Hellobee Boards

Oh boy! Maybe she just needs to get used to her new environment? My dog had separation anxiety too in the beginning. I started leaving toys with treats stuck inside to help keep him busy. That helped. Eventually, he just got used to it.

Whoa! That is some destruction!
My dog was a little older when we got him (around a year) but he was crate trained, so we kept him in the crate when we went out and at night in the beginning. He never destroyed things like that, but he would cry when we left for the first few weeks-- like we could hear him crying from outside the building. He got over it once he realized we were always coming back. He never cried in there at night, when we were home but in the other room.

I would leave him with just the big kong with PB like @MrsCB: suggests and no bed or anything soft. Hopefully that will limit the destruction, though I see he even managed to break the plastic. And if you can, get him really, really tired before you leave, long walk, dog park, running around, everything.

Our dog did the same thing. We ended up putting towels in there. we got a hollow marrow bone, and put peanut butter and kibble in it and gave it to my dog before we left. We would also say Buddy into your room and he would walk in lay down we give him the bone and closed the door and walked out. He would happily work on getting the peanut butter out of the bone.

@artbee: I rescued my dog when she was estimated to be around 2. She still occasionally chewed on things, like her bed, when she was alone or bored. Usually not total destruction though. After a while she grew out of it, maybe another year later? My parents got a puppy and the puppy did this exact thing (a tiny little 8 pound thing). They mentioned it to the vet and the vet was like "of course he did."

If she really has a problem with separation anxiety, it would be best to leave her with something to keep her attention, and then go out for just a short time, maybe 5 minutes. Make the times longer and longer and do it regularly. I had tons of food toys and would always give my dog her breakfast in one when I left for work. She would be so busy with her food she wouldn't care that I left.

When I first got my dog I had a wire crate like that one and she TORE it up! She eventually bent the latch and got herself out one day. After I switched to one of the plastic airline type crates and we never had another problem. I've read that dogs prefer this more enclosed type of crate because it's more den-like. Plus there's no bottom to tear up.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=13130851&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo

When we were first crate training our dog, we only put old towels in there. Even now we just have a blanket in there - no bed - because he will tear it up.

The turning point for us with crate training was when we started giving him really "high value" treats to go in there. We would save the awesome treats for crate time only - he got them when he went in, as well as when he came out and did "Sit." He doesn't love when we leave now, but he goes in and lays down.

Oh boy! Looks like when we got our pup. She also was able to get out of the crate with numerous locks/zip ties. When we finally solved that problem, she was able to move the crate 8 feet across the room and damage walls and furniture from inside the crate. Honestly, she was worse in the crate than out of it. Our dog did grow out of the destructive phase, but it coincided with a time when she got really sick. She's better now physically and we don't crate her at all. Sorry that's not any advice, but it means that a dog won't necessarily do that forever.

Good luck!!!

Our dog chewed up his bed one night in his crate and was up to his eyeballs in fluff the next morning. I don't think that it was separation anxiety. I'm more prone to think it was boredom, like @MrsCB mentioned. He grew out of it eventually, and is now 6 and hasn't used a crate in years, and hasn't destroyed anything in even longer. He's such a good boy now. We did take him to puppy school, and stuck with the crate for a long time until we were sure he was ready. We did little trials for short amounts of time and it turned out great. Hang in there!

nothing to offer except, that is a REALLY adorable dog!

oh no!! bratty pup!

our pup barked and whined his head off at first, so we started putting him in and letting him back out while we were home. we also just left for short bits of time working up to longer. We also cover his cage with a blanket so it's nice and dark for him.

good luck!

@mrs. 64: our pup totally moved from room to room in her crate, too! That's when we knew it was time to ditch it