Stryker has outgrown the "extra large" plastic crate for the most part but it is the largest one I have so we make do. Lately she's been more agitated in her crate at home than I would expect. The more I thought about it today the more I went "duh!" She's been in her crate a lot, she doesn't have any room to stretch out, and she's only been getting out of crate time for an hour or so a couple times a night. (My poor creatures just can't take much of her outrageous enthusiasm for life, so it's not fair to anyone if she's out a lot and I can't manage the situation completely.)
Tonight I hauled the exercise pen up from the basement, set it up in the living room, put her favorite chewies as well as dinner in food toys in there. She was SO MUCH HAPPIER (and quieter than she's been in days). She was able to stretch out, chew on a cow hoof, her bone, her kong, empty the food toys of dinner, and oh... yeah... stretch out while doing so! When I took her out for last pee and asked her to go into her crate again, she was more than willing and settled right in.
Duh!
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| Watching Dexter. |
She is still here tonight. She seemed to show the prospective family her worst and best sides in a matter of 45 minutes! They're going to think about it and sleep on it for a couple nights.
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| She was a HUGE flirt with Dexter! |
It was great to watch the two GSDs play together! For once, Stryker ended up covered in as much drool as the other dog after a playdate! Dexter makes Stryker look like a midget even though she measured in a 24" and 63# at work this week!
Exercise pens are really essential for our dogs routine exercise. Implementing good blood.
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