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Airline plastic crate

2K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  Gypsiemouse 
#1 ·
A few hours ago I had a heart wrenching experience. Loki was in his wire kennel while I took a quick shower. I heard a panicking scream that I never want to hear again coming from him. I run out to see what happened. To my horror his jaw was stuck in the bars. Both his k-9 teeth and his bottom jaw was wedged sideways in one of the bars. I manged to turn his head and wiggle his jaw off. No broken jaw and no blood. It is a collapsible crate so some how he pushed the crate out of the hinges and got his jaw stuck... I don't know..

I've zip tied all of the corners shut. It feel pretty secure but I'm still worried about what could've happen if we weren't home. I'm considering getting a plastic airline crate. Has anyone had and experiences with one? Was your dog able to eventually chew up the plastic or escape easily? Did they seem to like the crate? What size should I get for a full grown male boxer?
 
#2 ·
I have not used a crate myself, nothing against them just never saw the need myself. But I know that if a dog feels forced to be in a crate and fights to get out?? There is a problem that needs to be addressed!

Your dog has separation anxiety a stronger crate won't fix his issues...training will. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ka2x-yMSzM

The Place Command
http://www.boxerforums.com/1741938-post15.html

And "Sit on the dog"
Wheres my sanity: Sit on the Dog, aka: The long down
Energy - it's all about confid-tude

And don't know what your crate approach is/was but if/when I use one it will look like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7lyzbgTXjU

Rethink your approach! :)
 
#3 ·
I had issues with a wire crate as well. Hank would get out if it. Tried latching the doors, but he could still force his way out.

I returned the wire crate and got a large heavy duty airline type crate. He really likes this. It is darker, so sometimes he goes in on his own to just chill - it is like his personal den. Plus it is indestructible, and no way he can get out. On command he now goes into it when I tell him to. Seems he does fine for a couple of hours in the crate. He is usually in the crate for 2 two hour sessions and maybe a couple of 30 minute sessions per day. I usually fill up his Kong or give him a dental chew treat when he is in for one of the 2 hour sessions. Put a nice mat in it also. One word of advice, get a strong mat. Initially had a cheap mat and he started chewing that up. This new mat is made from a very strong material and he has not tried to chew it.

This is very similar to the crate I got him.

http://www.chewy.com/dog/petmate-vari-pet-kennel/dp/51942
 
#4 ·
I really don't think it's separation anxiety. I've had a dog with it before. It's more so that he just doesn't like the crate as much anymore. He was perfectly fine with it up until we had him on strict crate rest for those two weeks. He will still go in the crate on command but now generally doesn't like to go in it on his own just because. He is never let out in a excited state and will sit and wait with the door open until I give him the release command. He even stayed in the crate with door open yesterday when everything happened.

I occastionally will step out of the house and watch him from the kitchen window without him knowing to see how he will react and he does fine. Doesn't wine, bark or try to escape. I always make sure he's calm and relax when we leave. Yesterday we had a lot going on in the house so he had to be crated much longer then I would have liked which I think lead him to wanting to escape. We are teaching him the place command thanks to your suggestion on a previous post :) thanks for that Chip18 . He defiantly needs more training to get him to find his crate as a safe haven again but in the process of training I just don't want something like that to happen again expecially when we aren't home.
 
#11 ·
Hmm OK understood. So forget "your" dog for the moment I want to make a larger point!

First...let's forget for the moment it's a Boxer! It's a dog! If you took your dog to a board and train, your dog would not do this!

A Pro "would" label this Separation anxiety and they would deal with it as such. It doesn't matter what "we' think 'Pro's" have dealt with thousands of dogs they see it all the time!

One I respect is on the GSD Forum we engaged in a discussion on my GSD with Human Aggression issue. I said Rocky was Human aggressive he said JQP (me) often misdiagnose dog "issues." He said most likely it was not an "aggression" issue most likely he was fearful.

I said " I don't really know what it was?? But what I did "know" was I had a dog that was going to bite the crap out of someone if steps where not taken to prevent it!" So whatever your "dogs" issue is does not matter...what you do does! :)

The whole point of the above is because you have to stop thinking of him as your baby in order to fix this!

A better crate yes no problem but you need to step it up!

Place command and most like you saw "Sit on the Dog??" It may seem silly but "you" think of it does not matter! What it can do for your "dog" does!

Next your gonna have to buck up! Feed your dog in the crate! Every meal if your lucky he will have no issue with it! If your not he won't eat! That's where it might get tough! You will have to wait him out! Maybe it will take a day or two??

Don't worry he won't starve! You only need to be "tough" to help him get through this! :)

Does this make sense???
 
#5 ·
Animallove, I would agree with you. Hank had a lot of issues with the wire crate, but as soon as switched to the tougher built plastic crate - no issues. The best way to put it - the wire crate seems like a cage. The large plastic airline crate is more like a den or home.
 
#6 ·
We have 6 plastic crates for 3 dogs (3 house ones, 2 in the car and one in my training room) and only use the wire ones for shows when were tight on space. I like the hard sides and my guys also just like to use them as their dens sometimes. Its actually pretty common for a dog to chew through or escape a wire crate but a plastic crate they will only get out if their is already damage or they chewed the outside. I highly reccomend a plastic over wire the only things I like about wire is they are collapsible for easy transport and they have that divider for puppy training
 
#7 ·
We also have the wire crate, thank goodness no issues to date. The airline crates are good, I've had them with other dogs, in fact this is my first wire crate. I thought it wold be less restrictive as he could see all around, and get more air. For the heck of it I would contact the manufacturer of your crate and advise them what occurred. Perhaps they have some ideas too. That is really scary.
 
#12 ·
I have heard quite a few horror stories about wire crates. We recent had a DOA dog come into the clinic I work at, he was in his wire crate while his people were at work and he was wearing a collar. He had tried to escape from he crate, got his collar stuck on the bars, and ended up strangling himself. It was very sad. I had a wire crate for Aspen when I first got her but she would escape from it and was able to bend the bars. It didn't seem very secure or very safe, so I got her a plastic airline one and I've had no problems with it.
 
#13 ·
That is another reason I got rid of the wire cage. Not only was Hank escaping all the time, I was worried that he would eventually injure himself trying to get out of it. I had paid around $90 for the wire cage, and I paid $200 for the airline crate - and it was very well worth the extra money.

I have to have a crate, cause I cannot leave the house unless Hank is in a crate ( or I take him with me- but sometimes that is not feasible) - other wise Hank will be naughty and destroy stuff or really mess up the house. :chair:

I have too many books and magazines, that if Hank is left to his own he finds nice to chew on, and I found out the hard way he likes toilet paper and my hats. :crazyeye:
 
#14 ·
We have an airline crate. It seems pretty much bomb proof. Uhtred hated his x-pen and would collapse it in on himself, but he's never done anything at all to the airline crate even though he had some epic tantrums in there early on.
He still doesn't *like* his crate, but he tolerates it and I'm perfectly confident that he's safe in there.

Oh, by the way, if you look on craigslist, you can find them pretty cheap. I got the largest size (made a partition for it while he was a baby) for $50. A new one would have been $200 or more.
 
#18 ·
#19 ·
Gypsiemouse your crate top looks beautiful. I'll have to talk to my husband about making something like that :). Thank you everyone for all the advice and experiences. I'm currently waiting for a plastic crate to come up on Craigslist. Plenty of smaller ones but no big ones yet. For now the zip ties are doing fine and so is Loki.

Thus far this escaping has been a one time thing. He never attempted before nor currently after. We do have him in a corner of the room with blankets covering all but the door. He has always eaten in his crate except for about the first week we had him. He will go into it on command and will not come out until released. Of course he has tested his limits once of twice and we simply place him back in his crate and he waits some more before we release him. He doesn't try to push his face into the door as we are closing it and usually settle fairly quickly after being in there. The major change that I mentioned I had seen since his two weeks of confinement is that he just no longer goes in on his own when he is out and about like he used to. Also the other day he was in the crate for quite some time. Had a lot going on and couldn't supervise and we were out for a bit. So I think the pent up energy and being confined just caused him to try to get escape. I left my Skype up this morning while we were gone for two hours. No issues. He slept most of the time and played with his toys for a bit and drank water.. that's about it.

Either way we are teaching him the place command which he is getting rather good at it. It really does help to calm him down quite a bit. It's also nice for when we are eating or just want to relax.
 
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