I guess that is one thing to look for. I haven't ever seen him do this, though. He generally ignores the other dogs from what I can tell. I will watch him more closely to see if he could be bugging her when she is in there.

Well, that sounds pretty good. So I would look again at the other dog's possible bullying, and Jo is totally right about a dog being challenged while locked in a crate by a dog who is loose. If this foster became a little dog-aggro recently, that's a believable scenario to me.

I have never left the house with a dog crated while loose dogs could approach the crate, and I think it's probably a bad idea, dog-aggro or no.

JMO.

 Quote: Angela Burrell

I guess that is one thing to look for. I haven't ever seen him do this, though. He generally ignores the other dogs from what I can tell. I will watch him more closely to see if he could be bugging her when she is in there.

I probably would not assume that the way he acts when you are watching is not necessarily the same as when you are gone. With any dog.

I'd probably up the walks and make sure that she cannot be challenged in her crate. The last thing I'd want would be for her to be afraid to be in her crate.

Tired dog and safe crate, I guess would be my two-pronged attack for now.

I often wish I had a nanny-cam. And believe me, my nanny days are looooooong past.

Angela, I would first recommend you not use the crate as an end table at least for a while. A dog that has fits in the crate and tears things up is (obviously) expressing some form of anxiety - lack of exercise, separation anxiety, variety of stress factors etc. The tearing of objects can be self rewarding, like barking. It is an expression of her stress and can make her more worked up and extend the period of time she is stressing by however long it takes her to demolish what she can get ahold of. Some dogs won't stop until they are exhausted, ending on a bad note and possibly creating negative associations if they are then uncomfortable or hurt while in the crate.

Connie made a good point regarding the other dog. You state he is good around the other dogs when you are home but not when you are not home. IMO it is a pretty good bet he doesn't "behave himself" just because she is in a crate. If you know he becomes a "dominant @$$" when loose and you are not home, assume he is bothering the dogs in their crates and as a precaution/test, either move her crate or prevent him from getting to her while loose and you are gone.

I would like to thank everyone for replying to my novel.

I am going to try and implement the suggestions, 1. to restrict my boy's access to the female's crate and 2. increase her exercise. From the posts I am guessing that 1 is the priority here.

I am wondering if a solution whereby he can still see her, but can't get to her would work. Specifically putting an ex-pen in front of her crate to give a 4 foot wide berth around it. He couldn't go near her crate then, but could see her.

The only other option I have would be to move her crate into another room, which I don't know how she would react to.

The nanny cam actually isn't such a bad idea. If I were planning to keep my foster (the male) I would seriously consider this. However, I am hoping he will be adopted one day soon. This thread hasn't made him sound so great but he is really a nice dog. Not perfect (who is), but a nice dog.

My small experience and opinion:

Hambone was stared at by a female (very dominant female owned by a member of this board) from ~ 10 ft away. After < 7 seconds, he was ready to charge and deal. He was on leash, not confined in a small space and she did nothing but sit and stare.

Lucy has a 6 inch space of do not enter around her crate. No one but me and my daughter can enter that space without her charging and snarling. I Knew "someone" was breaking the barrier by the way she would follow, whine and talk to me when she was out of her crate. (It was Noodle the cat.) She will NOT tolerate being stared at by anything -- especially humans --- again, except by me and I won't push her by staring too long, just to desensitize and place her below me.

Moral: Stares can be intimidating regardless of distance and being confined makes it worse.

So, moving your girl's crate may be the only option or put up the X-pen, let her see the distance the male is restricted to, and you telling the dog "no" if he looks at or goes near the pen, and then cover her crate?



Edited by Jo Harker (05/08/2009 04:53 AM)
Edit reason: forgot a word

Jo, I totally understand. My male in question does not like any form of attention by strange dogs, be it barking, staring or anything other than ignoring (apart from being a bit dominant, he's been attacked before). He is fine around other dogs if they ignore him. He is great with my other dogs when I'm around, too.

 Quote: jo harker

and you telling the dog "no" if he looks at or goes near the pen

I have never caught him staring at, looking at, trying to intimidate, or purposefully walking past any of the other dog's crates. (I am willing to admit he might do this when I'm not around, but he has never done anything like this when I'm around). Hence, I cannot correct him for this. I have also never had any reason to believe he bullies or goes out of his way to start anything. He seems to prefer to live and let live and does his own thing when out. He is usually very dignified and polite. Even when my female was carrying on in there the other night, he just laid on his bed and minded his own business.

He just doesn't want to be disturbed when he's on his dog bed. When the other dogs are crated, they arent disturbing him and he ignores them. (Again, when I am in the house).

Also, unlike Lucy, my girl is very submissive and doesn't "defend" her space (hence the anxiety, maybe?). My male would be more likely to do this and in fact did protest the other dogs walking past his crate when I first got him, but I got across to him that the other dogs were not bothering him and he stopped shortly. He is now calm and relaxed in his crate even when the other dogs go by and has been for at least a year. None of my dogs avoids walking past his crate when he is in it, so I have to assume he is like this when I am not home as well.

However, I think you are right (or I hope so) that setting up the ex-pen will give her a visual as to the distance the other dog must stay from her crate and will help her to relax. That is if he is even the reason she is nervous which I am still not sure about, although I guess he is the most likely trigger.

Can't say "no" if he doesn't do anything...

Hmmm...I'm stumped. Maybe because she got to sleep with you during the storms, she now thinks of you as her security?

I still think the pens might be a visual marker for her and help with anxiety...

Again, stumped.
Lots of dots.....

UPDATE

After much detective work these past few days, I am fairly certain I know what is causing her weirdness. My space heaters. (My central heating is broken and with nights sometimes going down to the 30s F, I've been running space heaters on cold evenings and mornings).

She showed almost no sign of having any issue with them. She walks past them when they're running, even lays beside them. Never gave them a nervous glance or any kind of berth. And yet I finally realized it was the days the heaters had been running that she would do her nervous freak outs. It took me so long because I always turn the heaters off when I leave the house or go to bed, and that was when I'd crate her and she'd start her digging/crying/chewing. Plus her non chalant behaviour toward them when she was loose. So I didn't see the connection. (In fact, I was so far off that I didn't even mention the space heaters as a consideration in my OP).

I finally realized when they were on and running she'd always be touching me (she's a velcro dog anyway, but it was just a teensy bit worse). And it helped that we had a warm spell where I didn't use the heaters and she was fine (which helped exonorate my poor male foster). Then a cold spell and she was back to her upsetness. And I noted it did not coincide with the other dog being out.

Also, we had a thunderstorm in there that began while she was crated. Turns out the heaters are scarier than the storms. my poor girl

Well! Now that I'm about 90% sure that is what it is, I can take steps to fix this (or at least get her relaxed on mornings/nights when I have to use them.) I did have faith my other dog was not the likely suspect! He will be pleased to know he is "off the hook" lol.