"Claws-trophobia"

Question:

My 9-yr-old beagle has suddenly developed claustrophobia or something because she refuses to get into her doggie crate that she has slept in at night for years.  She plants her feet, digs in her claws, and I can’t get her into the crate without pushing her very hard.  I’m afraid this will hurt her (she had surgery for a ruptured disk two years ago), plus it’s obviously just not a good situation.  If I do force her into the crate, she does that hound-y gutteral crying and yelping for as long as 1-1/2 hours before falling asleep from exhaustion. I have been letting her sleep in another room to avoid the misery. Any suggestions as to why the sudden change or how to solve this problem?  It’s getting so bad, the other day I caught her reading Dylan Thomas:   "Do not go gentle into that good night.  Rage, rage against the dying of the light."  ;-)

Response:

please try something else — the crate may hurt her in some way that you don’t understand. (If only they could talk!) please try to let her sleep on a good mat (I use an orthopedic dog mat from a pet store) beside your bed. I think that she is old enough to be responsible and I suspect that she would be so grateful that she would sleep peacefully at your side. If you make a nice, soft bed from some old blankets, you can try this with no investment. If it doesn’t work out, you can go back to the crate. she is trying to tell you something — it hurts or something else bad. —

Response:

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