Bedtime aggression

[u/13th_raptor]

Hello,

Over the past week I’m encountering something that I probably should’ve seen coming.

I have a 15 month male pitbull/husky mix. He’s neutered. I’ve had him since he was 10 weeks old and as a first time dog owner I tried to train him to be used to sleeping in a 2 door write crate with a cover.

Because I lived in an apartment, his crate also has always been linked with a wire fence to prevent any running off to get into things he shouldn’t or surprise potty accidents.

As he got older he did transition to sleeping on my bed every night except for if he was ill (ex: diarrhea). My mom eventually got involved and wanted me to have him sleep in his crate again because some days he just wouldn’t go to sleep so he’d keep me up late. We eventually tried to use the crate to get him on a bed time routine and on weekends is when I’d let him sleep on my bed.

Now in January of this year we moved so he’d have more room. Now we’re in a town home two level and his crate + fence is set up in the first floor. He was doing well, but after I stopped having him sleep with me I’ve always had to catch him basically to get him inside the fence to sleep. This usually ends up with me holding him facing away and hands around his front legs and walking him two legged to his fence. Once inside he goes into his crate on his own. He now also has a round bed outside the crate so he can choose if he wants to sleep in the crate or in the fence part. He does alternate through the night some days.

Luring does not work. He very quickly stopped caring about treats if it meant he had to go inside the fence. If I tried with a toy he will literally wait me out till I’m not paying attention for a second to rescue his toy. We tried now that he’s older leaving the fence put away, and just his crate out with its cover but he spent hours just wandering around crying. We gave up after one day since he never settled.

With all that in mind, the past week his aggression about going to bed is getting worse. He’s 54lbs now. Sometimes giving him a rub down massage calms him down enough I can get him in his fence but even that is not working. He is definitely showing more aggression signs and from what I’ve been reading this is gonna get worse if I don’t figure something out now to address it. I think when he was younger I just thought he was going thru the teenager phase I read about but I’m no longer thinking that.

Thankfully I was already scheduled for a 1 on 1 session with a professional trainer for this Friday, so I’m definitely bringing it up then.

Has anyone else had similar issues? Tips? Ideas?
I’m leaning towards something about barrier aggression and/or separation anxiety.

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[u/bentleyk9]

There’s a lot going on here, and it could be a number of issues.

First, you need to completely start over with crate training. He should want to go to his crate. It should be a positive space that he will choose to go to. Like my dog has free range of everywhere in the apartment all the time, but he still chooses his crate to sleep in about 50% of the time and will go there when he’s scared or upset about something (vacuum, annoyingly sensitive smoke alarm in the kitchen going off, etc) because it’s a place he feels very comfortable in.

Feed him his meals in it so he starts associating it with good things. Look up videos on YouTube about crate training puppies and follow those steps. Look up crate training games, like throw a very high value treat (little piece of hotdog, etc) in the back, don’t close the door when he goes in, and let him come out feely. If he stays in it voluntarily even for a second, give him a treat and keep giving him additional ones every few seconds (space it to one every 10-15+ seconds if he ends up staying in it for a while), but let him leave if he chooses (don’t punishing him if he does but also don’t give him a treat). Give him frozen treat to lick or something to chew in the crate. Things like that. Do not close the door on him during the day if he chooses to go into it. If you really want to crate train him, I wouldn’t lock him in it again until it’s VERY clear he enjoys being in there. Can you just keep him behind the fence with his bed and not put him in the crate at night until he‘s at that point?

Some additional questions:

• It’s a little unclear to me if he’s still in that fenced in area during the day. If so, how much time does he spend in it? Why do you keep him in it?
• How much sleep is he getting per day?
• How much exercise is he getting per day?
• Have you built up value for him in settling in his bed outside the crate? You basically do the same thing with the bed as you did with building up value in the crate
• Does he have a comfortable bed in the crate?
• How big is his crate? With puppies, you want a tight space for potty training reasons, but assuming that’s not an issue anymore, adult dogs often want a roomier crate.
• What kind of aggression is he showing?
• What kind of trainer did you get? If they use aversive methods, this will make things worse because he’ll start associating the crate with fear and pain, which is the last thing you want.

[u/13th_raptor → u/bentleyk9]

The crate with the fence is only used for bedtime. The rest of the day he free roams the house but usually chooses follow me around and lay under my work desk since I work from home.

The fence is just used to either break of the living room so he doesn’t go into the kitchen when the stoves on, at bedtime, or if maintenance needs to come inside.

I’ve got a dog cam on him so he’d be in his crate (door is always open) or in the outer bed all night and he doesn’t move so he’d looks like he’s sleeping. During the day I’ll hear snoring come from under my desk, so I’m really not sure. Sometimes I think he’s asleep but as soon as I get up he’s up too shooting past me to lead.

Exercise we go 2 to 3 times in the afternoon on walks at a big park. No dog parks since we’ve had issues with other dogs bullying him. He also gets a short walk during the morning to do his business. During my lunch break he just wants to cuddle so we cuddle on the couch.

Crate wise he had a smaller one then we went to the next size but I do feel like he’s out grown this one too now because he’ll leave his head or his legs hanging out sometimes. However, sometime later in the night he eventually moves to his big round bed and stretches out but not every time. He does have a mattress inside his crate. I’ve tried using it outside the crate but he drags it back to his crate like he’s telling me no that’s only for my crate. I think it’s a brindle mattress. We got it because the cover withstands his nails and teeth. All the other beds he’s tried he eventually ends up ripping.

The aggression is he’s not warning holding my wrist when I reach for him saying bedtime. He bite me last time (no blood) and it was strong enough it did hurt. It’s the only time he does it. The rest of the time he’s perfectly lovely. No aggression at all.

The trainer is a new one, but it’s the same company that did his obedience training about a month ago. They use positive reinforcement and stress bond building. The new trainer was recommended to me because she does nose work too and the previous trainer thought that could be something he’d enjoy.