Dog people....advice needed

msdrdg · June 2014

This is going to be a post & run because I have to go do inventory for work, but I will check back in.
This is longish....skip to the last sentence for the summary.....

We were approved to foster for a dog rescue organization and picked up our 1st foster on Saturday. She is an 18mo old border collie/springer spaniel/great pyrinese (sp) mix. She is super sweet and affectionate with all humans big and small and gives zero shits about the cat. Problem is, she has latched on to me as "her person" and feels that she must guard me against my dog and has attacked my dog on several occasions for daring to come to close to me. My dog is a 9yo border collie/black lab mix who is the most submissive animal on the planet, like seriously she could be dominated by a lettuce leaf. The foster has now been confined to the kitchen pretty much full time at the recommendation of the rescue agency in an attempt to show her that she is not HBIC and that she needs to chill. They also recommended that we get a crate and crate train her.

We picked up a crate yesterday and attempted to put her in it last night. They told us to make it a happy place, so we put her rope toy, her antler that she chews and her water bowl in with her. She literally cried, whined and yelped for an hour before I gave up and took her out and put her back in the kitchen. We are going on vacation as of Saturday and she and our dog are coming with us. There will be other dogs there as well. For the safety of all involved and because I cannot trust my MIL not to fuck with a baby gate and let her out of whatever room she is confined to, we really need to get her more comfortable in the crate.

So my TL;DR question, is what can we do to get her to like/tolerate the crate and/or how do I get her to understand that she is not HBIC and not to guard me?

RondackHiker · June 2014

Is she pissed she's in the crate, wanting to be out, or truly terrified?

Very few dogs are truly frightened and claustrophobic and they usually are just protesting the crate. I'd leave her in there till she calms down and not let her out for whining. @mbenit4‌ has good advice.

If you can't trust your MIL not to fuck with a baby gate I would not bring the dog. She'll fuck with the dog crate too.

Do you follow NILIF training? Keeping her in the kitchen doesn't teach her shit.

Cryssteen · June 2014

Yeah, don't give into the dog if she's crying in the crate. Mine have been in the crate during the work day for almost a year (someone comes and walks them). They hated going in at first and would go crazy... one (my avatar) even ate the crate tray twice. They now go in when we say "go in your crate" without any fuss, about 99% of the time. But, the second we get home, they go nuts and want out... we've been leaving them there for 10-15 mins after we get home and ignoring them, just to let them calm down. They know the crate is their place. And while they rarely use it as a place to hang out... if they are extremely tired, they will nap in there.

msdrdg · June 2014

The crate is in DS's playroom. So not near where we hang out, but closer than when she was in the kitchen. There is no place to put it in the living room and theoretically she will only be in it when we go to bed or when we are not home, so we wouldn't be around her anyway. She never whined in the kitchen. She was put in there just before bed, after being taken outside and given her treat which I tossed in the crate to try to entice her to go in.
I ignored the whining/crying/yelping for an hour last night but had to give in because she was waking up DS and it was after midnight and we all needed sleep.

I like the idea of putting treats in the crate when she doesn't know it @mbenit4, but my dog would go in there an steal them. :-(

@rondakhiker, MIL would mess with the gate because she would want to get into/out of whatever room (theoretically the kitchen) and wouldn't think to put the gate back up or wouldn't get it secure. She won't mess with the crate.

JGY · June 2014

https://www.clickerdogs.com/crate_games.php

We bought that DVD and it gave really clear step by step games to get the dog used to, and comfortable with/in the crate. It's cheesy and low budget but effective.

Good luck!

msdrdg · June 2014

I don't know her history before she was transported.
All I know about her is that she was in boarding in the south for a while (no idea how long) then transported to CT. She was with a foster in RI for a week but they had 6 other dogs and a litter of puppies so they really couldn't pay that much attention to her. Then she came to us.
The rescue does have "vacation fosters" but they are all full for next week, not surprising given that it is a popular vacation week.
I will get a kong and see if that helps with the crate.

msdrdg · June 2014

And I really don't mean to sound like an idiot, which I feel I am probably coming off as. I really want to do right by this dog, while keeping my dog safe and happy.

msdrdg · June 2014

Thank you all for all the advice.
I'm probably jinxing it, but she has been really good tonight. We have her out of the kitchen with us but with her leash on just in case. She had one small growling incident, but DH stopped that quickly. DH just took her for a ride in the car so that she could come "home" and see that not every time she gets in a vehicle is going to be a scary change.
I'm going to go to PetCo tomorrow and get a kong or 2 and maybe some training treats or something.
We just decided that we aren't going to leave for Maine until Sunday so that gives her an extra day. We also found out that MIL and her dog won't be at the house until Thursday

@cmeon_the_water, do you still foster? What orginzation do you foster for if you don't mind me asking?

RondackHiker · June 2014

Remember not to correct growls.

Growls are warnings and are good. A dog that won't growl because growling is bad jumps right to attack.

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Dog people....advice needed

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