New Barking Behavior

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

So here's a new H attitude... He started barking in his crate recently. He's never been truly quiet in his crate, always cries if he's in there too long but otherwise fairly quiet, but recently I got a surplus of crates so I set up one in each section of the house I spend the most time in. He has so far been happy about this arrangement and has made less of a fuss than usual. Until recently. He's currently being dewormed so he's been not feeling good and in a foul mood, but he's started.... Uh, for lack of a better term, "back talking" me while in the crate. He first tries to convince me there's some epically bad noise that he desperately needs to go check out to protect me, which there never is, so he starts barking and when that doesn't work then he starts... Barking and grumbling and sighing and it really does sound like he's cursing me at times. It's not sounds I've ever really heard from him before. Just makes the biggest, loudest talking sounds. If he can see me while in the crate it's an epic hissy fit, which is not stopped just post poned while he rests. The back talking comes in randomly, whether I'm in his sight or not. It's all VERY LOUD so much that I can hear him outside the house.

While I understand he's not feeling good, he can't spend any less time in the crate as he's already in there maybe 3-4 hours a day (not counting sleep time) so he's out for most of the day. Ignoring him doesn't do anything, removing myself doesn't do anything, and giving him a command to change his attention doesn't do anything. He has a chew in there and switching crates doesn't help. It's not a bathroom emergency. So I'm at a complete loss as to why this is happening halfway through a deworming and when he's feeling better, not worse. I'm reluctant to put a bark collar on him as while the sounds he makes are horrible, I generally don't mind him talking. Just this back talking behavior needs to stop (the crying he normally does is fair since he does it after he's very lonely and needs some attention/work) because my pissy neighbor will call animal control on us. He does not get removed from the crate until he is quiet for X amount of seconds/minutes as to not encourage the behavior. Any ideas on stopping/modifying this before he gets it in his head this is how he should act?

[Stacy_R]

How old is he again?

[Dutchringgirl]

I know you said ignoring him dosnt work, but how long have you ignored him? I would keep at that.

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

Stacy - 18 months if my non-caffeinated brain did math right.

Lisa - I've gone 6 hours as part of an experiment to see how long he'll go both in and out of the house ignoring him. Recorded him still barking while out and in the house he keeps going. Doesn't seem to affect him.

[Raven]

They're terrors at 18-months! Full of crap, full of themselves.

I'd refrain from using a negative on him in a crate, especially considering his crate history but more importantly because a crate needs to feel comfortable and safe. Catch-22.

I'd say this is another stage you have to wait out by doing what you know has worked with him in the past. It kind of seems typical of him, yes???? Maybe I'm just remembering history incorrectly.

P.S.: How did it turn out when you sent him (somewhere I can't remember) for training?

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

Nope you got it right Sharon! My one concern is this becoming a learned behavior so I'm being extra careful on how I approach it.

So today was different. He was very well behaved (I decided today to start putting a LOT more rules on him to see how he responds, getting compliance slowly and in a mucho fun way) except for when I was responding to emails on the couch. He was in his crate behind me. Earlier he had eaten my Brie and crackers and was put in his crate while I cleaned the resulting mess (and he saw as punishment since I wasn't in his field of view, not that he gets sent to his crate in this way outside a blue moon, but strangely didn't fuss about this instance) and I guess he remembered earlier because suddenly I was getting blasted by back talk. An hour later he's still going at it. So I turned on this Korean romantic drama I have been marathoning on Netflix. H shuts right up. I turn and look at him, then at the crying character, and go "holy smokes are you IMITATING them when you're upset????" A well timed sigh tells me my dog may have been unduly influenced by Korean TV shows.

Not that I'm saying that's the culprit but sure is a giggle if it is. I'll keep up his new regime of rules to see if that helps any. I've been fairly lax on him lately so I wonder if his barking is less because he feels bad but more because he's fed up with mom's laxness? Worth a try at any point.

Once we finally got him up there he spent about 7 weeks in MI and came back a totally different dog! If I hand him off to someone he'll let strangers pet him. Very rarely do we get an aggression show when we're out in public too. His confidence has soared and reactivity is now on the odd big truck, but stops when I say no. OB is nicely cleaned up and I can see all the problems that we had problems with have been fixed or a bridge has been built so we can continue to grow. Very happy with what was worked on and the progress he's shown since.

[Stacy_R]

Does he know base (place)? Tyson went through this about the same time...and he started shredding beds again as well. I did a lot of base-work and he generalized that to his crate eventually.