Crate barking/lunging

[Siese]

Okay, I have been here several times with problems, and I really hope you guys will have some more great advice for me, because this is driving me absolutely nuts!

Dagger is just over 1 year old now. About the time she reached the "teenage" years (the last couple of months, or so) she has started doing this new--and really irritating!--behavior. When anyone comes into the bedroom where her crate is (and she's in it, door closed) she's fine. But when we try to leave, she barks! Now, this wouldn't be such a big deal if me and the boyfriend hadn't both been fighting colds for a while, so the noise really makes the sinus headaches pound. Usually, we just ignore her and keep walking, or give her a stern "No!" but it hasn't really made her learn that the behavior is unwanted.

And if my other dog happens to come into the bedroom, she goes ballistic! Lunges against the door of her crate and starts barking nonstop. She barks and attacks the crate door when she hears me let Lucy out of her crate no matter what, and it's to the point that the crate door is bent bad enough that she's given it a hard push on occasion and it's slipped open.

This is also frustrating when I have friends or family over. If anyone walks into the bedroom and then moves to walk back out, she barks and scares the living crap out of them! And if I have Lucy out of her crate but not Dagger, and Dagger can hear us playing with her, she barks incessantly until I'm to the point that I'm yelling at her to be quiet because I'm usually also carrying on a conversation with boyfriend or someone else.

Have I taught her the bad behavior by saying "no" when I leave the room or by yelling when she's drowning out all the other noise in the house? How can I get her to stop? I am so frustrated that I've considered buying a shock collar and using that every time she barks, but I read somewhere you shouldn't punish the dog when it's locked up in the crate, and I really don't want to, but I just have absolutely NO idea how to handle this situation. I feel like she's just being a spoiled brat, and she's a great dog outside of her crate, but she so badly wants her way when she's locked up that she causes the rest of the house eardrum pain! Has anybody dealt with something similar? What can I do to get her to understand that this is bad behavior? How can I make her STOP BARKING?

[Anjulian]

I am no expert and expect that you will get answers before too long. My take on this is that is pointless to shout at her when she barks as she will think that you are barking as well and joining in. Have heard it said that you need to teach a dog to bark on command before you teach them to stop. Hopefully someone will be more helpful in a little while. Also I think that she is barking when anyone leaves because she does not want to be left alone, so a sort of separation anxiety. Dont know how to deal with that in a crate situation. I would wonder why she is in a crate and being left alone so much, does she cause bother when she is out? How long do you leave her in the crate ? I have never crated my dogs but I can see that it could be an answer to many situations such as leaving a dog in the house when you are at work,if it cant be trusted not to wreck the place. If this is the case I would ask you why she is crated when you are at home? I am assuming this is an adult dog and not a puppy.Think you would need to answer these questions before anyone could really help with constructive ideas. Julie

[Anjulian]

Sorry realised that you did say she was a year old, I must pay more attention to detail. Believe me I have problems with one of my dogs, it is just different to yours. Julie

[Stella's Mom]

Stella turns 11 mos old tomorrow and has been sleeping out of her crate for a good 3 months now. Does she need to be in the crate still?

The only time we crate Stella now is if we are moving big things in and out of the front door and we don't want to accidentally let her out.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Do your dogs not get along so you have to always have one crated?

Or is this just a training issue and you can't trust Dagger out loose in the house?

I personally only crate when I can't be around to train. The crate is used as a safe place to hold my dog until I can pay attention and teach the pups life skills. So I only crate when I am asleep at night, away from the house at work/errands, or if I need a brief time out for housework or other busy work that the dog would be in the way for.

Otherwise, my dogs are out of that darn crate. They won't learn and I can't teach if they are just sitting there contained. Plus I know the boredom and crazy energy build up from crate time only will add to the NUT DOG I will get unless I have them out.

So I go to dog classes. Make playdates with my friends dogs. EXERCISE for miles and miles and miles a week when my dogs are young. I've found the best behaved dogs are TIRED dogs, so if I do my job and tire them out, they come home and are more likely to be the angels I know they can be.

Not really fair of me to even expect a young dog, that's bored out of it's gourd and that I've been too busy to exercise/take to dog classes/take on car ride/socialize/etc to be anything but quiet and well behaved in their crate.

I'm serious about the exercise/training and playdates I have to do. Or I know that expecting a well behaved dog is NOT going to happen.

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[Siese]

I have to use the crate sometimes when I can't watch her. She has been sleeping out of the crate for the last two or three months, but I can't leave her alone in the house or she'll chew something up. As for the other dog, they get along sometimes, but at times one will get irritated with the other and I'll have to break them up. I just don't know how to get her to stop barking and lunging at the crate door when I have to put her up, like when I'm going to work or school. She's fine once we leave the room, unless we're getting loud in a different room (like playing with the other dog).