Good morning everyone, Our Finley who is a chocolate Lab will be 9 months tomorrow. She spends up to 4 hours at a time in her crate and has never had any issues. 2 weeks ago, she chewed and ate a corner of the crate plastic tray. I took that tray out and put in a new one and sprayed all around the edges with Yuck. She didn't touch it until yesterday. We came home and she had chewed and ate an enormous amount of the tray. A little later she ended up throwing up which seemed to be most of it. We were a little scared, called the vet and said they would have induced vomiting so it was a good thing she did. She has not thrown up since, and seems to be herself. She has tons of chew toys in her crate, and she gets enough exercise daily. My question is, has this ever happened to you, and what did you use in place of that plastic tray? A metal one is an option we may need to try and locate. I have also heard of a Stall Mat, but not sure if she would try and chew the rubber. Thank you everyone for your help!
My crate came with a metal tray and I think that is probably the best option, in my experience now she has found she can chew the crate base she will continue to do so for a while (until she moves onto the next thing ).
Hi Krista, For me 4 hours is too long,if you've had no problems this far and this is a change then she might be trying to let you know she feels the same ? Apart from overnight when he was little ,my dog was never in there for longer than 3 hours and I was a bit twitchy at that to be honest. ...have you thought about extending her free area when you leave her now she is 9 months? I'd worked up to my dog having the run of downstairs by the time he was Finley's age ....but my dog wasn't a huge chewer and I appreciate I don't know your home or circumstances. Now she's chewing,I don't think she will stop ,I'd try allowing her a bit more space but restricting any chewing opportunities by clearing as much away as you can and see how she goes then Best Wishes Angela
9 months was about the age we de crated Jessie. The kitchen is a safe space so she has more room if we are out. So far she hasn't chewed anything if we've been out a while. Maybe worth getting her used to a bigger space? A play pen or puppy pen could work too?
