Poor Sandy - Still chewing her bed

[Guest sandy's mom]

When we adopted Sandy in May (she is somewhere around a year old now) we immediately began crate training her. Since she was messing in her crate someone on this forum (thank you!) suggested that we take the bedding out of her crate until she was trained. That worked remarkably well and she hasn't had an accident in her crate for months now! BUT, that's only if she's sleeping on the cold bare metal. We have taken pity on her a couple of times and tried putting a towel or lightweight blanket in her crate, but that always is soiled in the morning! Last night DH decided Sandy was ready for a bed and placed one in her crate. Today we have a bed cover and lots of shredded foam rubber!

Is Sandy forever doomed to sleep in a bare crate? Does anyone else use a hard, cold empty metal crate for their pup? She doesn't seem to mind, but I feel terribly guilty!

[wags]

We have used cheap bath mats and towels.

[bubba]

Our crates are the heavy plastic ones w/the metal doors. We used old towels from the Goodwill when Cooper was a puppy, but that was a mistake we quickly corrected. I have tried now that they are older, ages two and one, to put towels in them and they pull the towels out and just sleep inside without anything. It's funny, because they will lay on towels outside the crates, just not inside.

I even thought I would be nice and get them a nice mat to lie on during the day.....well, after about a week it looked like a blizzard hit one day while we were gone, so I fixed that. It went a few months, and just two weeks ago, it was even a worse blizzard! The mat is now in the garbage and I've been told we won't be getting another!

pat.

[caesar22]

Has anyone ever tried giving them a toy to chew on while in the crate. They need something to chew otherwise they will find something. Good Luck!

[TheScotts]

After my monsters shredded their expensive beds, my brother sewed pillows for them out of ballistic nylon, and filled them with batting (pillow stuffing I suppose). This nylon is ultra tough; the pillows are undented after a month. Plus once in a while Connor barfs up something he should not have eaten and I just hose the pillow off.

[Scully'sMom]

Scully, thankfully, has never chewed on her "daytime beds" - which she lies on on the floor during the day. At night she sleeps in the hard plastic crate with a metal door like Bubba's and I switch off old beach towels. No matter how many times I put it nice and fluffy in there for her to lie on, she smooshes it up into a ball up by the door part. Go figure!

[Guest rottndobie]

Is Sandy forever doomed to sleep in a bare crate?  Does anyone else use a hard, cold empty metal crate for their pup?  She doesn't seem to mind, but I feel terribly guilty!   

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One thing you could try is going to Home Depot or Lowes and getting a solid rubber mat. You can cut them to size and put one in her crate. That way if she does mess it is easy to clean off. Plus it will give her some padding and not be so hard/cold. I would tend to think that sooner or later she will outgrow the need to shread bedding - it can just take quite a while in some cases.

Make sure she has plenty of toys and a rawhide to chew on as well. This will help with the bordum...

[jansop]

Booker has an old pillow/pillowcase in his crate. It fits perfect.......jan

[Eliz222]

We always used old towels, but I think if she is soiling the bedding every night, I would leave the crate bare...especially since she doesn't seem to mind.

ps. Be careful about putting toys or rawhide in the crates....I would only do this if you can watch your dog...they can easily choke on rawhide and toys that have been chewed up.

[Brody'sMom]

I'd definitely try the plastic mat, but otherwise I don't think I'd put in any more bedding. I'm sure if she is chewing it, she is swallowing at least some of it and that can't be good. Another option would be to put in cheap bedding (maybe even an old t-shirt) and move the crate into your room, maybe if she can see/hear you she'll sleep better and be less inclined to chew.

[Guest mrskti]

I started off making these real cute extra thick quilted pads out of fleece with batting inside. Well they kept scrunching them up in a ball, so now I just throw a yard or so of plain ol' fleece (still a cute pattern ) and they can scrunch them and do whatever they want with them...easy to wash too.