Dog growls in crate in the morning - can't let him out

johnnwin

So this has been going on for awhile since he was a pup. In the mornings, when I'm shuffling around the house, whether that's cleaning or getting ready to work, my dog can hear it in his crate and immediately starts growing aggressively trying to bite through his crate. Certain sounds trigger it, but it's not ALWAYS consistent, there's days when I can get ready and he's happy in the morning, I can take him for a walk, let him go pee, and let him play outside. Other days, as soon as I flush the toilet, he goes into a growl episode. More recently, this has been happening and I can't even get him out of the crate until I "re-visit" him and hour or two later.

Any one have suggestions on what to do in this situation? Usually his day starts off with me greeting and feeding him. Even with food on some days, he'll growl at me.

I hear the saying "let a sleeping dog sleep" but is this really true in this case?

My fear is if I have to take him somewhere in the morning (if we travel, or go on a big hike) and he just growls at me for a few hours and I can't eve get him out.

johnnwin

Few other questions I wanted to ask:

- Since these episodes can last for more than a few minutes, does this rule out SOA and possibly just bad behavior?

- At the end of the day, it seems like my dog just wants to sleep. He'll have these growly episodes, but at some point during the day, he'll begin crying to get out. That's when I know I'm clear to let him out.

Some other notes on his behavior:

- He's not the friendliest dog which I'm constantly trying to work on, at least not with NEW people and Dogs. We do have another Jack Russell Terrier, we don't let them in the house together, but they play in the yard just fine (they don't play much together, but they just hang out in the yard). There's even been a few episodes where we came home and both dogs were running in the house due to a broken latch on crate, but even then, the dogs have been fine.

- The aggressive episodes almost always happen in the morning. 

During the day when I'm working, there's times when he's out in my office just lying down on the floor next to me and we're just fine. I even notice sometimes that he'll go into his crate (seems like he wants space), but even then he won't really growl. I do see that I startle him and he wakes up, but he doesn't get aggressive like he does in the mornings.

-I've tried moving his crate but it seems like what causes it are the sounds in the morning, so if he hears the sound and gets in the aggressive mode, I know it's already going to be a long morning. 

 

BulliesofNC

Sounds to me like that crate is his problem. Too much crate time can cause so much stress and anxiety that it can trigger many types of OCD. What would happen if you put the crate in the bathroom, shut the bathroom door, but left the crate door open? Could he be trusted in the bathroom without doing damage?  How old is he?
Maybe if the morning noises bother him why not try allowing him to listen to some soft music one night and see how he reacts to normal noises in the morning. It doesn't sound like SOA to me but it does sound like some sort of OCD.

philsergeant

He wants out of the crate... let him out. Dogs should never be in a crate when humans are home.

Djammy

@philsergeant

I beg to differ. )
My girl happily - and I MEAN HAPPILY - walks into her cozy crate with snuggly bedding on command to take her afternoon nap, sometimes even with doors closed for 30 minutes and me around working at my desk. But that is only because she is used to this procedure and it helps her relax. Otherwise she would sometimes roam around restlessly after playtimes having a hard time to calm down. She's a restless mind at times and often "begs me" to tell her what she should do. Works like a charm. Funny little girl.

However, that does not seem to be the case here in this discussion.

So, entirely different story. Just telling it as an example that it really depends on circumstance, if a dog likes being crated or not.

philsergeant

Yes, I should have clarified "unwillingly" in their crate