Is there anyway of not crating a Beagle

alamaya

Ok see below how my little man has grown. Thank god he has got out of most of the evil puppy habbits he had lol.

Heres the thing we had to crate him after him getting destructive. We crate overnight and for maybe 4 hours during the day. We had to do this as a few times when we came in from the pub/work we found:

1) cushion of sofa spread over the room.
2) hay knocked off Guinea Pig cage all over the room.
3) TV Stand nibbled.

This was all a good 4 months + ago and i dont want to have a crate in my living room the rest of my life but also thats not the living situation i want for him. Hes a beagle he needs to burn lots of energy and have freedom not be trapped in a crate.

Any tips or should i just test it and hope for best.

Thanks
Alamaya and Bailey

suki1964

Well now IME dogs are only destructive (past the teething stage) through boredom

So maybe you need to look at how long hes being left for AND what you are leaving for him to do whilst you are out, AND what sort of interaction you have with him when you are there

Raksha

You go to work and then go to the pub - so how many hours a day (minus time when you are asleep/preparing meals/otherwise engaged) does he have your attention?

It's also a little worrying that you have a Guinea Pig cage (presumably with GP/s in it) in the same room. This must be so frustrating for a hunting dog like a Beagle.

Fire_Fox

Please could we be more constructive with our advice? Both the above posts read to me as quite critical when we don't yet have the full story. They haven't said they go to work for eight hours and then to the pub every night!

foreign_correspondent

the worry with chewing really is about the dogs welfare as well - dogs can chew things that will be damaging or dangerous for them.

Someone I know has a collie - her sister had a littermate, which when she was out, devoured the bak of a computer desk, complete with metal staples and fixings - cue a poorly dog, with a serious risk to her life and an emergency operation to the tune of £800.

If you want to leave him un-crated I would do so in a room where the opportunities to chew have been removed as far as possible, and any hazardous things to chew are well out of reach - consider that if a dog eats a small battery it can kill it, electrical wires are not good to chew etc etc..

I would also make sure the dog is well exercised before you leave it. Some people find that stuffing the dogs food into a kong toy keeps the dogs 'chewing attention' focussed on that, rather than the furniture.

Agree about the GP too - it is not good for the dog or the small furry if it becoms the focus of his attentions!

suki1964

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Please could we be more constructive with our advice? Both the above posts read to me as quite critical when we don't yet have the full story. They haven't said they go to work for eight hours and then to the pub every night!

Excuse me? Have I said anything about 8 hours work or pubbing everynight?

Now I know you are feeling a tad fragile, but I do believe my post has not in any way shape or form been judgemental

The OP has not made any indication about how she leaves the dog so I have suggested that these are areas she may need to look at.

I can only advise as far as the story Im told. Now if she posted saying that she leaves the dog for 2 hours make and he has lots of toys to play with and that every day they go training and scenting or agility - then the advice I would give would be different. But she has given us no clues

So as far as I ( or anyone ) can tell the dog is crated during the day for some length of time, again all night whilst sleeping, and perhaps for when they are out socialising. Both Rashkas and my suggestions of looking at whats happening between those times I think is very valid

alamaya

ok to answer some points.
1) i dont work and then go to the pub. i ment at weekends when i have been home with him all day. I would never leave my dog for stupidly long periods of time.
2) Never really thought of the Guinea Pigs setting him off as he never even bats an eyelid at them only reason the hay fell off was because he was chewing the cupboard below it.
3) tried the kong but unless it just has the paste in it he is not interested. He loooooves the wubba version but they are only designed for throwing and if he has it for an hour or so he has managed to destroy them.
4) I work Mon-Fri and my husband works Wed-Mon so there are 4 days a week where he is not crated at all during the day. We dont really go out more than twice a month so most of the time its night only. He is walked twice a day, i play tug/fetch for 30+mins a night and then he is pretty much asleep on me.

Fire_Fox

suki1964 wrote: »

Excuse me? Have I said anything about 8 hours work or pubbing everynight?

Now I know you are feeling a tad fragile, but I do believe my post has not in any way shape or form been judgemental

The OP has not made any indication about how she leaves the dog so I have suggested that these are areas she may need to look at.

I can only advise as far as the story Im told. Now if she posted saying that she leaves the dog for 2 hours make and he has lots of toys to play with and that every day they go training and scenting or agility - then the advice I would give would be different. But she has given us no clues

So as far as I ( or anyone ) can tell the dog is crated during the day for some length of time, again all night whilst sleeping, and perhaps for when they are out socialising. Both Rashkas and my suggestions of looking at whats happening between those times I think is very valid

Thank you for your assessment of my personal state of mind. You didn't ask whether the OP left toys or went to agility or training, your post read to me like you had assumed the puppy is bored. I didn't use the word judgemental in my post, you did.

Oldernotwiser

Do you put him in a crate every night and, if so, why?

foreign_correspondent

For the dogs safety, when he is unnatended, I would either leave him crated at the moment, or in a room where there are no opportunities to chew anything...

as I said earlier, there is a risk he will chew and swallow things that are dangerous to him otherwise.. does he chew (or try and chew) things whilst you are in? If so I would be working on training him out of this before you leave him and 'see how it goes'

You are right in that

Hes a beagle he needs to burn lots of energy and have freedom not be trapped in a crate.

- however, you want him to be burning his energy (in productive ways) when you are there, and sleeping when you are gone - otherwise he will find something to do, and this will most likely be chewing! If he is relaxed and sleeping he should not mind being in his crate anyway, so long as it isnt for too long.

alamaya

as i stated i do everynight as he was very destructive when younger when left alone. I am therefore asking now how i can safely decrate him.