I need help with a crate escaper

I have a lab mix who was apparently houdini in a previous life. Every few days, while I'm away at work or running errands, he manages to escape his crate and then proceeds to destroy the room his crate is in. He's ripped up the carpet, busted through a screen on the window, and jumped on the mini-blinds so much they are trashed. He's has two brothers that he gets to play around with when I am home. Before I go to work they are outside or in the living room roaming around so I don't think its a problem of excess energy. He's not a very active dog so his play time with his brothers should be sufficent to calm him, I would think. Does anyone out there have any suggestions on how to keep him in his crate? Any ideas on a morning game we could play on the theory it is excess energy he needs to work off? anything would help?

 

Sounds like you need a new heavy duty crate. Is he new to the crate?
I would also toss in a treat stuffed Kong to help him settle down.

 

No, he's not new to the crate....it just took him awhile to figure out how to get out. Now that he know's he can escape though, I'm having trouble keeping him in. He used to be in a metal crate but he kept getting out so I went and bought one of the big plastic ones, it just slowed him down for a couple of weeks and now he knows how to pry open the door to get out.

 

There are some heavy duty crates that are all metal or steal, the only holes in it are the holes in the front, I dont know where you can find one but I do know they cost a few hundred dollars. A friend of mine had the same problem and the dog destroyed her entire house almost so she got one and the one she got, they have a guarantee that if the dog gets out, they refund you and pay for any damage your dog might have done after escaping. So they are pretty confident.

 

It could be separation anxiety. Is the crate in the room with the other dogs? Is he used to the crate? Maybe you can try putting him in it for short times while you are home and rewarding good behavior, and then gradually work up to you leaving for longer periods of time. Try putting toys in the crate like a stuffed Kong or other puzzle toy.

One of my dogs when she reached nine months old would no longer stay in her crate. She had been crated since we got her as a puppy, but right around 9 months she started chewing her way out of plastic crates or hopping her metal crate around the room. She couldn't get out of the metal one, but we were afraid she would hurt herself. So we doggie-proofed the family room as much as we could, used an ex-pen to fence it off from the rest of the house, and left her in there. She was fine for that week, and then we got a second dog and that made things even better. Now we also put up ex-pens to fence the furniture away from the dogs while we are gone because one of them ate a chair after months of being fine. We also have plastic down over every carpet seam, or they will eat the carpet.

For a foster that chewed a lot, we put him in an ex-pen with access to his crate. We left plenty of chew toys available to him. Fortunately, he didn't eat carpet and he wasn't a jumper.

Is there a room you can confine him to? A laundry room or bathroom or something with less stuff to destroy?

You might search this forum and online for separation anxiety. Whole Dog Journal is another good place to look for info. You can search back articles and purchase them for a couple of bucks.