I have a 6 month old female purebred husky and a 6 month old male husky/malamute mix. My husky is crate trained and goes in her crate no problem and doesn't whine or bark. My malamute however is horrible in his crate. He barks and howls, goes to the bathroom on himself, shakes, and hurts himself on the metal. Recently he started moving the crate, pulling things in and shredding them also, he's been escaping. He is okay out of the crate and I wish I could leave him out, there's a 50/50% chance that he'll destroy things. His separation anxiety/fear of the cage are so bad and I am at a loss about what to do.
Thank you for writing in and sorry to hear about the trouble you are having with crate training.
Before I attempt to give you ideas to help solve this problem, I need a few more details. Could you please tell me how long you have had both pets for? Where did you get the male pup from (rescue/breeder/someone you know?) Did you start crate training both of them at the same time? Could you please briefly describe an average day in their lives for me. Also, are their crates in the same room?
I have had Sasha my husky since she was 7 weeks old and have had Ollie the malamute since he was 13 weeks old. We got Sasha from an Austrian breeder (we live in Germany) and Ollie came from a breeder near Berlin. When we got Ollie however, his previous owners told us that he had never been alone before because they had several people living at their house and also he was never away from his parents and litter mates. They also told us that they never put him in a crate because he was afraid of it and asked us not to crate him either. We ended up not having a choice because he chews things up in the house when we leave him out. We tried crate training with Sasha when we first got her but it was horrible and she had separation anxiety like Ollie does, so we stopped for a while but then tried again a few months later and she is absolutely fine with her cage now, she even likes it. We started crate training Ollie (or trying to) when he was about 15 weeks old. He poops on himself less now than he used to, but he still howls and shrieks something terrible and escapes from the cage and then just goes to the bathroom on the floor anyway. Their crates are in the same room, right beside each other. We cover Sasha's with a blanket so it's dark and she lays down and goes to sleep but we can't cover Ollie's because he pulls whatever he can reach into the cage with him and shreds it. Every day my husband wakes up and goes to work at 6 AM and they either wake me up to take them out or go back to sleep. We usually are up and ready for the day by 9 and then I pretty much hang out with them all day (I can't have a job here in Germany because the military post jobs are very limited). They eat twice a day, once in the morning and once at dinner time. I do leave them usually once a day from anywhere to an hour up to 4 hours. On the weekends when my husband and I go places, they're sometimes alone longer than that. Ollie is also a very timid dog and is afraid of almost everything if that helps you at all...
Ollie certainly has some separation anxiety issues. Have you had a look in the ebooks for ways to ease this fear? If you haven't already done so, please do. Sometimes simple things like having a radio on while your away works wonders. I highly recommend getting him a DAP collar (dog appeasing pheromone). These collars diffuse 'happy hormones' that help calm them down and I have personally witnessed them working their magic. The hormones they release are those associated with lactation and gives puppies a sense of security. You could even try getting a spray to enhance the effect while you leave him alone for longer than 4-5 hours. You must know that the effects take few days to a couple of weeks to work and that the product has varying efficacy. Make sure the collar is suited to his size/body weight.
Other things that will help your situation include everyday exercise and socialisation with other dogs, just to build up his confidence levels. Find a well-socialised dog(s) in your neighbourhood and organise to frequent play dates. Also read through the sections on alpha training and slowly incorporate these into your everyday life. It will help him settle better into your 'pack' and give him a sense of security.
I hope you find a DAP collar easily and that Ollie quickly learns to settle down. All the best!
