Need serious and quick dog help?

Question

I have an almost 2 year old basset hound/beagle. How long should he be able to be crated for? Yesterday, We left home for 5 hours-we took him out do potty IMMEDIATELY before leaving. Upon returning, we see that he has literally DESTROYED his cage (I have no clue how, this was an expensive and strong cage!!!!) and in doing so injured himself (his paw was bleeding), ripped up some carpet, put a small hole in the wall a and pooped in the house.
Also, we take him out to potty right before bed (between 10:30 and 11pm), yet he will begin whining at around 2am. If I let him out, sometimes he will potty, sometimes not, but he will immediately begin whining when I return him to his crate.
Obviously the dog hates his crate, however I know that in order to be a good dog owner, he has to follow MY rules, not vice versa. However between the whining (which can get very loud and persist for hours on end) keeping us all up and his recent antic when we left for 5 hours, I feel like I am going crazy.

I don't want to give him away, but I also realize that it is insanely unfair to my family to be kept up at all hours of the night by this dog and is unfair to my husband to have the brand new house he bought us destroyed.

For those wondering.....we have had him for about 2 months.....he can from a very abusive situation, and no one had bothered to even attempt to housebreak my poor baby.....hence, we had to crate train him

Answer 1

How long have you had him? Either way... I can help you on this one. I have a 5 y/o basset/beagle and she's the smartest dog I've ever had (I also have 4 other dogs)! I quit keeping her in a crate when she was about 2.

In the early stages (6 months-2 years), I would leave Maggie in the crate while I was gone. She would cry etc if she were in the cage and we had company.. but she learned that is her territory. She learned to love it. Pretty soon she just walked in without me pushing/or telling her. Also in the beginning, she too tore up everything in her crate (twice).. but never the cage itself.

Basically, let him cry for as long as he wants.. he will get the hang of it. No dog likes it for the first 1-2 months. BTW.. 5 hours is the max amount of time you should leave him in there. 4 hours is actually the recommended amount of time.

Answer 2

Was the crate too big? When crate training you dont want the dog to have more room than is needed to lay down. I actually have a lot of experience with dogs that can eat their way out of crates. Saints can bend the crap outta them. What you really want is a carrier. You know the kind that are made of plastic with only the front part as cage. They are much sturdier than most metal cages. Also, you may want to ask the vet for a sedative. I know most will disagree but, I just got a new Saint under similar circumstances and he has horrible separation anxiety. I give him just enough to keep him calm. NOT DOPEY, when he will be left alone for more than a couple of hours. These type of dogs need a lot more time to adjust. They've already been taught the wrong way to do EVERYTHING. It's up to you to devote the time and patience this animal needs. I plan on at least a year for my guy and he is improving tremendously. However, I still cant trust him just yet. Good Luck and email me if I can help.

Answer 3

5 hours is not an excessively long time. I'd take a guess that something spooked him while you were gone. I had a similar experience with one of my Labs who was more than happy to go to her crate when it was time.

It may not be the crate he hates, but the separation from his pack. My Lab had the same adjustment problems when we moved from the place we lived when I got her to a new place where the only convenient place to put her crate was several hundred feet away with two walls and a door between us. She did eventually adapt and I slept with earplugs until she did.

Try slowly desensitizing him. Put him in the crate for 15 minutes with someone nearby (though don't pay any attention to him) and then let him out and praise him to high heaven. Increase the time increments by 15 minutes each time. (you can get several sessions in each day).

One other suggestion and this can be a family project. Find some old tshirts you're willing to sacrifice. Wear them a lot so they get your scent on them. (You don't have to work out or anything like that. Just normal wearing.) Then put then in the crate with your dog so he feels like his pack is with him even if they aren't visible.

Answer 4

Our previous Basset would usually go out once a night, sometimes to potty but other times just to walk the fenced perimeter of our yard. We didn't really crate that dog but we did keep him pinned in one room using those plastic tension gates that are meant to keep small kids from getting in places. By doing that we were able to leave him alone for 8+ hours at a time with access to some treats and water and he'd be just fine. The howling is most likely because they don't want to be alone, if no people are around Bassets usually just sleep, but if they know people are around and they just can't be as near to them as they want to be then they'll howl. Perhaps putting the crate closer to where you sleep at night might help that. If you want to avoid having to get up at night to let the dog out, assuming your back yard is fenced, a pet door could be helpful: www.halepetdoor.com.

Answer 5

Take him to obedience school and try to keep him in a room with a gate or a Dutch ( half ) door instead of the crate.Leave him a lot of toys and hide treats all over the room so he will keep himself busy while you are gone.Put puppy pads down for him.When he whines at night,have a squirt gun ready.Squirt him and say NO,or throw a pop can with 15 pennies in it at the door and tell him NO. Some dogs just take longer than others to mature and Beagles and Bassets are notoriously stubborn and want to be with you all the time.Also,take him on at least two LONG walks everyday to make him tired so he will sleep.

Answer 6

Mine did that.. (also a Beagle/Basset mix).. I was told he needed to be crated or he would tear up the house, but he hurt himself several times.. as well as destroying the brand new crate.. (somehow he bent the bars of this heavy metal crate.. and tore the hinge where the door locked). I am not entirely sure why.. but once I started letting him stay out of the cage he was fine.. as long as he got plenty of exercise.. (note, beagles need alot of exercise.. so, you may want to get out and get him running for awhile before crating him.. tire him out)

Answer 7

The best thing done was taking the dog to the vet clinic. From your description he needed something to stop the seizures. He will probably have bloodwork done to see what the values are for the internal organs. Depending on how he does and the test results further treatment will be done. This could have started for any number of reasons since he was just outside. It is possible that this could be epilepsy if no other cause is found. For right now just know that he is being cared for and is in the best place for treatment. I know you will but try not to worry.

Answer 8

i walk my dog 5 times per day !! try walking your dog more, than 2 times . also leave a radio on for him,he thinks you abandoned him !! place a worn article of clothing in his crate!! i did it for my dog !!your scent on the shirt is to reassure your dog,that you are coming back !! hope this will help you with your problem. in my case i crated my dog for 8 hours,i had to work and nobody could watch him for me. now my dog has the entire place to himself.and he never destroys anything,or has accidents.

Answer 9

I disagree with the never ever crate your dog theory. We use crate training with our younger dogs until they can be trusted to stay home alone without eating things that could injure or kill them. Dogs are killed chewing through power cords while unattended or from intestinal impactions from eating things that they cannot digest. Many people use crate training very effectively. I'm guessing you are just starting? Dogs are very much creatures of habit and I don't think you can successfully just use the crate willy-nilly here or there then perhaps not at all for some length of days for it to work well. Dogs want a reliable pattern in their life. It's a variance from the usual pattern that upsets them.

Overnight in the crate works OK here for adult dogs as well as the nine hours later needed to get through a workday. Pups under six months old-we take turns coming home at lunch or getting up in the wee hours of the morning to let them out. In-between, there's plenty of exercise, cuddle and play time. We do use a favorite treat (cheddar cheese) to reward the dog for going into the crate every single time. Try playing relaxing classical music very low near the crate to make the nighttime whining subside. With the music, I've never had the whining go on for longer than a week-unless the dog really needs to go out-at which time we get up and take them out. As the dog gets older and stops chewing up inappropriate things, we begin shutting the dog in the bedroom with us at night. Dogs don't want to soil where they sleep and this has been effective here. At this point the dog is only in the crate while we are at work and there is no one at home to attend to them. Our dog also has a big, fenced yard and a dog house that she refuses to go into-but we leave her out for short trips if the weather is nice and we're sure that it's not going to rain since she won't use the dog house. As the dog ages and is no longer inspired to chew holes in the walls, we start leaving them loose in the house as a test for increasing periods of time until they are left loose all day without a problem. Depending on the breed, this may be at age three or four. We still leave the crate there with the door open and the dog goes in there to sleep in and of her own accord. She considers it to be her 'den' and 'buries' dog treats in the corners to snack on later and whatnot.

One thing that probably helps when putting the dog in the crate to go grocery shopping-we always make a big deal out of coming home from the store. We set our bags down and let the dog out and then rifle through the bags to find the gift that we bought for the dog-it may be a biscuit that we 'planted' there before we let her out of the crate but often as not we bought her a toy or treat or something like cheddar cheese that we will share a bit with her. If it's a toy, she gets very excited and prances all over the house enjoying her new thing and always has to show it to everyone. I think the 'coming home from the store ritual' helps soften the blow of having to go to the crate while we go to the store. She does, at this point, clearly understand what the word 'store' means (to her) and we tell her what we're doing when we put her in the crate to go there-as well as telling her the fabulous gift came from the store as we dramatically rustle through bags looking for it. She also loves ice cubes-and on occasion when I've forgotten to pick up something for her, I'll pretend the ice cube came from the store and 'find' it in the bag-and she doesn't know any different.

As for maintaining a reliable pattern-we put her down 'for a nap' in her crate for a bit even on days that we are home with her all day-at the same point in our morning ritual where we usually crate her to go to work. It may only be for an hour or two but dogs can't tell time. It is in the interest of keeping her happily in that pattern.

I'm confident that our dog is not in the crate 'too much' because she still spends considerable time sleeping when she is not in the crate. I think the key is to make sure there are plenty of walks and playing fetch and other activity in-between.

Answer 10

I am looking for a sweet puppy to baby! I understand it from both sides. you are busy, your dog hates the cage and you are unable to take the amount of time to care for the dog. you should maybe get a dogsitter for ultra long trips. you dog maybe suffering from depression. if you leave him out for a couple hours make sure that when you get home show him a little extra love!