My dog recently had ACL surgery and is on strict crate rest for two weeks, followed by four weeks of only leashed activities. When I’m home, she’s fine, but when I leave, she tries to chew through her kennel. I’ve tried medications, training, and changing her routine, but nothing seems to help. Today, I came home to find her bleeding from the mouth.
I’m feeling very stressed and tired, and I’m considering a few options:
Buying a $1000 impact crate, which I can’t afford.
Muzzling her while I’m away, which isn’t advised and will likely increase her stress.
Creating a DIY barrier.
I’m thinking this fabric covering some sort of strong backing. Something durable but thin, so it doesn’t take up too much space in the crate. It also needs to be safe if she chews it. Any suggestions on materials or solutions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Our dog went through the same thing – it sucked, and I’m sorry for both of you for dealing with it.
I’m guessing she’s chewing the bars/wire mesh door of the kennel? You might be able to line the inside of the crate with a hard, smooth material that won’t give her anything to actually bite into, e.g. this, although ideally it would be clear rather than white. And you’ll have to balance that against getting adequate air flow, which means making some holes.
And chewing deterrents can work, in case you haven’t tried that yet – apply it to the parts of the kennel she goes after and it might keep her away.
As you know, I don’t know much about how to take care of dogs, but following Branislav’s line of thinking, maybe corrugated PVC roof panel with some air holes drilled in? Feels sturdier to me than coroplast and it’s pretty cheap.
Also would a soft cone be an appropriate stop gap?
Slight tangent - but to share all potential resources (and on the very outside chance you’ve not already tried this). We’ve recently started giving my doggo cbd chews that we’ve gotten from Restart CBD at Burnet and Rutland. My vet likes their products specifically because they seem to actually work for all their vet clients.
I use them for overnight anxiety (doggo sundowning), and it’s made a good amount of difference. They take about an hour to kick in, and dosing is based on size of the dog.