Gibby again.......

"I bet there is not many people that crate their dog with nothing in the crate but the dog."

I will if that's what it takes.

But I obvously crate train differently.  Because I NEVER leave a dog in a crate hours -- not at first -- you work up to that.  The first time I put them in their their food and open the crate door again while they are still eating.  The next time a fraction of a minute longer. 

I *always* open the crate BEFORE they start to cry at first.  The whole thing about crate *training* is to keep it entirely positive.  Doing something from OUTSIDE of the crate to make the dog stop whining for even a minute so I can then let them out when NOT whining. 

It might have taken a week for me to crate train the pup AT FIRST to stay in the crate during the night because I would anticipate the eye contact to get the dog OUT of the crate before it got all upset.

In our case with Tink - I wouldn't have taken her had I known she wasn't ok in a crate.  As it was I spent weeks coming home at lunch (and using up all my vacation time in the process) to keep her happy and not stressed. 

But even now -- I wouldn't abandon the crate -- but it will take you FAR longer to desensitize him gradually and accept the crate.  Because it honestly has to be done in tiny tiny intervals of time.  If he goes in the crate anticipating food -- you DO have a good beginning there. 

It can be unbelievably tedious to train in such small, seemingly insignificant intervals of time to simply add to those couple of seconds the dog is happy with at first. 

And honestly?  A dog like that I would not leave in a crate with a plastic pan either -- because the dog would likely destroy the pan (and hurt itself in the process). 

But no -- a dog as big as a dane with a bite ratio that big?  A kong wouldn't be safe to leave. 

But I didn't leave Tink with anything in her crate at first til I knew she wouldn't hurt herself on things. 

I did not take that kind of time ( minutes at a time ) to crate train him..but never left him in it for hours while gone.......just tried to put him in at night which was what had to be done.  Get him out before he cries??? Thats a joke....he cried and barked from the second I put him in.  Always...   eventually he went a little longer in the time he cried.....so I tried to get him out before he started and it never happened...not once.  I fed him in his crate....and give him snacks in his crate.... I played with him in his crate....I did everything they told me to do EXCEPT take his crate in another room....that was not happening...it was staying put in the room it was in...the only place there is room and doesn't look hideous.

Gibby is ten months old and has not eaten or chewed up hardly anything.  He did the KONG,,, and started on another toy another day........... he of course ate the Chex Mix that worried me...but that was when we were home and he had just been a good boy and did'nt do anything wrong in the 3 hours we were gone.  One day he chewed some of the mattress pad that was on the bed.....the borders...the part that hangs down....and I think it was like stuffing...unlike the pad part that he lays on.   The foam corners that he ate that got me started on this thread.............my DH walked out of the house...didn't barricade....didn't give him any toys or anything to eat....just walked out.  That was a mistake.......don't know if Gibby was bored...or didn't know what to do with the freedom.       You know when we first left him without being locked in his crate we barricaded him like we do now but he totally knocked down the barricade and he had run of the house. We were gone several hours...he didn't do one thing wrong. BUT we won't press our luck....and try that again....nor will we try what my DH did last week by walking out without giving him toys and things to eat to occupy him the second we leave.  Yes..he could chew up something and eat it....I pray he doesn't.....but there is so much he could have done wrong and didn't on so many times. I am hoping that the older he gets the more trustworthy he will be.   Putting a big Dane in a crate is so much different than leaving a small dog in one where he can play..stand and even walk around a bit.....

See while he's eating COUNTS as "not barking" -- the mouth is elsewhere occupied.  It *is* tedious -- I grant you.  Particularly if the dog hasn't been exposed to the crate before you got him. 

And see, I don't give a flip how the crate "looks" -- it's in the bedroom.  Period.  If he thought he wasn't going to be 'with' you then it's a given he'd cry.  But *grin* I could care a fig less about 'looks' -- it's not even in my vocabulary.  However -- one of my criteria when we take on a dog is that it 'fit' with us and a dane would never EVER be for here because no way could I pick it up to take it to the vet.  That would be an absolute showstopper for me.  So I'm no real help there.

I got Gibson at 8 weeks...he was used to being in a pen with his siblings.   We had the crate set up for him before we drove to pick him up.   Its a big crate...it doesn't go in and out of rooms...and my room is small it would not hardly fit in there and be able to get into bed.

A Great Dane would not fit into many lives.....there are lots of them looking for homes.   And if the criteria was that I couldn't pick up a dog to get to the vet...I not only wouldn't have a Dane...I wouldn't have had many breeds....and its the large ones that we like around here...so might as well get the largest.........lol!

 Dyan I am sorry that Gibby is driving you nuts!  I have not read every thread carefully but wanted to say a few things.

If Bugsy was a dog that ingested things he shouldn't, I would crate him when I left him, period.  Obstruction is very serious.  I am sure that Gibby will get better about it but to me it sounds as though he is one of those dogs that eats inappropriate stuff.  My friend's lab is 4.5 and when I visited him he tore apart a stuffie I gave him and then ate a huge piece of it in one swallow.  I couldn't believe it.  He vomited it up 2 or 3 days later. I felt so bad but his owners my good friends said he always eats them that is why he doesn't get them.  Bugsy destroys his toys - ferociously and completely but he doesn't eat them.  I was really horrified.

At 10 months no matter how large he is he is still a pup.  Even knowing that B wouldn't eat what he chewed up at that age he was crated when we weren't home and at night.  For me and for mr into everything I chose the safe option.  Same as when I needed to board him - I went with a traditional kennel with individual runs to eliminate various safety concerns.

You may need to keep him isolated somehow when you leave for another year to be fully safe and then you might only have occasional accidents like the above with my friend's lab.

He isn't Bubblegum or Ollie or anyone but Gibson and Gibson is a silly boy who endangers himself, because he doesn't know any better.

I wish you luck!

kpwlee

 Dyan I am sorry that Gibby is driving you nuts!  I have not read every thread carefully but wanted to say a few things.

If Bugsy was a dog that ingested things he shouldn't, I would crate him when I left him, period.  Obstruction is very serious.  I am sure that Gibby will get better about it but to me it sounds as though he is one of those dogs that eats inappropriate stuff.  My friend's lab is 4.5 and when I visited him he tore apart a stuffie I gave him and then ate a huge piece of it in one swallow.  I couldn't believe it.  He vomited it up 2 or 3 days later. I felt so bad but his owners my good friends said he always eats them that is why he doesn't get them.  Bugsy destroys his toys - ferociously and completely but he doesn't eat them.  I was really horrified.

At 10 months no matter how large he is he is still a pup.  Even knowing that B wouldn't eat what he chewed up at that age he was crated when we weren't home and at night.  For me and for mr into everything I chose the safe option.  Same as when I needed to board him - I went with a traditional kennel with individual runs to eliminate various safety concerns.

You may need to keep him isolated somehow when you leave for another year to be fully safe and then you might only have occasional accidents like the above with my friend's lab.

He isn't Bubblegum or Ollie or anyone but Gibson and Gibson is a silly boy who endangers himself, because he doesn't know any better.

I wish you luck!

dyan

 Dyan I am sorry that Gibby is driving you nuts! 

Oh thanks...but I guess I should not be telling you guys whats going on.   I guess I have everyone concerned and honestly getting the wrong idea about Gibby.   I talk about him like he is the devil. Sorry.  He is not.  He isn't the most obiedient dog...but he is certainly not driving me nuts.  He is a lover and sweetheart....but he has a lot of spirit and energy.   I think I am giving the wrong impression about him..and of course I never talk about him doing good things...I either talk about the bad things or I don't talk about Gibson.  Sorry to you all and sorry to Gibson. 

dyan

Oh thanks...but I guess I should not be telling you guys whats going on.   I guess I have everyone concerned and honestly getting the wrong idea about Gibby.   I talk about him like he is the devil. Sorry.  He is not.  He isn't the most obiedient dog...but he is certainly not driving me nuts.  He is a lover and sweetheart....but he has a lot of spirit and energy.   I think I am giving the wrong impression about him..and of course I never talk about him doing good things...I either talk about the bad things or I don't talk about Gibson.  Sorry to you all and sorry to Gibson. 

I don't take it that way at all when you post about Gibby!  He's a puppy, a very big puppy!  He will get it,  I think everyone who has had a challenging dog can totally appreciate and laugh and cry along with you. It's always so unhelpful and down right depressing when someone says "my dog was housetrained in two days and crate trained in two hours" and this and that with nary a problem along the way. I think Gibby sounds like a completely normal, young dog with his own individual quirks, like all dogs have!  Belle drives me nuts all the time and right now is separated from me because she has started barking at me from behind when she wants my attention.  Drives me nuts, that dog.  But I love her just like we know you love Gibby and I think I speak for more than just myself. 

 Oh gosh Dyan he doesn't sound like the devil to me at all!!  Please don't apologize and please don't stop talking to us, I used to feel this way about Bugsy in that I only posted about the ways in which he drove me nuts.  (and I use that term casually), heck I used to call Bugsy the devil and still do at times.  I know that Gibby is a cutie and he sounds like a perfectly fun puppy!

Anything that I have posted has just been an attempt to help - please accept MY apologies if I have upset you.  That was not my intention and I feel bad that I have made your experience a negative one.

Oh gosh....sorry that I put it that way too..I'm obviously not saying what I mean..or meaning what I say...lol! 

For sure...Gibson is not the easiest of dogs to raise. But you know....I didn't raise Bubby from a pup...and almost gave her back a couple of times.....but stuck it out because of what would have happened to her had I given her back.  When her breeder told me how she needed to be crated because she was going to chew everything up really upset me.   The fact that she never chewed up anything from the second I got her...makes me wonder what her breeder knew about her, or what changed about her?   Still no answer to that.  

I think I did everything I could to get Gibson used to his crate.  But honestly...because he never did become used to it...or even tolerate it a little....I honestly worried more about him barking and crying and slobbering the whole time we are gone....than what he is going to eat.  If you guys could see the floor all around the crate....the rust on the crate from him slobbering and crying. The whole inside of the crate wet...to the point I used to think that he pee'd in it...couldn't figure out why it didnt' smell of urine.  He would be hot and upset. There is no way that can be good for him.  And now,,, I know that if I crated him I could not put a thing in that crate with him, not a toy or bone or blanket or paper.   As Callie said...probably the plastic tray would not be good either.   There is no doubt in my mind that he would hurt himself in there now, I worried about that back then.      In all the time he has been out of the crate...he has been good except for the incident when he ate part of his kong....and we did feel at the time it was because he couldn't get a piece of food out because Dh told me when we left that he put something in that will keep Gibby busy for a long time.  HHHmm...so Gibby might have figured his own way to get it out.  So many people talk about what they leave in crates while they work all day......Gibson could destroy any of them.  But I leave some larger real bones with things in them for him now....I put them down when we leave and he cleans them out and leaves them there for the most part...and gets in my bed and goes to sleep.  Yes. he could eat something there...gosh..he could eat the bed for that matter.  But he sleeps.  If I left him in a crate he would be making himself sick.  I wish I had been able to get him to love his crate...but I couldn't, and I pray that God will keep him safe.  But to leave him in an empty crate with nothing to have to play with or chew or lay on at this point, I could not do.   I barricade him...and make sure things that I am afraid of are not available to him, even his own things that he could possibly get hurt with...such as his many many stuffies.   We also know better than to leave him the way we did the day he ate the foam that started this thread.  Dh did not give him any of the things we usually give him...the bed wasn't made up with his covers that he normally has....nor was he barricaded.   He was probably going to go on the bed to go to sleep....when he found these foam things.......can't imagine why he ate them instead of just chewing them up. But we know not to try leaving him like that again.....we have to make sure we go like we always do... leaving him the things we usually do.

So how did you make out with Gibby? (who is gorgeous by the way). I am going through this right now. My Carmen has eaten the corners off to pillows and 6 softball size holes in my comforter. My big concern is the fiberfill she has taken in. Up to this point she has not passed it. I was upwith her all night last night because she wanted to throw up but didnt. Does Gibby eat this stuff for "fun" or was he bored, or sick. Mine does it when she feels sick. Like eating grass.

labluvRx3

So how did you make out with Gibby? (who is gorgeous by the way). I

Thanks...but honestly the picture is not Gibby...that is Bubblegum,,,my harliquin that died in March.  Gibby is my new Great Dane puppy who is 10 months old now. I will post a picture...I hope!

Why does he do it....thats beyond me.  Lots of time just to get attention...maybe all of the time except when he is seriously trying to eat. The day he ate the foam...I suppose he was curious.....and he is a head case...eats just about anything.

How old is your Carman?   A pup also?     I am hoping to get Gibby thru all this without letting himself get hurt.

Gibby is such a cutie!  I'm sorry he causes you worry!  He sounds like he has a great personality :)

 FWIW, I *DO* leave Sammy in his crate with nothing but the dog.  OK, I take that back a little bit -- he has a small bowl of water.  Other than that, nothing.  If I put a blanket in there, he pushes it around so much he spills his water and get the blanket soaked.  I'd rather him not be without ANY water for an entire day, but I had to choose.  I tried pillows and other things, but in two hours, he tried pushing the pillow around so much that he bloodied his nose!  It took us a long time to get Sammy *OK* in the crate (not wonderful, but tolerating it) that I don't want to change much.  So, now he gets nothing.  He won't eat while we away anyway so I don't bother with food, but I won't leave him without water....