For over two years we 'coped'. We tried an outdoor kennel, only to find her digging out. We then moved the kennel into a garage, to find her climbing out and getting into the garbage in the garage. Finally we went back to having her in the house while we were away.

I did try a 'closed' kennel, or 'transport' kennel at first. A type of kennel that is basically closed all the way around with the only opening being the front door. This, I believe is a bad idea for a dog with an anxiety issue. Claustrophobia definitely kicked in and that kennel looked like it had exploded.

In the house, she had accidents, on the carpet. Chewed, although not as bad as some dogs. And lastly, tore into the garbage on a daily basis. She would get into a garbage can in any room she could find. The kitchen garbage often discovered spread out on the living room carpet, coffee grinds and all. Any dishes left out were of course broke as she could pull them off the counter top but wasn't able to gently bring them down to the floor... Since we would keep our garbage under the sink, the cabinets took abuse from her clawing her way in. Child locks worked, but it was really a toss-up. Sure, she couldn't get into the garbage, but now the cabinets are taking even more damage as she keeps trying.

And her most recent feat? Our little Lilly learned how to open the fridge. Thats right, the fridge. Imagine coming home and walking into the kitchen to find the fridge door open and all your new groceries half devoured or ruined from the heat.

What made it worse, is that she is very intelligent. I've heard people call dalmatians 'dumb' and 'hyper.' I disagree. I think they are far too intelligent, and perhaps cope with anxiety disorders that are translated as 'hyper'. Bottom line... She knew she was wrong, and almost always when she got into trash or food, her day was finished with what I called a 'nervous accident.'

So for a long time we built up 'band aid' solutions. Things that help, but they don't solve the problem. We installed a Pergo laminate floor in our living room and kitchen to help combat stains. Tried children's safety locks to keep her out of the cabinets. And probably our most extreme 'band aid' solution, duct taped the fridge door shut. At some point you've had enough.

We decided to try kennels again. This time an 'open-air' kennel. I found a few on the Craigslist (www.craigslist.com) for around $20-40, but we ended up buying Wal-Mart's XL for around $70. Best investment we ever made. You'll find other articles teaching you how to correctly introduce the kennel (or Den as we call it in our house, the "K" word is banned) on our site here. However, here is a quick run down on our steps. We got VERY lucky in my opinion.

First off, there was a lot of excitement. From the second my wife walked through the door with the box, while we unpacked it and set it up, until I finally climbed in. (we did get the XL). Like I mentioned, Lilly is a very intelligent dog and we felt if we got excited about how cool this new thing was, then she would too. I was first to climb in and she instantly followed.

Second, lots of love. Only good things were associated with her going in the new crate. Pets and praise, treats, her bed, me. She seems rather attached to me, so it worked well.

We started feeding her inside the crate fairly quickly... Same day we brought it home. We expected it to take weeks, but she took to it so fast, we took advantage.

That night, we had our first trial run. To test, we all left the house. Or at least she thought we did. I stayed in the other room quite as a mouse. My thinking was if she thought I was gone we could get a better idea of how she felt about crate. After 20 minutes or so she still had not even pawed at the crate door once. I let her know I was still there (I did not call her name, just walked through her room) then promptly left. This first outing was only 30 minutes. Later that same evening I tried again, for an hour.

The next day, a Sunday, we left her for about 2 hours while we went to Church. No issue. I was worried about Monday as we both had to work, but everything worked well. Lilly loves her crate, she goes into it openly while we are home to relax. At night we still let her sleep in our room, but to keep the comfort items familiar we pull her bed out of her crate and set it up in the bedroom on the floor for her.

No accidents, no broken plates, no ruined food, no coffee grinds all over the floor to clean up. While not everyone will get as lucky as we did on the crate training, I would still highly suggest giving it a try! Read the other articles now for more information on how to get started!

Remember, I went into fast forward with our crate training because Lilly took to it very quickly. I expected it to take weeks, if it were to happen at all. Take it slowly and never force Spot! Don't give up if weeks pass and he still isn't crate trained. Some dogs take longer than others.

Dustin Twiggs <A>Jake Your Lilly

Dustin Twiggs writes articles for <A>Jake Your Lilly a dog dedicated site.