I purchased a 8 month old weimeraner pup about 2 months ago. (we've had a weim in the past) We have been working really hard to train him in all areas. We started off crate training him (wire crate), for when we are at work. I have had dogs all my life, and have never had this much proplem with crate training. We feed our pup all meals in the crate, he gets treats in the crate, he stays in the crate while we eat, we occassionally put him in the crate while we are doing things around the house...and he has no problems with being crated while we are home. When we are gone, he goes crazy in the crate. We have a webcam on him 24/7 and watch him from work. He has escaped out of the crate so many times that we have had to put locks on it. He urinates in the crate as well, out of anger. He acts just like he has seperation anxiety, but he only acts this way in the crate. For the past 2 weeks, we tried living him out in the house and although he has not used the bathroom in the house, he has been chewing everythinig up even with all the latest chew toys that he has. We had to put him back in the crate this week due to his chewing distruction, and he is back to his old ways in the crate. I don't know what else to do. We have followed every suggestion found online and from his vet that I know in order to crate train him. We have put clothing with our scents in the crate. We feed and reward him in the crate. He gets regular exercise to tired him. We don't make a big deal out of going in and out of the crate. We leave out into the yard and come back so that he knows we will be back. We never punish him in or to the crate. We leave him in the crate for short periods while we are home, and he is fine. I don't know what else to do. Any of you have any suggestions? We love our pup and he behaves very well while we are around, but he does not like being left home alone.
Only things I can think of, Have you considered getting another dog? Or an older dog that he can learn from or possibly borrow a friend's older dog that is a very good house dog (calm) and hopefully will show him what is expected when the family leaves. Or consider adopting another dog so he will have a buddy. I have a friend that adopted a beagle and he had seperation anxiety really bad, she borrowed her friend's very calm, older dog and they used him several times a week, just left the two alone at her house while they went shopping, they did this several times a week and after a couple of weeks he started to get the idea of how he was suppose to act when mommy was gone, he just needed some other dog to show him the ropes and time to adjust to his new home. Good luck.
Actually, we are watching our friend's older dog while they are out of the country. We can't put both of them in the crate together because she is much smaller than he is and I am afraid he might accidently hurt her. I have tried leaving her out in the house and him in the crate and that doesn't work. He just wants out too. He only acts like he has seperation anxiety when we put him in the crate for work. He does fine around the house, around others, and in the crate when we are home. He just does not like being in the crate while we are gone. We tried leaving him out of the crate for 2 weeks, but he kept chewing everything up even though I did everything possible to keep him entertained with treats, treat hunts, tv on, etc. I just don't know what else to do. I hate sitting at work watching him on webcam while he whines and barks in his crate. We had considered a doggy day care, but that cost a lot of money. He has become a wonderful family dog and we love him very much. I guess I could try calling an animal behaviorist to see if they can help.
I gotta commend you and your family for trying so hard to find the solution, wonderful owners. I know what you mean about the doggy daycare, we use one every now and again and ours runs about $17/day. You could try and use it just every other day for awhile and see what happens. Our big dog at that age went about 2 days per week and the days he was there wore him out in a big way, so that the following day he slept all day. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and the puppy.
We may consider a doggy day care for 1-2 days per week. I just saw that NC State has a behavior office in Cary and we might try that too. Thanks for your suggestions. All suggestions help. You can only get so many ideas through online research. Thanks.
i don't have any advice other than to tell you that we have a Weim puppy as well. maybe we could get them together to play. ours is a girl and not fixed yet though so we'd have to wait. :mrgreen:
Is he getting enough exercise? My other thought: Maybe he's just not a crate dog. I have 2 dogs; one cried and worked his way into a tiz from day one when he was in the crate, but the other dog uses it as her safe and happy place (including overnight). She did poop and pee in it at the beginning, but it turned out there was more of medical reason for that..... Do you have a half bathroom you can leave your dog in during the day? I used to put a bunch of paper down with a bone and a couple of toys, and then I used a gate in the door way so she didn't feel closed in. That worked for me for awhile too. I did find that that the more tired she was, the less she cried and chewed...Now she also goes to daycare one day a week. Just keep trying different things. You'll find the right thing at the right time.
