If you don’t know the story of the path of destruction left by Bean (aka Cocoa), then I suggest you start HERE.   That was the “final straw” post, so feel free to flip back through the older posts on that old blog to see other things she destroyed as a puppy.  Long story short, Bean had a pretty bad case of separation anxiety and ripped the house apart.  After she finally destroyed some drywall, we decided to crate train her, both for our sanity’s sake and for her own safety.

So, we settled into a routine for nearly the past 2 years.  When we leave the house, Bean goes into her crate.  She doesn’t mind, and in fact seems to enjoy her little private space.  I come home every day for lunch and let her out for a bit, then she returns to the crate until one of us gets home from work.

A few months ago, we began to experiment.  Sometimes we would leave her out when we ran down to the store for a few minutes.  Then we left  her out a little longer, an hour or so when we went on a weekly grocery trip.  Then we tried for a couple of hours while we went out to dinner.  Finally, I left her out for one of my half-day Fridays.

That brings us to yesterday.  Yesterday, I left her out all day.  No destruction.  Today, once again, I left her out all day.  No destruction.  In fact, when I came home for lunch, I found her in this position:

When I came home from work, she was in the EXACT same position.  Good girl.  No destruction.  If this trend continues, it may lead to the permanent de-crating.

Also, here is my picture from yesterday, as another storm rolled in: