Meet jango

[Sabina]

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Hi

I'd like to introduce my bocker Jango (cockerspaniel cross beagle)
My partner is a massive starwars fan so he is named after a bounty hunter. Jango Fett.

We have had jango for a year now. He is 14 month old. He has been neutered. When we first got him we started him in a crate in our bedroom slowly moving it out into the hall way. Night time he is brilliant and goes to his bed time crate. We have started to leave it open at night so he can have the hall way. My bedroom door is never shut so he can see us. He doesn't make a peep until around 6 in the morning, when he needs the toilet.
He has a day time crate which is down stairs. In the week he has a routine. Gets up for the toilet then I take him for a walk. Then he gets his breakfast. I get ready for work whilst he just plays. I then go to work putting him in his crate. Dinner time I come home and he is usually just chilling in his crate....i leave him with toys and kongs so he has something to do. I play with him for an hour, he does his business outside. I put him back in his crate and with another kong and toys then go back to work.

I come home at night let him out and play with him. 6pm he gets his tea.

Recently though if I put him in when I need to nip out of an evening I come back to him making a right mess in his crate (doesn't soil it) and he is barking and whining. He has a towel over his crate to keep any drafts off him which he has started pulling through the cage and shredding bits of it. I have also had to stop buying beds for his crate as he destroys them. He just has blankets in there now. I don't know why he is doing this or if it's just an age thing and he is testing us again.

Apologies for the long message. I don't know what I need to do.
I was thinking maybe retraining, pretending to go out and coming back in small intervals.
Or what if he is suffering from anxiety. He is very soft and I know he doesn't like missing out on anything. He follows me most of the time when I am at home. He is interested in everything. Sometimes he just won't sleep unless I sit down for a while with him or when he gets bored of me being busy doing house stuff.
Any suggestions will be a massive help. Thank you all in advance

 

[JoanneF]

He may be bored - from what it sounds like he is in his crate most of the day while you work, and again overnight? Couple that with adolescence and the fact you have a cross of two highly active dogs, it may well be he is understimulated.

Is doggy day are or a dog walker an option? Or www.borrowmydoggie.com? It is a scheme where people who would like a dog but can't have one borrow yours for a couple of hours. You would obviously have to build a trust relationship with the right person but it is another option.

 

[JudyN]

Does he only do this in the evenings? I'd be tempted to get a video recording of him during the day to check that he's OK during the day. But I agree with JoanneF that he does seem to spend a lot of time in the crate.

What would he do if left out of the crate when you went out?

One thing this isn't his him testing you - if he's barking & whining he's genuiniely stressed and unhappy.

 

[Sabina]

He may be bored - from what it sounds like he is in his crate most of the day while you work, and again overnight? Couple that with adolescence and the fact you have a cross of two highly active dogs, it may well be he is understimulated.

Is doggy day are or a dog walker an option? Or www.borrowmydoggie.com? It is a scheme where people who would like a dog but can't have one borrow yours for a couple of hours. You would obviously have to build a trust relationship with the right person but it is another option.

Thank you for your feed back Joanne. Well I try my best switching up flavoured kongs. He is locked in day time crate from about half 7am until 12 dinner time. I play with him for an hour shut him back in with some more toys and kongs. My partner can be home from work between the hours of 3 and 5pm and I am usually home around 5.30. So all in all he is locked up for about around 10 hours a day. His bed time crate is left open and he has run of the hall way upstairs.
We don't go out a lot in the evenings but on the rare occasion he pulls the towel through the crate and just makes a general mess.
I would love to be able to let him out his crate in the day but my whole downstairs is open plan. I think it might worry him more that he can sit at the window waiting for us to come home. Also if he is being destructive in his crate what might he do whilst he is out.
He loves to chew his toys. We have been lucky with distracting him away from my new couch. The older couch which we kept he has chewed that when he was a little younger.
You are right he is very active which is brilliant about him.

 

[Sabina]

Does he only do this in the evenings? I'd be tempted to get a video recording of him during the day to check that he's OK during the day. But I agree with JoanneF that he does seem to spend a lot of time in the crate.

What would he do if left out of the crate when you went out?

One thing this isn't his him testing you - if he's barking & whining he's genuiniely stressed and unhappy.

Hi Judy thank you for the advice. I think he must be stressed or unhappy that's why I'm worried.
He is only locked fully in the crate altogether for around 10 hours a day (not in one go) he has his bed time crate open now at night so he can go in and out as he pleases in the hallway upstairs.

 

[JudyN]

I'm afraid I think 10 hours shut in his crate is far too long for a dog of his age - or a dog of any age for that matter. Could you find a dog walker/sitter to care for him some or all of the day?

A lot of people who both work and have dogs simply don't go out in the evening because they don't think it's fair after leaving their dog alone for so much of the day. I honestly think you're just asking far too much of him.

If you do want to leave him in the evenings for short periods of time, I'd go through a standard separation anxiety routine - start by picking up keys, putting shoes on, walking to the door and then coming back and sitting down again, building up to going out the door for 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds..... But you need to make sure that his basic needs for company and stimulation are met first.

 

[Sabina]

I'm afraid I think 10 hours shut in his crate is far too long for a dog of his age - or a dog of any age for that matter. Could you find a dog walker/sitter to care for him some or all of the day?

A lot of people who both work and have dogs simply don't go out in the evening because they don't think it's fair after leaving their dog alone for so much of the day. I honestly think you're just asking far too much of him.

If you do want to leave him in the evenings for short periods of time, I'd go through a standard separation anxiety routine - start by picking up keys, putting shoes on, walking to the door and then coming back and sitting down again, building up to going out the door for 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds..... But you need to make sure that his basic needs for company and stimulation are met first.

Hi Judy

I totally agree with you I really hate leaving him in a crate. It isn't for a full 10 hours in one go as that is not ok.
It's about 5 hours in the morning. Then he is let out for an hour then it's between 4-5 hours in the afternoon.
It's rare we go out of an evening anyways and if we do it's literally about 2 hours at most.

I think I will try the separation anxiety game as that has worked for him whilst I have been to work.

Thank you. I will let you know how I get on.

 

[JudyN]

I really would look into a dog sitter/walker. I can't stress strongly enough that two 5-hour incarcerations is far too much. Dogs are supposed to have a similar mentality to a two-year-old child. Would you leave a child in a cot or small playpen with no company for that long?