Thursday, April 18, 2013

Home Alone

Yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post was a series of pictures that I got using my GoPro camera set up to take photos once a minute when I left for work. I knew Koira was restless and occasionally destructive in her crate when I was at work, but I wanted to see exactly what she was doing when I was gone.

That series of photos was a bit of a wake up for me. In the entire series, Koira was laying down less than 1/3 of the time. The rest of the time was spent pacing, stress panting, digging, and chewing on the bars of the kennel.

Now, I want to mention that Koira used to be just fine in her kennel. While I have never taped her before, the evidence in the kennel showed me that she used to pretty much just chill out when in there. No messed up bedding, no damage to the crate, nothing around the crate disturbed. That changed last year when Koira's shoulder injury put her on rest to the point that she was going bonkers. It appears that her stress with the kennel appeared at that point and has not left. We'll be playing a LOT of crate games to attempt to fix that problem.


So, the next day, I decided to do the same setup- have the GoPro take pictures once a minute while I was gone. Only this time, leave Koira loose in the house. Evidence has shown me that Koira will shred some items and will get into the trash or any available food when I am not home. I generally lift the trash can onto the counter before leaving the house to keep her out of it, and make sure there is nothing else for her to get into. But, in the view of trying to keep my dog as stress free as possible, moving the trash wouldn't solve the problem. I wanted to see how stressed Koira was while I was gone if she was loose in the house.

Answer? Not at all. She spent the entire time sleeping, just occasionally changing positions.


GOPR4473




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9 comments:

  1. Interesting the total difference in her state of mind from when she's in the crate and loose. Where is Pallo when you are at work? Are you going to leave Koira loose or undecided?

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  2. Yep, definitely a pup with no stress at all here! :) Koira looks just relaxed here :)

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  3. Not gonna lie - those photos totally worried me yesterday. It's really great to see the complete contrast between then and now.

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  4. We have a crate and rotate setup, and both dogs are crated at night when we sleep. It would be interesting to set up a camera to see if they are stressed in their crates.

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  5. Wow, what a big difference between the two days! She definitely is uncomfortable in her crate! Is she that way in the crate when you take her to a flyball competition, or don't you crate her there?

    My Wilson feels it's his duty to guard the house the whole time we are gone. He sits in the upstairs guest bedroom and keeps a close eye on the comings and goings in our court. By the time we get home, his is exhausted. I've thought about closing the blinds, but I think he would be bored.

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  6. What an amazing difference. I've been lucky enough to work from home and have never crated Kaya & Norman. So once I started leaving them home alone, they had no issues, but now we have a new dog roommate and it is so helpful to crate her while we're out. I guess Koira gave you your answer!

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  7. Mr. B has isolation distress where he can't be in a crate, but if he is in a crate with the door open or just allowed to roam free he is completely fine. Also...E found a $5 app where we set up our computer cameras to take streaming video of the dogs and we can watch them from up to 4 cameras when we're gone. The only thing is...we can't really do anything if we're not there, but it's intersting to see what they do all day. Except that day when they both decided to sleep on the white couch....

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  8. I'm so glad to see her doing well!!!! Yesterday's pictures were sad :( I know with Vito while he is crated just fine at shows where there's a lot of activity around, I wouldn't dare crate him when left alone at home.

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  9. Wow, Koira looks so content to be out of the crate. Mayhaps it's time to have her graduate from the crate? Spend an extra 5 minutes in the morning puppy proofing the place before you head out for work?

    We weaned Beamer off the crate and he just hangs out by our shoes and waits for us to come home.

    The GoPro cam takes some pretty neat pictures. We strapped one onto our pug and filmed his day from his perspective. Definitely an eye opener. His perspective kind of makes me thankful for mine :)

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