Do you leave blankets for your dogs in their crates

     I know some people are big on letting their dogs have a comfortable area to lie down and spoiling them a little bit with that, but that’s just one thing I rarely do.  My dogs very rarely get blankets in their crates because I have to constantly wash them.  If anything, they’ll get the towel I dried off with for the day or so.  I know it sounds kind of gross to put a towel I dried off with in the crate for my dogs, but I do it because one used to have separation anxiety and it’s one way to deal with that. 

     I don’t think I ever even tackled separation anxiety.  A lot of people insist that separation anxiety can just be fixed by reconditioning and doing a number of various things to reduce the stress that your dog has when you leave.  As mean as it may sound, I feel like there is a level of coddling that goes into that.  I understand that it is kind of weird for the alpha to just go off by themselves in pack behavior and whatever, but the difference is that the alpha has clear scent marking and that provides a comfort level to the pack.  I think me leaving my towel for them is about like that scent marking.  I’ve always done it for Puppy and usually she is really calm about me leaving but freaks out a little bit once I’m gone.  It is as if she knows that I am coming back, but if anything is out of the ordinary (like I leave her out of her crate, or leave Titus out of his crate or leave my purse or anything like that) she essentially freaks out.  Her vice is that perfect order.
I think having an order for them is far easier than trying to desensitize or whatever.

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