Two Big Problems..

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
THEN, you won't even have to crate Lego, at all.:D

Lego will be satisfied enough, that she won't be so chockful of unspent energy, and won't be so frustrated outa her mind,:mad:
to act nutty and eat walls.

you can leave the house, and come home to fine house, and happy dog. no crate at all.

During those times, you can continue to work on slowly desensitizing Lego to the crate, for in case of some emergency,
but,
you might find,
getting Lego satisfied with her life to be an easier, faster solution:D , to get her to stop destroying walls. ????
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
if and when, you ever do provide Lego with long daily walks, romp and run times, tricks training,
and after a few weeks of doing that daily,
you could then test out Lego in one dog-proof room, which is full of kongs and stuff to do.

most bathrooms are easy enough to dog proof.

You could try it for 10 or 15 minutes, and come home, and heavily praise and reward Lego, and immediately take her for a walk. (have the leash in your hand)
Lol, leave her enough kongs, or doggie puzzles, etc, so that she won't really even have time to start chewing wall! set her up for success!!
Repeat later on, a few times each day.

then, over time, go for 25 minutes, come home, heavily reward Lego, take her for a walk. dont rush this, set Lego up for success. Wear a watch, or set yourself a buzzer, so you aren't gone too long -----------as Lego develops positive ideas about being in the bathroom by herself.

and so on, sloooooowly teaching Lego, that hanging around in the bathroom, leads to great things.:D

MIGHT be easier, than the crate thing...? for now?? See, lots-to-most dogs, do get free reign of the house when we are not home. I have hope you can get Lego to that point, too.

and then, when Lego IS being good in bathroom for a few hours, maybe try out Lego home alone in house, for 10 or 15 minutes, again, with tons of kongs and doggie puzzles, come home before Lego has time to tear house up,
heavily praise and reward Lego, and take her for a walk right away, and so on......like you did in the bathroom.
 

luckylego

Experienced Member
... I could cry...

I had a HUGE post of replies to everyone's comments all written up, and somehow it all got deleted.. So sorry if I miss replying to anyone specifically, I just can't remember all that I originally wrote!

I've been a little MIA lately.. Mainly because I've been sick. So Lego HAD been getting lots of exercise until I started feeling ill. Unfortunately she's been cooped up with me for the past few days and nooot happy about it. She isn't being a brat or acting out, but I can just see the frustration written all over her face. I plan on taking her for a loooong run through the trails at the dog park when I get better though, so hopefully she can contain herself until then! I know my boyfriend WOULD take her.. But I think he worries about her recall when I'm not around (she's a mama's girl, something I'm trying to undo a bit so she listens to other people too), so he'd rather just wait for me to be there with him incase anything goes wrong - which I do appreciate!

Oh, and believe me I really wish I didnt haaave to crate Lego.. Our dogs have always had the run of the house, so it bugs me to have to think of crating her, but unfortunately that's the only way to save my house until we get her boredom/anxiety or whatever issues she has, under control. Once that happens though, she's a free range pooch :)

I feel like I'm missing a LOT from my original post, and if I happened to miss something, feel free to let me know.. Buuut I do happen to have a video of Lego going into her crate so that you can see. She's made lots of progress, going in there pretty readily, but definitely still pretty nervous and not wanting to stay inside. I actually got her to go inside by making it part of her brain game. I play a little scavanger hunt-type game with her every other day, where I hide treats around one room of the house and make her sniff them out. So as part of the game, I hid a few treats inside the crate one day and voila! She went inside! Normally she wont go in, UNLESS it's part of her game. Is there anything I can do to take the next step on this and get her to stay inside without panicking though? Cause that's my biggest hurdle at the moment.. Getting her in there was easy, getting her to STAY there without getting anxious is the hard part!

I tried this video with both her bed inside the crate and with nothing lining the bottom.. It didn't seem to make a difference when it come to her confidence. She very rarely will put all three legs inside the crate.. As a matter of fact, usually she leans SO far in while trying to keep her back leg out, that it comes right off the ground and she's balancing on TWO legs. Also.. sorry about the sound, and usually I focus more on making the treat finding a bit more difficult, but this was just to show you guys how she goes in now :)

 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
//I had a HUGE post of replies to everyone's comments all written up, and somehow it all got deleted.//

oh i hate that, too, and it never comes out as good on 2nd try...bummer.


try switching to "google chrome". it's a free download, and that won't happen nearly as often.;)




you can also keep your old browser, too, and use whichever one you like best. Computers CAN have more than one browser icon to use.:)
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
btw, like i said earlier, walking is good for YOU, too, it is.
There's only a very small handful of illnesses or conditions which totally prevent a human from being able to walk, or that are NOT helped by walking.

Or, you can take Lego to a fenced in, empty school yard to throw balls for Lego, while you sit.

i'm a nurse, i've spent a lifetime coaxing surgery patients with giant incisions to walk with me down the hall. it really IS good for YOU too.
Days a person doesn't feel the urge to walk, *might* be days they need the walk the most.

If you do have a condition that totally prevents you from walking, i feel really bad for you, but on such days, you can still try teaching Lego tricks. This is very satisfying to dogs. Your videos on other pages, and your posts make me think that it sounds like you DO have a high energy dog, and i'm not 100% sure if giving Lego several tricks lessons each day will be enough to siphon off Lego's massive energy, but, it will help!!

So each day when you leave, are you having to shove Lego in ?? if so, that WILL undo all your marvelous efforts to desensitize Lego to the crate.

It is your dog, and your choice, and if you feel concentrating your time and efforts on getting Lego into the crate,
is going to be faster or easier than desensitizing Lego to being left in the bathroom, in increments as described in post #44 above, (which i'd imagine Lego has no preconceived ideas about the bathroom, right?)
or faster or easier than
walking her+ providing vigorous playtimes,+and teaching her tricks,
then that IS your choice, and i wish you all the luck in the world, and sooner or later, i'm sure you will get there!!! It looks like you ARE making progress!! YAY!
 

luckylego

Experienced Member
There's only a very small handful of illnesses or conditions which totally prevent a human from being able to walk, or that are NOT helped by walking.
I'm really hoping that this doesnt come across as me being really defensive.. and if it does, just remember that I totally dont mean it to.. BUT, I said "sick" just so that I wouldn't have to bore you with my many medical ailments :p. I actually just got over a case of fifths disease - I'd never heard of it until I got it, but as a nurse I'm sure you know more than me on the issue! I was loaded full of pain killers and heavy duty antihistamines last week, so I'd pretty much been unconscious most of the day. Luckily it ran its course pretty quick though - much to my surprise! Annd then to make things worse, while lifting something at home on monday I sparked an old rugby injury that's been plaguing me for the past 4 years (I was tackled illegally during a game and the girl snapped my knee the complete opposite direction that it's supposed to bend.. Now randomly the tendons in my knee start to snap, crackle and pop, which causes my knee to swell up and leaves me unable to do much moving).. It IS starting to go down though, so I'm hoping by tomorrow I can go back to work and get Lego a well needed run at the dog park! (Before anyone gets concerned, I've been to several doctors about my knee.. Nobody knows what's wrong, so I've just learned to deal with it when it does flare up). But you're definitely right.. Even if I can't necessarily do much walking, I could still be working on training! That's something I definitely need to focus more of my attention on for sure:oops:

So each day when you leave, are you having to shove Lego in ??
That's something I forgot to retype in my last post! Stupid broswer (switching to chrome right after this lol). What I've noticed is, by leaving her crate filled with her food and all sorts of yummy treats when I leave.. She's too focused on trying to figure out how to get the treats without going inside the crate, to worry about destroying things! Now.. This isn't my solution to the problem, don't worry.. But it's definitely a nice distraction. Unfortunately, I spoke to my boyfriend about the bathroom idea and he made a few good points as to why I can't leave her in the bathroom either... Our roommates would let her out at some point anyways - EVEN IF we told them not to.. And then let her do her own thing. It's frustrating, but unfortunately for the time being we have to try to work around them. I'm trying to think if there's another room we could use for the time being, but I can understand why my boyfriend if reluctant to leave her in our room, with so much to shred. So I've been focusing my efforts (or had been until what's mentioned in the previous paragraph) on trying to tire her out physically and mentally. I'm really hoping that if I can keep it up, I wont have to even consider locking her up, like you said :D

My problem is, I need to be able to trust her to either be left alone or crated without getting scared, by christmas. I know that's a looong way's off.. But I've had this issue occur last christmas, where my sister-in-law (who's terrified of pitbulls, despite never having met one), refused to come for christmas with "that killer pitbull" under the same roof.. Even if Lego was crated. She demanded Lego be sent to a boarding kennel, annnd in the end I just left before they showed up to avoid any issues.. This year if I'm faced with the same issue, I'm going to fight for Lego's right to come with me to my own family christmas (although she would have to be trusted to either be alone in my room at times when my very young niece and nephew are running around, as she's a bit excitable.. Or be crated :( ).. ORR I'm going to try and have somone watch her for me while I'm gone. Either way though, she needs to behave herself for anything to happen! That's probably why this is my most important mission with Lego right now.. To keep her tired and well behaved :)

BUT.. In the meantime, I'm super stoked. Just got off the phone with someone from the western american pit bull terrier club, who informed me that they're having a pittie show in my area in 2 weeks! Fun trick teaching courses, for fun agility, flyball and weight pulling, annnd a fun little conformation show.. Not that the breed specificity makes it any more special, but I'm really excited to bring Lego out for a day of meeting new people, fun games, and all sorts of new tricks!! I might even enter her in the conformation show just for a laugh :)
 

Amateur

Experienced Member
I havent read the thread but I am assuming Lrgo has a problem going in the crate ?
I see a wire crate up there ... have you tried one of the plastic enclosed ones ?
Sometimes dogs feel more secure in those ones.
 

luckylego

Experienced Member
Well, I originally had a plastic crate actually.. And she was more than happy to sit in there - even would go hang out in her crate by herself when I was home, but one day I went to put her inside and she was terrified... Alligator rolls, screaming, pee/poo... She absolutely refused to go in. No idea what caused it, but I'm assuming something really frightened her while she was in there. So unfortunately the plastic crate isn't an option anymore (she wont even go near the room where it's stored right now). I'm going to give the blanket idea a try today though.. Maybe that will make her feel a little less freaked out by the whole thing? I'm curious if it will help or if she'll think its the same as her plastic crate and back out..?

On another note, I bought a clicker yesterday!! Today is a holiday so the entire day is devoted to: Further crate desensitization, reading all the clicker threads I can find, and a well needed, super long run at the dog park :)
 

Amateur

Experienced Member
Just a thought ... have you tried using the bottom half of the plastic crate ... would look more like a dog bed set up and see if she feels more comforatable with it since its not enclosed. ... maybe then you can try it with thte top later if shes ok..
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
//" So I've been focusing my efforts (or had been until what's mentioned in the previous paragraph) on trying to tire her out physically and mentally. I'm really hoping that if I can keep it up, I wont have to even consider locking her up, like you said"//

YAY!!! GOOD ON YOU, LUCKYLEGO!! HAVE HOPE!! I bet this will help Lego become a more contented dog!! :D

//"
What I've noticed is, by leaving her crate filled with her food and all sorts of yummy treats when I leave.. She's too focused on trying to figure out how to get the treats without going inside the crate, to worry about destroying things"// <----wow, this is very encouraging!!! seems like, anyway!!
 

luckylego

Experienced Member
Once again, SO sorry for disappearing.. But I came to make a miraculous update on Lego's progress!

Let me start by saying.. I'm pretty sure someone has switched dogs on me. Lego has, in a matter of days, gone from a neurotic, anxious, destructive, obnoxious dog.. To an angel. I really don't know what's happened because, to be honest, I haven't increased her physical activity by much.. Just a little bit of clicker training to help work on her focus (I've been focusing my clicker training on having her constantly focusing on ME when I'm around). Since my last post, she hasn't had to be crated - EVER. She quit destroying everything in sight, she hasn't been nearly as mouthy, she's calmed down tremendously, and hasn't had a single accident! She's even developed the habit, BY HERSELF with no training from me, that instead of mobbing me at the door when I get home, she stays put in her bed, wiggling like crazy until I come over and give her some pets and release her. I don't know how or why she decided to start doing this, you can see that she's seriously restraining herself from jumping on me the whole time, but for some reason she decided that it's more polite to just wait for me to come to her! Unfortunately she isn't so polite with the other house-mates when they return home, but its definitely a start.

Honestly, I feel like I could burst with pride.. My little girl's growing up :) I'm a bit confused because I don't feel like I'd been making enough of a change to get these drastic results, but apparently something has clicked in her head. We're even thinking, if she keeps this up, that we're going to sell the crate altogether... At this rate, we definitely don't need it! I'm not sure yet though.. Part of me wants to break her fear of the crate anyways, so that if she ever DOES need to be crated (such as, if I bring her to work with me and things get a little busy), it will be possible to do so without terrifying her.. but at the same time I feel like it's not even a big deal anymore. Granted.. She has to behave for more than just a week or two before I'm ready to trust her completely. Every time before I leave its about a 10 minute ritual of gathering all her toys, stuffing some of them with treats, leaving her bones and chew toys, etc.. Just to make sure she`s occupied. The weird thing is.. I've tried all this distraction stuff before and it NEVER worked.. But all of a sudden its like she finally gets it!!

I just had to brag.. I don't even know what to say, or why she made such an amazing turnaround all by herself.. All I can say is, I love my dog :D
 

luckylego

Experienced Member
(I should add.. When I say I haven't been changing much.. I don't mean to say that I've been lazy and haven't done ANY work with her at all. I just made little changes here and there, and gave her a little room and bam! She got it!)
 

Amateur

Experienced Member
Great progress ! Sometimes you never know what a trigger will be and now maybe thats gone and she can return to normal... dont question it just go with it !. Dogs will flop flop all the time .. my little one has just started to tattletale on the cat constantly even when she ISN'T on the counter -- so annoying. and also barking out the window --- new behaviour, dont knpw where it came from -- just hope it doesnt last .

Maybe you can just leave the crate out and don't do anything else ... just leave it there until its just part of the furniture ... then maybe when she totally sees it as benign you can start to work on it again.

Great job !
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
OH HOW WONDERFUL!! HOW SUPER GREAT IS THIS !! Thanks so so much for sharing your great breakthrough here!! I'm so happy for you, and for Lego!!

WHOOOOT!!

dog emoticon2.gif

I think this is great!!


like i said: //" btw, i just wanna pause here, and tell you, with all my heart, that DO HAVE HOPE, for great cures in all of the above problems, i think, with patience, and time, you can and WILL resolve all of those problems. "//:D
i knew you could do it!!!



Who knows, maybe connecting with you via training and having some way to use her lil brain a lil bit, somehow helped? or maybe even being crated all day was somehow contributing to Lego's distress,(?) maybe one factor was Lego just did grow up a bit more?? no way to know for sure i guess. BUT AT ANY RATE, I THINK IT IS WONDERFUL !!
Hope you DO keep up the training, no telling how much more and more progress you may make!! DO KEEP US POSTED, we are always up for good news like this, it encourages everyone who is working on solving problems to hear of progress!!!
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
re: the crate, you could save it, and let the current progress continue,
continue training Lego both to focus on you, and train Lego to follow some cues, teach her some tricks, (even rollover or lay down, any ol trick will do, just teaching dogs tricks for the sake of learning, is helpful, imo)

and then, maybe, if Lego's stress about the crate is now reduced, if Lego now is a more contented dog, maybe Lego might be more open to crate training in the future, who knows??
you could try, in the future, to follow the steps in the videos on page 1 to try to start all over just desensitizing the now more relaxed:) Lego to the crate. But if you ever ever force her into it, or put Lego in the crate as a punishment, it could backfire on getting Lego to "like" her crate.

It might be nice for in case you ever need a crate, but, i don't own a crate at all anymore. I had one at first, as a "safe place" for my dog, to go in there when HE choose to, but i got rid of it, as it took up so much room in our living room....and over time, Buddy went in there less and less and less, so we sold it. When we first got him, he went in there a lot, on his own, as he was accustomed to cages, and when he felt overwhelmed, he went in there and we left him alone whenever he did. But, he gained confidence, and pretty much stopped using it.

If you wanted to ever crate Lego at your workplace, it *might* be, that Lego *might* be okay with crate training there, it *might* be, that Lego----having never been forced into a crate all day alone at your workplace------------*might* not balk at a crate in your workplace, plus, you'd be right there where he can see you,
but, who knows. BEST OF LUCK whatever decision you make about crate training.

SO SO HAPPY FOR YOUR PROGRESS. Made my day!! You must be so proud, you are doing something right there, LuckyLego!!! CONGRATS!!
 

Dogster

Honored Member
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::D
WOW. Shocked.
AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! Just AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT an improvement!!!!! WOW!!!!! GRRRRRRREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!! FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW.:eek::ROFLMAO:
 
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