Hi all Hugo is now 8 months and has had a bad week - he firstly attacked by two separate dogs in the space of 1 hour resulting in a bloody nose and me and my daughter very upset - and he has taken against going in his crate on a night! It is taking me a long time to coax him in ( never had to before) and once he is in there he is barking for around an hour. Nothing else has changed he goes out at around 11 and then in the crate but has just taken against it and wants to sleep on his mat on floor instead. Anyone else experienced this ? Trainer suggested he might have picked up on the scent of a bitch on heat?!?
Sorry, I'm not sure, do you mean he attacked the dogs, or he was attacked by them? Either way, not a pleasant experience for anyone
From your other post I can tell now that it was Hugo who was attacked. I can offer some insight as to why this might have happened. Read down at Puppy License to Misbehave in the link below. The whole article is good but this section explaining the testosterone surge at puberty might be what you are experiencing. We went through it too, even attacked on lead by the neighbour's older, intact male. In my experience any dog might decided to take a young one to task at this time, male , female, neutered or not but we had more trouble with intact and neutered males. http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/dog-communication The only help I can offer is to watch out for the body language of the other dog. I do have an idea for the crate, maybe a wild guess. If Hugo was effectively trapped while on leash and attacked by two dogs then the crate might seem like a trap too, something he can't get away from. Now, if that's the case, what to do about it I'm not sure. Redo your crate training with no pressure and yummy treats tossed inside? Try leaving him out of the crate, but in a pen? Good Luck.
Have no experience with Cooper being attacked by other dogs,thank goodness. But as to not wanting to go into his crate at night and wanting to sleep on his mat.....Cooper de-crated himself around that age and started sleeping on"his" sofa. I still have the crate in the family room but just keep his toys and nylabones in it!
Really sorry to hear about your week, dog attacks can be very unsettling and cause anxiety for both your dog and you. Homer began to refuse to go into his crate, I'm not sure but he was over one maybe nearly two years old. He would start to get anxious just before bed time and sneak off to hide so we couldn't make him go to bed. We gave in and took the crate down and left his bedding in the same place. Has the weather been hot? He might be more comfortable being able to move from one spot to another. Homer will often choose to lie on the floor rather than his bed.
I'd see if I could set up some positive experiences with other dogs. Shadow was "put in his place" too much when he was that sort of age. It was awful having to be wary of other dogs all of a sudden. We had a week or so where it seemed to stop, but then Shadow started getting in there first, which is just as bad, and something we have to keep on top of even now (he's two). So I'd be doing everything I could right now to stop that happening, to give him positive experiences with dogs that don't beat him up. Good luck.
How awful! It is so stressful bearing the brunt of another dogs aggression, I agree with Snowbunny and try and find some opportunities for positive interactions with other dogs. We found adolescent classes really helpful in building Benson's confidence and his social skills with other dogs, as well as me learning to read "watchout" signals form other dogs/dog walkers. The article is very interesting @Snowshoe. We are in the unique position of having had our young boy implanted twice (with a gap in between) with Superlorin a chemical castration method which lasts 6-9 months on average. When under the influence of the implant, other dogs are fine...when a testosterone fuelled youngster he was attacked by other dogs on a few occasions. One was actually on a forum walk when a setter repeatedly ran a way from his owner to terrorise poor Benson. Eventually the owner put his dog on a lead, not before though a few of us physically blocking it to keep him away from Benson. It may just be pure coincidence of course.
Very sorry to hear that Hugo was attacked. How scary for both you and him. Thinking about his dislike of being crated, could you try him out of the crate for one night to see what happens? I've never used a crate (had 4 dogs, 3 from puppies) and while this has led to some furniture damage, I'm pretty certain that none of it was at night - in my experience at night they're tired and sleep.
I've had this problem I have a dog in at moment exactly the same problem some dogs start off in the cage and eventually reject it which he has I've come to the conclusion rather than upset them as long as it's not on the furniture or our bed let sleeping dogs lie so all get a good nights sleep
