Crated

Lucy is back to spending her alone time in a crate. It was a difficult decision for Wes and I to come to, but it was necessary. For the past several weeks, she's been having accidents in the house pretty consistently, and usually in the same spot. Her nervousness hasn't gone away, either. Her growling has gotten worse, mostly with dogs, but also with Wes and me when she's at our feet and we move. I've addressed this by scolding her and refusing to let her lay at my feet, but then she just seems sad because I don't want her near me. This combination of cleaning up pee and trying to calm a trembling dog has made both of us frustrated, and she doesn't even seem to know what's she's done. Lucy was crate trained as a puppy, but we stopped after a year when we got married and had a place in the house where we could easily confine her. She didn't really have accidents for a long time. Then when we moved to Chicago, she did again, usually as a result of long work days. So we got a dog walker, and that seemed to fix the situation. Now, though, she'll pee in the house even if we're only gone for 2-3 hours and she's just been out. It seems more like acting our or trying to make a statement or the result of anxiety than anything else. And Lucy likes being under and in things.

She's only been in the crate two days so far, and theh results have been great. She goes in when we're getting ready to leave and waits for us to close the door. She doesn't paw at it or bark. It's big enough for her to comfortably lay down and turn around. She hasn't had an accident in the crate and doesn't seem desperate to go when she gets out, which seems to confirm that the accidents weren't really about needing to go so much as something else. She hasn't been growling at any other dogs and seems genuinely calmer. She even goes in there sometimes on her own and lays in it with the door open.

Most importantly, though, Wes and I like our dog better. Dogs are always going to be work -- that's the reality of taking care of another living thing, be it plant or animal -- and we knew it would be even harder being in the city. But we also don't want to be constantly frustrated with her, especially when we can see her actions are the result of being anxious.