Scared in the crate

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[jp]

Has anyone had any instances where your dog seemly out of nowhere gets scared of being in the crate?  We had this happen a few months ago and last night it recurred.  Penny is almost 2 years and has been crate trained since she was a very young puppy.  She always sleeps in the crate at night, downstairs.  She has always liked it, but I would never say she loves it, only going in there on her own when she is very exhausted.  About an hour after putting her to bed last night she started crying and panting.  I went down and gave her some water and let her go outside to potty.  Then I had to push her back into the crate.  She kept panting and whining for several hours.  When I checked on her the second time she was slightly shaking.  She seemed fine the instant she got out.  Same thing this morning when I got up.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  Pretty much the same thing happened in December for 2-3 nights where I thought I was going to have to let her sleep on the couch with me.  My only guesses are something about the furnace scares her as she is near a heating vent (normally this is a bonus in cold weather!) or the house is so dry that there is static electricity in her bedding. 

[Gunnr]

Definitely sounds like she's experiencing some anxiety. You could try moving her crate closer to you if possible. See if it quiets her.

[jp]

I meant to say that the whining/crying is not her normal whining when she wants to be with us, it's softer with lots of panting.  If I had to guess emotion, I would say scared.  It went on all night and the shaking would start whenever she would go into the crate.  She sleeps in a different room on a different level of the house so I can't be closer to her at night, although that is probably part of what she wants.

[Bounce]

I have a couple of random suggestions.  

If you can't be closer, maybe try and put an old (that you don't mind losing) but recently worn article of clothing in with her, the stinkier the better.  

Did you check to see if she had an accident in her crate or something else with a strange odor?  Had a friend's lab that freaked out after having an accident in his and stopped wanting to drink water.  Maybe laundering her bedding is in order to remove an undetectable smell and clean out the inside of the crate.

Distract your pup with an exciting reward, reminding them that the crate is a fun place to be.

Best of luck,

T

[DixiesMom]

I had a similar experience with Reba in October except it happened while in the car.  Same car that she had ridden countless miles in-- suddenly she had what appeared to be an anxiety attack-- excessive drooling, puffing her cheeks, panting, whining and trying to climb into the front seat with me.  This lasted about an hour.  Since I was on a timeline and could not stop I tried softly singing her name in an almost chantlike monotone.  This seemed to help her.  

Haven't had anything like it since, I put it down to being part of a "fear phase" that puppies go through.  Really makes you feel helpless.



By the way Bounce I showed with a half sibling of your pup at the end of January.