Rolo likes to guard his crate. Goes in there happily but if you talk to him in there he snarls growls and snaps. We have a plan in place to deal with this unwanted behaviour outside of the crate regarding the food and toys but decided to stop the crate guarding why don't we just get rid of it altogether. So last night we did. I took his piece of vet bed out of the crate and brought his bed out of the living room and into the kitchen. I made the mistake of putting the bed in the same place as where the crate was, went to say goodnight and got snapped at! Doh! In hindsight I should have put the bed in a totally different area of the kitchen so the space he is guarding is always moving in the hope that eventually he doesn't feel the need to guard it at all. Fingers crossed! Came down this morning to him tucked up in his bed no damage done to the kitchen. Not sure if it's just a fluke but he has been so calm also. Maybe getting out of the crate is like YAY FREEDOM AT LAST! I must run around like a lunatic or he is tired because he didn't sleep as well out of his crate. Over thinking it again! So the plan tonight is no crate again, but move the bed and vet bed square around changing that territory he feels he needs to defend and definitely NO STROKING. Lol! Am I missing something glaringly obvious? Kris
Re: De-crating success. I'm glad things are going better for you and Rolo. Discuss with your behaviorist the bed issue. I don't have a solution to him guarding a bed. My advice now that you've taken the crate away is to have a really tidy kitchen. Don't be fooled , as soon as anything is left lying about , if he's awake and bored everything in that room is fair game. I had to remove Cupars crate a couple of months back and I have a very tidy kitchen at bedtime. This morning he has ate a plastic coat hanger, a childs one , it was to go in a bin , heaven help my lot if they actually follow through with a chore. So I am now going to worry about a bloomin plastic coat hanger as a lot of it is missing. I really hope you get the resource guarding sorted.
Re: De-crating success. Having no experience of the issues you are having it's hard for me offer any advice and that sentence I've just written pretty much negates and advice I do give,I know! ;D Have you discussed the bed moving strategy with the Behaviourist to try and anticipate all of the effects it may have.....only because I'm thinking it might be confusing and disruptive to him...I know Dexter's bed is his go to place to relax and tune out...I don't know how he would react if I was moving it about but I think he would be a bit confused and that might unsettle him.....it might affect Rolo the same ....of course it might not! I agree about the tidy kitchen,there's nothing like an uncrated young Labrador to make you realise your housekeeping needs to be stepped up! ;D
Re: De-crating success. I haven't had the same problem but think it would be a good idea to discuss with the behaviourist on keeping moving the bed as Rolo may find it unsettling if his bed keeps moving and could make the guarding worse. Good luck with the de-crating, Juno came out of hers during the week as she took an aversion to it after being violently sick in it although I had planned to keep her in it until she was a year old so we just over 3 months in advance of planning! Fingers crossed, she's been as good as gold in the kitchen when we've gone shopping and overnight. It's actually rather nice seeing her appear in the door when we pull up in the car and her tail starts wagging ;D
