hi,
well, I've had my dog for about two weeks now (I think). I've been using the crate on a regular basis. He's always in the crate whenever unsupervised. In fact, he enters voluntarily when tired. Everything is perfect when I'm in the house, and during the nights. The problem arises when I leave the house. Every time I leave he tries to escape. And most of the time he is successful. I've added a small lock to further secure the crate however he still manages to get out (I have no idea how because the lock is still intact, and he is a German Shepherd, and the opening is maybe large enough for a miniature poodle :-) ).

The real problem isn't that he gets out, even though that is a problem in and by itself. The worrisome part is that when he's alone in the house he behaves differently. He knocks over the trashcan, takes things from the counter, ate half a pack of cigarettes my friend left over the other night, etc. I have no problem with the cleanup however, I believe it is dangerous for him. He might get into the cleaning materials, and other hazardous objects.

What would be the best way to deal with this problem?

Tomorrow I will be receiving my electric collar. I was thinking that maybe I can put an Internet camera facing the crate, leave the house with my laptop and wait outside viewing the crate on the net. The moment that he begins trying to escape I can correct him. Is this a good idea?

Eitan Waks

How about a more secure crate? I think you've got a wire crate, right? If it's one of the foldable ones, I doubt they're very difficult to get out of for a determined dog.

Personally, I wouldn't use the ecollar as you are thinking, but that's just me. Perhaps others will have a different view about it. It would be interesting, however, to set the camera up to see how he's doing it.

leih

Don't I remember you mentioning you might engineer one of those aluminum crates yourself? I thought that was a great idea.

My GSD does the same thing only he does it when I'm home. I have found that zip ties and putting the lock lower on the crate door solves the problem for my guy. If you have the ability to watch him it might help you to see exactly how he does it so that you know exactly where you need the extra clips.

Hey Eitan,

How's it going?