel Ultra, which is pretty large.
Anything bigger really won't fit in the room w/Jazzy's crate, Gypsy's pillow, the bed, the bookcases….. it's crowded in there!

I do have a pen top, but he's never really tried to climb out {we've used the pen outside when we've had crowds over for bbq's to prevent food stealage AND escape when idiots leaving the yard gate open}.

I'll see which direction the behaviorist wants to go after her eval. today, and may wind up using the top.

BTW, thanks to everyone for listening/advising. This list is such a great resource; I do wish that every B owner would find it!

This is probably a stupid question…but have you tried a wire crate already?

[MaxBooBooBear]

@JazzysMom:

Last night, sort of on the advice of the vet and behaviorist, I slept in our spare bedroom {which is where the dog's crates are}, with Keoki on a pillow next to the bed. I had put up an ex-pen around us so that he couldn't get out and destroy books, etc.

The dog slept like a rock.

This is great. I wonder how he would be if you put the x-pen around him and your other two dogs in their crates? My two Bs I have now aren't great in crates but are fine in an x-pen together. Actually it's the male who is bad in the crate, the female does pretty well. But at night they both sleep on my bed ;and during the day, they are in their bedroom with a dog door to the backyard–which has an x-pen they are restricted to when I'm not out there with them.

[renaultf1]

@Quercus:

This is probably a stupid question…but have you tried a wire crate already?

I was going to ask the same question.

[luvsmy2bs]

Have things gotten any better? Just curios,,,,,,I was reading your post and felt really sorry for you.

[gbroxon]

Magnum is also a crate hater (only when alone, though). After trying for a number of months to get him to accept his crate, we ended up building him an indoor/outdoor kennel. The indoor part is in our laundry room, with a doggy door leading out to under our deck and a good space to the side of it. He's got about 500 square feet to work out his anxiety in. I no longer feel bad when leaving him by himself. A filled kong and a pat on the head are the only things I do now. I used to do a WHOLE lot more.

[JazzysMom]

@luvsmy2bs:

Have things gotten any better? Just curios,,,,,,I was reading your post and felt really sorry for you.

Currently I have turned my dd's bedroom – thankfully she's away at college -- into a kennel. There is a 6 x 4' ex-pen w/top taking up the entire floor space of her room. Both Jazzy's and Keoki's crates are in there. At night he sleeps okay in that ONLY as long as BOTH crates remain open into the pen.
If I close either crate, he flips out.

During the day when we have to go out, as yesterday and today, I have to remove all "real" bedding and leave just paper toweling. Yesterday I made the mistake of leaving a small piece of carpet UNDER Jazzy's crate, and when we got home it had been pulled out and torn to shreds.
It is obvious that he still wigs out, even in the large pen w/Jazz as today I noticed that the front of his crate {above the door, which was open} has been all chewed up, even though he was not shut in.

Still working with the behaviorist; she and the vet are thinking long-term meds may be in order. That is still being discussed. He's going to hurt himself one day if we don't get a handle on this...and eventually dd is going to be home from college; then what?
We can't travel with him like this either.