My dog is crate aggressive but only to my new puppy, do you have any suggestions?

Question

Hello Leerburg Staff. My question is about what seems to be crate aggression. I have read many articles on your site and now I am trying to find one about crate aggression but have been unlucky. I can't be the first person with this issue, maybe I am looking under the wrong article headings. Anyway, I have bought a GS puppy and have not let the puppy interact physically with my other dogs, just through the crates. My 4 year old Lab tries to attack the puppy when she is in the crate if he goes up to her in it. It's odd. Our 6 year old Maltese can go in the crate with her as well as our cats but this puppy can't even go up to it while she is in there. The lab is very attached to her crate. She prefers to be in there vs being out and she has always been like that since we adopted her at 1 year of age. She is a very laid back dog. In fact I think she is too submissive and is possibly nervous. Maybe that is the issue? She wants nothing to do with him while he is in his crate. She won't go up to it, at all. So, I won't know when she has accepted him or not into the pack. Right now if she is attacking him (or trying to) through the crate I assume she hasn't accepted him. Could it be just a crate issue and she would be fine outside of it? How on earth can you correct her while she is in the crate? She has been around other puppies and did fine, she had the occasional correction when the puppy played a little rough with her but nothing I thought was overly aggressive. I do not want a dog fight and I do not want my puppy to have any issues or develop any issues. I am trying to be proactive about this. I want this puppy to become a "working dog" so I have to be very careful not to "mess him up." Also, I do not want to develop any nervous feelings either as I'm sure the dogs will pick up on it and then it will become worse. Any suggestions or advice?

Thank you for your time.

Meghann

Accepted Answer

Don't let the puppy go up to her crate, that's her safe zone. By allowing that, you are adding to her insecurity. She's cornered in her crate and being harassed by a puppy she doesn’t care for. If you continue to allow this, she will actually become more aggressive to the puppy. If you correct a nervous and submissive dog for aggression in the crate, you can actually make her more nervous and worried. Control the puppy and avoid this whole scenario. 99% of smart dog handling is managing the environment.

Your puppy should not be allowed the option of going up to other dog's crates (or anywhere else). If your puppy isn't in his crate or exercise pen, he should be on a leash with you. I'd read the article Ed wrote on The Groundwork to Becoming your Puppy's Pack Leader. You can read this to get our definition of socializing.

I'd also recommend Your Puppy 8 weeks to 8 Months and Raising a Working Puppy.

If you want to train your pup as a working dog, I'd highly recommend the Michael Ellis series of videos. There isn't a better way to train a dog, for any endeavor.

I'd also read the article Ed wrote on introducing dogs.

Cindy Rhodes