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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Bruce on the Loose

Bruce is already potty trained which is a blessing.  He is not, however, crate trained. After a few short but successful trial runs, I decided Bruce was ready to be out of the crate for a longer period of time.  I set up my puppy cam, left for work, and let Bruce roam around my room.  At lunch, I came home and my angel hadn't so much as ruffled a sheet.  


After much praise, I left for the second half of my day, confident that I would never have to put him back in that awful crate again.  When I returned home later, my room was in quite a different state.  If you ever wonder what your dog does while you're away, here's your answer.






He also thought that if he scratched at the carpet enough, he may be able to claw a tunnel into the living room. I was less than amused by his costly, failed attempt.



In order to avoid any further damage to my apartment, I begrudgingly put Bruce back in his crate this morning.  I came home at lunch, and as I opened the door, guess who came trotting out of my bedroom? My stomach did a flip. How did Bruce get out? Is there someone in my apartment? What damage has been done since Bruce escaped? How much does a new crate cost? I turned the corner and saw...




Somehow, the crate was not broken, and the door was still partially closed.  I had to head back to work, so I set up the video camera and put Bruce back in the crate.  I even turned on Animal Planet in an attempt to comfort my distraught pup.  I decided I would have to clean up the towel confetti Bruce had created later.  When I got home that evening, Bruce was once again sitting by the door.  This is what I saw upon reviewing the video footage.....


Amazingly, Bruce escaped unscathed, but I am too terrified of what could happen to him if he tries it again.  I will have to take my chances leaving him out of the cage.  If anyone has advice on how to keep your dog out of the crate AND out of trouble, please help me out!


4 comments:

  1. That dog is a nut! I have a friend with a highly energetic dog and she has turned to using padlocks on several places of the door of her crate. She got a bigger crate that is open on all sides (maybe something roomier will help him feel less trapped) and then used 5 locks on the top, side and bottom of the door to keep the dog from bending them out of shape to escape. If it's more open and bigger with room for toys, maybe he'll feel less inclined to try to escape??

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  2. Oh my gosh. These videos just made my morning! I am laughing out loud. I need to borrow that puppy cam. I'd love to see what Heidi does while we are gone although at this point, I think she pretty much sleeps. We leave her in the hallway / bathroom while we are out. We use a baby gate to block off the living room. Post more videos! I love these.

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  3. These have made my morning as well...I laughed out loud and Tex and Chaco were wondering who was barking and crying in our house! We have a baby gate in our kitchen so they are on tile and don't shred anything...well, actually they don't need to be in the kitchen anymore but when I let them roam they sleep on my couches and make them smelly and covered with hair!

    Try busy bones or one of the bones that's filled with peanut butter. He's bored so thats why he invests in trying to get out/shred your rug. Make sure there are plenty of toys and bones for him to play with. He will be much happier and less likely to shred things. Also, you can bungi (sp?) the door shut on the crate or you can try the baby gate in the kitchen! Let me know if any of this helps!

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  4. OMG Concetta!! I am dying right now!!!! Can't wait to hear about the latest incident... Call me after you're done cleaning. Love you, old lady!

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