Over the last 2 weeks my 14 month old female has become obsessed with being in her crate. Please help!

Full Question:

Hi Cindy,

I have a 14 month intact female Rottweiler. She was crate trained, and was relatively neutral in terms of her love of the crate. Suddenly in the last 2 weeks she is obsessed with the crate. There is no food or treat in the crate, and with the bedding removed her behavior is identical. She will spend more than half of the day inside the crate with the door open. She often runs back into it when she is out, with intensity. When she is taken outside her energy is great. Her appetite is great and her poop looks healthy. She seems physically healthy. She guards it when anyone comes close, I have most of Leerburg DVDs and adhere to most of the principles. I am considering removing the crate, but I want to get this one right.

Please help. Thank you.

Cindy's Answer:

If she’s been in heat within the last few months it sounds like she may be going through a false pregnancy complete with nesting behavior. This isn’t uncommon.

Some females do this after every season that they aren’t bred. Many of my past females have done this. The only real cure is to either spay them or breed them. Many of them develop milk in the mammary glands and some will “adopt” toys.

With my own females, I simply let it run its course.

Cindy Rhodes

User Response:

Oh my god… This is a revelation. That never occurred to me (I feel a little stupid since we’ve done plenty of human nesting around here). Her last heat ended about 8 weeks ago, and I’m 99.9% sure it would be a false thing. Ok. Thank you for getting back so quickly.

100% (15 out of 15)

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