I recently started fostering a Rottweiler/"pitbull" mix. I put this in quotes because I actually doubt the 50/50 cross due to his size (about 45 lbs), but he is a strong little bugger, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. He's a year old, but hasn't had a lot of training and never had any crate training. I'm introducing him to my other dogs gradually, using the methods on this site.

Well, today I get home after work to find him out & about in the room with the crate (thank goodness I shut the door and will from now on). Pleased that there was no destruction, but I was surprised to say the least. This crate has gone through 2 dogs - one 50 lb Chow mix from 3 months on and an 80 lb GSD/pitbull mix who used it from 5 months old on. Both could be very rambunctious in the crate and the Chow mix actually ate a crate once. I was dumbfounded that "Riley" could do this. I can pull as hard as I can on the crate door and it doesn't budge.

I'd like recommendations to keep him in the crate (as opposed to outside of it)! If there are methods (toys, bones, bribes, etc.) that have worked for you, please let me know. He is a very stubborn boy, but is very food oriented. He'll do ANYTHING for a treat as long as it's a high value one (for him, a good blop of wet dog food does the trick).

thats a toughie for me, i am crateless at the moment, because bart has eaten through all the crated in my house.


if its wire, he bends the bars and actually breaks them, if its a plastic kennel, he chews a whole through it.

he has always gotten a bone/kong/chew hooves...plus exercise before going in....still he is determined.



i would get another crate, possibly a different style, and just make sure the dog is worked out before he goes in it...

i had a trainer tell me to rub a stick of mens mitchum deoderant all over the crate, that worked for a long time for mine, much better than the bitter apple crap.


try some nice meaty rec bones too, most dogs won't pass that up.

I have had only a couple of fosters over the years that I couldn't keep in a crate. If you can't keep him in the crate and he hasn't done anything destructive after he got out, you might be better off leaving him out. It creeps me out to have a foster loose in the house, so that is a very last resort for me. I have seen some dogs that are so determined to get out of their crates that they break teeth and tear their own skin getting out. These are extreme cases, but worth keeping in mind. I have no other ideas to keep him in the crate other than using a stronger crate and using U-bolts on all the edges and lots of clips to secure the door.

Angela, my Pit does the same thing. I have yet to find a GOOD way to stop him. I have been keeping him in my bedroom b/c to me, it's not worth the damage to his teeth to insist he stay in a crate. Additionally, he can open other crates, and I'm afraid he will let my GSDs out and a bloodbath will ensue.

I have had some luck w/using those clips that people use for rockclimbing (what the hell do you call those things???) I add 3 to hold the door on (this is a metal crate, btw) and then I add on eat every corner to hold the panels together and one on each side of the top panel in the middle (so there are 3 on each side of the top, if you can picture that). His little paws are quite coordinated (obviously, if he can reach out and unlatch his crate!) but not THAT good.

I admit I think he may outsmart this in a few days and I am currently in the process of having my uncle, who is a bit of an engineer, design me a Simon-proof crate.

Try the clips, and try zip-ties (tie wraps, whatever you want to call them) to reinforce every few inches. Get the military grade ones; they are very strong, and they give the impression that those panels won't give an inch, and often the dog will quit. This has worked for other dogs.

A Carabiner. Angela, Is it a plastic crate? Try a wire crate and spin it around with the door to the wall. See if he will lay that direction and forget about which end is the door.

I'm not a real crate expert as I use a kennel when confinement is necessary. Or a crate for the car and temp confinement when visiting friends etc.
However, if I was in your shoes the next time I put the dog in the crate I'd make sure he stays there. Every time he gets out it's self positive enforcement and makes it harder to keep him in the next time.
I wouldn't do any half measured, oh maybe this will work kind of thing. I'd use something the dog can not release or break, and enough of them to cover each weak point. Heck, I'd go buy a box full of small padlocks if need be. But I'd figure something out to keep him there.

For my money though one can't beat a nice 6x10 kennel. Or in Cassies case a 30 foot diameter holding pen.

Randy

Those are good points.

My husband's old GSD was a crate escape artist too.

He finally developed enough talent that he could stand up and stretch, using his back to push up on the crate top and pop the side-screws.

He eventually had to get one of these, as nothing else worked with that dog:
http://leerburg.com/crate.htm

see, i tried carabeaners, and zip ties, and turning the crate around.

i had bart in crates that were near impossible for me to get him out of.....and escape he did.

i have has each panel of a wire crate carabeanered in multiple places...i am not remotely exaggerating when i say that he can fit his 45lb body through a 4 inch gap. i watched him do it. he has been rushed to the vet more times for crate escaping injuries than for anything else combined.

i have placed zip ties every 2 inches around the entire crate. that holds for a while, but he pops them one by one till he gets out.


so...i started leaving him in an empty room by himself. i mean, a completely empty room. sometimes, with a dog bed, unless he starts tearing that apart.

now, the dog is CHEWING the door to that room. i just moved, btu at my last house, he chewed a hole from the bottom center of the door up 6 inches while i was at work, he did that in 8 hours!!!!

Yes, I left Qira in the other bedroom and she tore the moulding/casing off around the door to more easily open it. LOL. I think it was her, though it could've been Simon and I just didn't notice it. Oh, they're all so much fun!

The aluminum crates are nice, but pricey. I would need two, which is extra pricey, so I just use a bedroom or one of the outside kennels. I would rather spend that money toward concrete flooring for my new barn and kennels. Maybe if Ed would have a buy one get one free sale...;-)