Hello
I have recently began fostering a dog that’s been crated every single day all day for the last five years of her life. Which as you can imagine, has led to some problems.
Biggest problem, she chews the wires to the point she destroyed her teeth. A $3,000 surgery later, and her mouth is cleaned up and all she has remaining is one (very weak) canine and some back molars.
I have tried leaving her gated in the back room so she’s not restrained to the cage, however she has either managed to scale the gates with no problems, or rip the gates down (they’re pressure mounted), or go through the small cutout in the drywall (window height) that leads to the living room. The issue with this is that she pees and poops in the living room when we’re not home. Even if she’s let outside while we are at work midday (about 4 hours into us being gone). Definitely anxiety related.
Ideally, the end goal is to make it so she can spend her days while we’re at work out with the other two dogs, however that will not be able to happen until she stops peeing and pooping on the floor. She has 0 accidents while we’re home, and I know she can hold it for 8 hours because she holds it while in the crate and for about 8-10 hours at night in the bedroom, however she loses her mind and tries to chew on the crate for that 8 hours we’re at work. So far we’ve managed to reduce the crate chewing by putting a cone on her while in the crate, however she has managed to figure out how to get it off and I don’t want her to destroy her gums or the few remaining teeth.
Has anybody tried soft sided crates with a dog like this? I’m hesitant because I feel like she’d destroy it relatively easily even without many teeth. I’ve also looked at the rufflands but the door concerns me (getting her tooth stuck). I do not have the money for an impact, even though I’m sure that would be ideal.
I’ve thought about repurposing the spare bedroom for her, however that would require a lot of work (carpet and she loves to pee/poop on carpet specifically), and I’m not sure if that would cause more anxiety locking her in there during the day, even if she’s uncrated.
submitted by /u/Emotional_Month4656
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