To crate or not to crate - that is always the question!

Unfortunately, we have not found a positive relationship between crating dogs and overcoming home alone issues. In fact, we have seen more harm than good when crating these dogs.

There have been many times that I have done an initial assessment for a dog with "separation anxiety" and while in the crate, they are panicked, but when I ask them to let me reassess the dog while s/he is loose in the home, the dog peacefully snoozes on the couch without a care in the world. (You're welcome for saving you a lot of money and time.)

But what if my dog is destroying my home?

We often want to crate our dogs because we don't want them to destroy our stuff or bark/howl near the door, disturbing our neighbours.

While we work to resolve your dog's home alone issues, they will never again be pushed to that level of anxiety! You won't have to worry about them destroying your stuff or causing noise complaints, because you'll have management in place and you're going to resolve it without triggering it.

<mic drop>

Crates are fabulous. Don't get me wrong! But dogs with home alone issues are a whole other story. I'd say 50% of dogs without home-alone issues aren't candidates for crates. 99% of dogs with home-alone issues aren't candidates for crates. The confinement makes it much worse.

There are so many options, like exercise pens or baby gates. A little puppy proofing, appropriate exercise and enrichment can go a long way.