Dog growling at children when he is in his crate

meoklmrk91

My friends kids were over the other day and my dog who is a boxer was in his crate in the sitting room. My friends son came out to the kitchen and told me that he was growling, I thought nothing of it as he has never growled at anyone and thought he was only whining.

Then today my sisters kids came in and he was in the crate again. He growled at them repeatedly and had his ears back, he looked fearful to me. Now he is perfect outside the crate, is his usual happy self, he is here cuddled up to my niece on the rug in front of the fire.

Al I can think of is did my friends son do something to him to the other day while he was in the crate and when he was my niece and nephew it triggered it. I had noticed that he has been much more reluctant to go into the crate the last few days but didn't really piece it together. My friends son loves animals, but he is young and could very easily have poked him or something without realising that it could have hurt him, It's my fault for not supervising them, I was distracted at the time.

What can I do to fix this as I don't want him growling at anyone, especially children.

boomerang

Has he had much exposure to your sister's kids?

meoklmrk91

boomerang wrote: »

Has he had much exposure to your sister's kids?

No this would have been the first tim he really saw them properly, my sister is very nervous of dogs, especially big dogs so wouldn't really let the kids around him.

boomerang

If he's not used to kids, it's an understandable reaction. Lots of dogs find kids a bit of a concern - they're more animated and louder than adults, and the jerky movements of little kids (toddler age) can un-nerve them too. Sounds like your dog was signalling his discomfort and the fact that he was in his crate (and unable to move away from the threat) might have ramped things up a little.

meoklmrk91

Well he has been around kids before, and he really seems to like them a lot, when he hears children playing when we are walking he whines and tries to go in the their direction. And like I said he is perfect when he is out of the crate, happy, waggy tail, snuggling up to them and giving them kisses and follows them everywhere they go. Before today I would have said he was fantastic with kids.

I can understand why him being in his crate might have made him feel like he was trapped. But my sisters kids weren't even near the crate, they just walked in the door and he started growling immediately.

boomerang

I don't think the distance between the kids and the crate is a factor.

JustAThought

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

My friends kids were over the other day and my dog who is a boxer was in his crate in the sitting room. My friends son came out to the kitchen and told me that he was growling, I thought nothing of it as he has never growled at anyone and thought he was only whining.

Then today my sisters kids came in and he was in the crate again. He growled at them repeatedly and had his ears back, he looked fearful to me. Now he is perfect outside the crate, is his usual happy self, he is here cuddled up to my niece on the rug in front of the fire.

Al I can think of is did my friends son do something to him to the other day while he was in the crate and when he was my niece and nephew it triggered it. I had noticed that he has been much more reluctant to go into the crate the last few days but didn't really piece it together. My friends son loves animals, but he is young and could very easily have poked him or something without realising that it could have hurt him, It's my fault for not supervising them, I was distracted at the time.

What can I do to fix this as I don't want him growling at anyone, especially children.

You seem to have forgotten that it is only a week since you posted this;

Follow Post
1 week ago
10/05/2013 11:16

meoklmrk91
Registered User
I recently moved into a rental property, my boxer has taken some time to settle in, he was stressed and on edge for the first few days and was extremely clingy, not wanting to leave side. As a result he has been spending much more time inside. Before he mostly just came in to sleep and spent his days in the garden.

Now I have a shed that I prop open the door of and the garden is nice and secure but he doesn't really like going out there, I also have a crate in the living room and I was thinking of crating him when I have to go away, he seems to feel safer and secure inside the house. Plus I don't feel as guilty. I am usually only gone for 3-4 hours at the most, would it be okay to crate him for this long or should I just put him in the garden? Also he is nearly 3 so not a puppy if that makes any difference.


.....

Sorry for the long quote.

If I had all that turbulence , on top of no longer being left to roam, a new environment, crate & then kids coming & annoying me I'd be growling too.

Give the dog a break.

maggiepip

He obviously feels trapped and threatened in his crate .....why do you have him locked away as hes grand with the kids anyway?......its good for him to be mingling and interacting in normal day to day happenings, having him stressed and scared in a crate will create problems.

meoklmrk91

JustAThought wrote: »

You seem to have forgotten that it is only a week since you posted this;

Follow Post
1 week ago
10/05/2013 11:16

meoklmrk91
Registered User
I recently moved into a rental property, my boxer has taken some time to settle in, he was stressed and on edge for the first few days and was extremely clingy, not wanting to leave side. As a result he has been spending much more time inside. Before he mostly just came in to sleep and spent his days in the garden.

Now I have a shed that I prop open the door of and the garden is nice and secure but he doesn't really like going out there, I also have a crate in the living room and I was thinking of crating him when I have to go away, he seems to feel safer and secure inside the house. Plus I don't feel as guilty. I am usually only gone for 3-4 hours at the most, would it be okay to crate him for this long or should I just put him in the garden? Also he is nearly 3 so not a puppy if that makes any difference.


.....

Sorry for the long quote.

If I had all that turbulence , on top of no longer being left to roam, a new environment, crate & then kids coming & annoying me I'd be growling too.

Give the dog a break.

That's a very fair point, I am not being hard on him, I'm just wondering what I can do to make him feels safer, so he doesn't get to the point where he feels he has to growl.

Also the crate is not a new thing, he had it at the old house as well and he was never really able to roam, he was in the back yard at the old house, he can go in the back yard in the new house he just prefers to be in, he tries to open the door to come in so I don't want to leave him outside if he doesn't want to be. But a lot of the time during the day when I am at home in the kitchen cooking, cleaning whatever the backdoor is open and he goes in and out as he pleases. It doesn't help that some people in the area seem to think its okay to leave their dogs roam free so when walking in and out of the estate we are literally attacked by dogs so he is getting stressed at the beginning and the end of walks, that will be sorted tomorrow though, I am ringing the dog warden. He just seems like such an anxious dog as of late when he used to be so happy and I am worried over the change in him.

maggiepip wrote: »

He obviously feels trapped and threatened in his crate .....why do you have him locked away as hes grand with the kids anyway?......its good for him to be mingling and interacting in normal day to day happenings, having him stressed and scared in a crate will create problems.

He is only in the crate when people come into the house first, as he gets over exited and very hard to handle, he could easily knock a kid, if I knew another way to calm him I would do it. After a couple of minutes when he has calmed I open the door and he is free to mingle with the kids. Also my sister is very afraid of dogs especially big ones so I couldn't have him out as she would loose her life. It was either the crate or the back yard.

ISDW

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

He is only in the crate when people come into the house first, as he gets over exited and very hard to handle, he could easily knock a kid, if I knew another way to calm him I would do it. After a couple of minutes when he has calmed I open the door and he is free to mingle with the kids. Also my sister is very afraid of dogs especially big ones so I couldn't have him out as she would loose her life. It was either the crate or the back yard.

Do you have friends that could help you with training? If you could get people that you trust to come into the house, and work with you and him, then you could train him that sitting calmly to greet new people is the best way possible to be. If you start training him at first, get him to sit when you come into a room etc, and then lots of praise and a treat, ignore him when he's not calm. then get some friends to come in, and do the same thing, ignore when he's hyper, and get him to sit quietly and get treats, hopefully he'll soon learn that the calm behaviour works best, and you won't have to have him in the crate for initial greeting.

mymo

It can take some dogs a while to settle after a move, one of mine refused to walk on the wooden floors in the new house for over a month (had to put a path of rugs accross rooms), he also didn't like the new garden, even though its a lot bigger.
It took a couple of months for him to settle, yours may be the same, just be patient, and as said above get someone to help train and reassure him.

meoklmrk91

ISDW wrote: »

Do you have friends that could help you with training? If you could get people that you trust to come into the house, and work with you and him, then you could train him that sitting calmly to greet new people is the best way possible to be. If you start training him at first, get him to sit when you come into a room etc, and then lots of praise and a treat, ignore him when he's not calm. then get some friends to come in, and do the same thing, ignore when he's hyper, and get him to sit quietly and get treats, hopefully he'll soon learn that the calm behaviour works best, and you won't have to have him in the crate for initial greeting.

I was watching some videos online last night, I am going to go over some basics with him, particularly his stay and then I am going to get a friend to help me out. This has been an ongoing issue so may as well sort it out now.

meoklmrk91

Well I spent around 10 minutes today going over the basics with him, I will be doing it again tomorrow. As well as his usual walk and a good 20 minutes of fetch and he seems like a much more chilled out dog. Next on the list is to distract him and try and get him to stay and then I will get a friend to help me out with coming to th door etc. thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.

I will say that I have noticed lately on other threads in this sub forum a very accusatory undertone, I feel I have gotten some of that on this thread as well. I came here looking for advice, I am a good owner, I want to my dog to be happy and healthy above all else. And while I may be doing things wrong it is always with the best intentions. I am not fingerpointing or singling out any one post or poster. I will say that such a tone is neither helpful or appreciated.

anniehoo

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

I will say that I have noticed lately on other threads in this sub forum a very accusatory undertone, I will say that such a tone is neither helpful or appreciated.

Hi meoklmrk91, please report any post you feel is of the nature you mentioned above in future (plenty of others do it) and let us Mods take the best course of action.Thanks a million.

meoklmrk91

anniehoo wrote: »

Hi meoklmrk91, please report any post you feel is of the nature you mentioned above in future (plenty of others do it) and let us Mods take the best course of action.Thanks a million.

Absolutely, no problem, didn't feel like any post stepped over the line in this thread, just trying to point out that when people are looking for advice it means that they care, that they have good intentions, and so it's best of people are thoughtful and respectful so that we can keep this sub forum as inclusive as possible. It's and excellent resource and we should all do our best to keep it that way.