Hello everyone! I'm new here to the site desperately looking for advice. I adopted Peyton (1 year old Lab/pointer mix) when he was 4 months old from the local shelter. He's my first dog & a really amazing one at that. I started crate training him when I first got him & didn't have any issues up until 3 months ago. I had a large wire crate for him that he figured out how to unlock & escape while I was at work. I fixed that by put little locks on the handles and attaching to the wire next to the door. He didn't escape after that but would still try and end up with scratches on his nose/face. I didn't want him to hurt himself, so I then purchased a VariKennel thinking he couldn't escape that or hurt himself. 3 days in a row I leave the house for a little bit to run errands and he's escaped all of those days. I'm really frustrated because I have done everything to make the crate a "positive" thing from putting treats in there, leaving it open all of the time & praising him when he walks in on his own. He goes to his crate on his own now if he's been naughty and knows he's in trouble, but I never put him in there for those reasons. He's so inconsistent with being good when I leave him loose in the house. Some days he's an angel & other days I come home to shredded books and stuffing out of my couch. Thank you for any words of advice. -Morgan
Along the same lines as Edzbird, it does sound more like separation anxiety. In these cases it doesn't really matter so much whether he is in a crate or not, it is more about helping Peyton cope when you are not around. Might be a good idea to invest in a good behaviourist to help if this is the case. This link explains what separation anxiety looks like: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/does-my-labrador-have-separation-anxiety/
Many dogs are not ready to be alone, loose, in the house at one year old. Some never are. Did you start by slowly increasing alone time? How long is he alone?
Good Morning, thank you guys for responding. Yes, I did start by leaving him out by himself for around 30 minutes at a time and slowly increased that. He can be home an hour by himself and escape (I've tested this theory by going to the gym) or be home by himself for 4-5 hours when I'm at work (I work nights) & my roommate hasn't made it home from work yet either. I've done some reading and was worried about it being separation anxiety. I try not to give him a lot of attention before leaving the house bad upon arriving home. But I suppose that's not working....
