Hello all

My wife and I bought a home a couple of months ago. The previous owner had a couple dogs, and our basement is the only place where there is carpet.

It seems really odd, but our pup (40lbs at 5mo!!)really freaks out down there. She'll lay upstairs and play by herself, chew a bone, give love,etc. But when we go downstairs she becomes aggressive and frantic.

Now that she's been calming down upstairs we moved her crate to the basement. Once again, when it was upstairs and she went in for being a wildchild to calm down it was OK. Now if we put her there she reverts back to her tiny puppy squeak bark and chews at her cage.

Would you all think this could be triggered by the previous dogs that were down here? If so, is there anything I could do to try and ease her up a little?
thanks!

My dog does the same. I have him crated in the garage, and he'll lay there quietly. However, he is used to following me around. He can be playing with a toy in a room, but as soon as I leave (out of view), he'll drop what he's doing, and becomes frantic...even if family members are there with him.

We have an area outside that can be used as a dog run. In the past, I've tried leaving him there for a little while, but it hasn't worked out because again, he'll start to work himself up. Also, there has been a few times where I've tried crating him outside, just beside our garage. Again, he won't attempt to escape, but he'll begin to give off that sqeaky bark.

Last month, I left him in the dog run for about 4 hours. When I came back, he had dug a burrow (Don't know if it was out of anxiety, was a hot day), but there wasn't signs of him trying to escape. Not too sure if I can rule this out as separation anxiety.

Matthew, my guess is that our dogs begin to whine because there is a sudden change of routine, and they're not comfortable with it (such as leaving them in a new location of the house).

I can also use some help in this area. Will gladly take suggestions!

Matthew, when she's crated in the basement, are you or family with her? If not, then I would say take the crate back upstairs. I can't see a reason for putting her down there if her reaction is complete stress and anxiety, especially since she's fine with being crated upstairs. She's a puppy, wants to be with you, whether upstairs or downstairs. It's completely normal.

Julio, I would say the same thing applies with your dog. I'm of the opinion that a dog should be with their owner. The dog's opinion is the same. I'm not much for kenneling a dog. Other people's situations are different, such as breeders. But to me, having a pet or a working dog means having the dog with you. If the dog wants to go out on his own in the yard, that's one thing but to keep him separated from you and the family, especially outside on a hot day (GSDs hate the heat) is not right IMO.

Yes I didn't qualify this. The only times I've crated her while in the basement is when I'm in the basement. That was what made it so crazy.

It could very well be that there is not only dog odor down there (you may not be able to smell it), but dog urine odor as well. I believe some professional carpet cleaners have a pet urine odor remover that is used when cleaning carpets. You may want to check into that. Even if the carpet has been cleaned with a regular procedure, it doesn't get rid of the dog odor, not to a dog's nose anyway.

There may be another reason she doesn't like it down there. Is there any chance of mold? Not sure if this would bother her to that extent, but maybe. Maybe someone else has knowledge on whether dogs are or could be bothered by mold or not. I tend to think they could be, and maybe your pup is ultra sensitive with her nose.

Maybe you could try feeding her down there, or taking treats down with you and occupy her mind with some training sessions with treats. Try to make going down there fun, playing with toys, feeding, training. I believe she'll get used to it if you figure out what she'll respond to and give it enough time. However, if there is mold (may be hard to spot), it's a safety hazard for all.

Thanks!

Got it. I'll keep him crated in the garage. Yes, you're right, I've been noticing that GSDs don't like the heat. Everytime we go for long walks in the country, first thing he does is lay in the shade while we rest.

Julio, just as an interesting fact, here's a link to the average temps in Germany (since the GSD originated there it sheds light on why this breed doesn't like the heat but actually have no problem with the cold). The temps are in fahrenheit instead of centigrade so easy to compare to our temps:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/GMXX0007?from=36hr_bottomnav_business