I agree with everyone else. My boyfriend is also someone who 'hates' crating, but luckily for me Atlas is my dog so I get to make the call. The family dogs they had when he was growing up obviously never chewed up anything (they also weren't puppies either), so it was an adjustment for him when we brought Atlas home. My dog does not love his crate, but I think that's more because he assumes he should come with us when we leave at a non-scheduled time (ie. any time other than for work) because he quite often is able to come along. But pretty much every time I come home he's often stretching and waking up from a nap when I walk in, so he really doesn't 'hate' it either. We have compromised with the crate - he's in a huge great dane sized one, with an attached x-pen. (He's a pretty warm dog, so this gives him options to find a cool floor space as well.)
Atlas is still crated because while I 99% trust him if someone is around in the house (even downstairs and he is upstairs), he also hasn't been given free rein for 8+ hours by himself. I'd rather keep him contained and not have to worry than come home to a disaster one day. I know for a fact that if I came home to something like that I would be pretty upset at him, and that's not a good situation - so this stops that from being an option. Because he is generally so good, I can see Atlas being allowed freedom at some point, but for now, this is what we're (ok, I am) doing.
(And then if the Labrador who lives downstairs manages to get upstairs and eat all of his training treats... we know who the guilty party is, and it isn't Atlas! This is a true story... twice... :/)
I know this isn't what you might want to hear, especially since your other dog has been such a good dog, but I think we can all agree, this will make your boxer a better pup in the long run!
Maybe if you have the space increase the crate size, or add an x-pen of some sort.
Atlas is still crated because while I 99% trust him if someone is around in the house (even downstairs and he is upstairs), he also hasn't been given free rein for 8+ hours by himself. I'd rather keep him contained and not have to worry than come home to a disaster one day. I know for a fact that if I came home to something like that I would be pretty upset at him, and that's not a good situation - so this stops that from being an option. Because he is generally so good, I can see Atlas being allowed freedom at some point, but for now, this is what we're (ok, I am) doing.
(And then if the Labrador who lives downstairs manages to get upstairs and eat all of his training treats... we know who the guilty party is, and it isn't Atlas! This is a true story... twice... :/)
I know this isn't what you might want to hear, especially since your other dog has been such a good dog, but I think we can all agree, this will make your boxer a better pup in the long run!
Maybe if you have the space increase the crate size, or add an x-pen of some sort.
