Ruger wrote:

Your definately a teeth person...Gunny will have the prettiest teeth in Colorado

Yup! Pearly whites!!

So I've noticed that Gunny has been chewing at the zipper/threading of his pillow in the crate and yesterday I left him in there longer than I had wanted to to find that he's tearing apart the foam now. I probably shouldn't leave him in the crate that long, but I bet he will do it again to another pillow anyway. Any suggestions? Much appreciated!

Lol I dont have much to tell you because Ruger has gone through numerous blankets and beds...hes not even in his crate that much. I think he just gets destructive in there. I went in there one time and it looked like it snowed in his cage because he pulled out all the cotton stuffing inside of one of his beds... gotta love em

So I came home to this today... I had bought Gunny his 2nd crate pillow just yesterday and did not even leave him in there as long today. What else am I supposed to put in there for cushion? I don't wanna be a bad mom!

Here's Gunny! As you can see his nose has been healing. Hopefully it'll become all black again with time.

Another pic of Gunny

oh dear Danielle - you might have to try hay instead of pillows!! Someone on the 'other' forum mentioned hay for bedding for their dogs. You could always try it and cover it up with a fleecy blanket.

I would go to a fabric store and check out there clearance fleece and just buy a thick one and fold it in half and put it in his cage, also I think cedar chips are suppose to deter chewing? Maybe you can buy some and sprinkle them into the next bed if you do buy one.

To be honest... we tried everything and Koda doesn't like bedding in his crate. He prefers a hard, flat surface. We don't put anything in there anymore cause he destroyed everything I think he likes it like that though. He always seems very happy when we come to get him out.

You could also try carpet squares. Koda doesn't mind the carpet to lay on, so maybe Gunny is the same way. I think a lot of it just has to do with the heat. They don't like an insulated surface.

Thanks all for your suggestions! I'll see what I can find this weekend.

How long or how old before I can trust Gunny to be out of his crate while I work during the day? I probably can't trust him with the house that I'm renting now since it came as a fully furnished house (couches, pillows, rugs, bed...) so I might have to wait till I have my own house or at least my own furniture, right? I do have a garage, but I've noticed that Gunny might have phobia of garages.

Yeah, don't leave him in the garage. Crating your dog isn't really mean, even though a lot of people initially feel that it might be. Dogs like to have a place to call their own, a place that they can feel secure and not have to worry about threats of any kind. A crate provides that for a dog.

As for the bedding, Sitka hates bedding in his crate but loves beds that are out of the crate. I learned his dislike for bedding after the 4th one. He seems happy on a hard surface.

haha i love the picture of the cage

Oops, I'm not posting correctly, I was trying to update the subject and then deleted my very first post. Anyway this should now show up where it should be.

Oh great, Gunny just chewed a hole in this beautiful rug in my living room. And the rug belongs to the house that I am renting... I yelled at him but he stood there with his big ears as if he didn't do anything wrong. Grrr...

The rug is arranged in such a way that I was able to hide it under the couch. Maybe the landlord won't see it? I feel like I should tell her though!

Pic or BAN!

Koda ate our landlord's curtains. I don't blame him. They were incredibly ugly. But we told our landlord and he was very grateful we were honest about it. We offered to pay for new ones and we did.

What kind of rug? Is it very expensive? Like a woven one? I live in Amish country- we have a lot of those around here.

Okay, the pictures are a bit blurry, but you can see that it is right below my couch. Not too big of a hole though. You'll notice that I haven't vaccuumed my carpet/rug yet! I'm usually a neat freak...

Hmm... that's not so bad. It looks like just a couple of pulls? Actually, if you just snip them at carpet level, you can't even tell. Koda's done that to our rug too. It's not ideal, but it makes it look like it never happened. Our carpet is super old too. I bought it my freshman year in college.

The pictures aren't the best, there is actually a 1" circular convavity, if that makes sense! So cutting the carpet won't help.

Ok, so I came home to another mishap in Gunny's crate. This time it was vomit. I didn't get to take a picture before I cleaned up, but the vomit was clear with some white. I smelled it and for sure it wasn't pee. But Gunny seemed and still does seem fine. Maybe the lighting earlier scared him. But what do I watch out for?

Hmm... how long had it been since he's eaten? If his temperament is normal, I wouldn't worry about it. I ask about the food because it could be a "hunger puke". If it was just white and frothy, it's just bile and should be okay. Just keep an eye on him. If he does it again, I would put a call into the vet.

I feed him in the morning before I go to work. I fed him at about 6:30am today and came home at 5:30ish. I always leave two small bowls of dry dog food and water in the crate as well as one kong filled with peanut butter and another kong with dry bone. He always eats the peanut butter but for some reason leaves alone the dry food and the dry bone most days. I have since then fed him his dinner and he's gotten out both of his kongs and finally ate the dry bone. He's super active now.

Quote :

I felt bad about getting him in the crate yesterday, had to practically drag him into there. He seemed shaken up but happy when I got home. Is he gonna hate me for putting him in the crate everyday?

Evo used to HOWL and SCREAM (guess that's his Husky side) when we put him in the kennel until we started feeding him in the kennel. Now he will "kennel up" when told, lays right down and doesn't complain at all. You really should try the raw food route - if you have a small restaurant you go to on a regular basis and you are on good terms with the owner, ask if they can get you meats at a discount. We have a Buffalo Wings place in the Orlando area where we've become great friends with the owner and he gets us whole chickens for $0.86 a pound! So my point is - he was reluctant on kibble (for the little time we tried it) but runs in for raw food (when he's hungry).

Koda wrote:

To be honest... we tried everything and Koda doesn't like bedding in his crate. He prefers a hard, flat surface. We don't put anything in there anymore cause he destroyed everything I think he likes it like that though. He always seems very happy when we come to get him out.

You could also try carpet squares. Koda doesn't mind the carpet to lay on, so maybe Gunny is the same way. I think a lot of it just has to do with the heat. They don't like an insulated surface.

Evo doesn't like anything in his crate, either. He's destroyed it all! He's so heavy he broke the black plastic tray so we replaced it with wood. My husband covered the wood with peel and stick tiles that lasted about 2 hours and when Evo came out, he was COVERED with pieces of tile. So I would suggest, NO to carpet tiles - although a great idea! LOL



We've also found that Evo likes a really large rope - I've never seen a dog so in love with rope toys but it keeps him occupied for hours. You may want to try that in the kennel as well.