Barking in crate when mom is watching

[Stacy]

Can we troubleshoot another new issue I'm having? I'm going to ask the trainers too, but we always have such good ideas here.

Maggie started this scent work class. I think it's going to be fun. But it's one dog out in the training area at a time and the rest are crated in full sight, across the room against the wall. I put her in a plastic crate because that's what she uses at home. 

She's at complete attention, standing at the crate door watching me. And I'm sitting in a chair at full attention watching her. And I'm sure she can feel my stress, but I already know this isn't going to go well. She starts barking. Not all the time, but intermittently. And it's loud, distracting, and embarrassing, and no one else's dog is barking. So I go over and sit next to the crate. It doesn't seem to change the frequency of barking. So I opened the door and practically sat inside the crate with her. That did stop her barking, but not really what I want to do every week. 

She's crate trained at home. I crate her when I work. It's not her favorite thing, but she goes in and as far as I know she doesn't bark in there. I check on her intermittently and she's not barking. She isn't barking when I leave or when I get home. She won't take treats inside the crate at all. So I can't just get her something to chew on while she waits. And recently she has just started going in and hanging out in Willow's wire crate in the kitchen. That may just be to get some peace from the puppy, but with the door open she goes in and lays down and looks very relaxed. 

So what do we do? I can try a wire crate. I don't know if I should just ignore her and hope we don't get kicked out of the club before she stops. Or stay out of the room until it's our turn or... there's got to be a trick. How do I get her to just relax and wait? I'm not leaving. She's completely fine. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

He could have run lure course if neutered but not in the same class. 

[Stacy]

We definitely aren't dead set on doing this. I'm at the point where all of our training is just because she likes to get out and we like to do things together. If this isn't her thing we can do something else. She's remarkably well mannered and we can go anywhere and do anything, and that's all I ever wanted from her. That said, I would like us to finish this class, if only because it's a full class and I hate the idea that I took a spot from someone and quit after one week. That, and we haven't even really figured out what it is we're supposed to be doing yet. If nothing else she really likes the ride in the car.

If the expectation was that she would just sit nicely with me during class we wouldn't have a problem at all. She just doesn't want to be in the crate to wait. I think I will try covering the crate and see if that's better.

I think Rally is probably the best thing we've done so far. We took a couple agility classes and she didn't want anything to do with the tunnels. No amount of treats or coaxing was going to convince her. Obedience is okay, but I really like that I can verbally encourage her in rally. We do need to do more obedience though. I'm kind of stuck until we figure out that off leash heel. She's improving though. Six months ago I didn't think we would ever master outside walking without her pulling my arm off, and now we have the best walks and I'm so proud of us. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I did a nose work class with Guinness, and we enjoyed it.  Dogs were not expected to be crated while they were waiting.  He was able to sit by my side.  Maybe you could ask if the crate is absolutely required.  Does Maggie seem to enjoy it when it is her turn?  I remember there were some dogs in our class that got themselves so worked up during the exercise that they seemed to have trouble calming themselves during the "wait times".  It seems like this is all so new to Maggie with lots of opportunity for stress...and she is probably channeling some of your stress as well.  My advice would be to keep some small treats in your pocket and if she starts barking, calmly talk with her and the second she stops reward her.  Basically you're making a training exercise out of this "waiting situation".  Try to take her focus away from what's going on in the room and have it be on YOU.  Good luck!

[Nicole and Teddy]

Agree with Jane- we did a nosework class and the dogs weren't required to be crated. While I'll admit it did get a little boring at times, I ended up using the downtime as some extra training time for Teddy. Either way, even if you go to a couple or all of the classes, you'll have the basic idea. Now that Teddy knows "find it", this is a great to keep him stimulated indoors on rainy days. I know some of the dog parents even talked about doing it outdoors - hiding treats under leaves, etc. He loves playing "find it"! Hope you get it all figured out!

[Stacy]

I think it's absolutely that she's channeling my stress over the crating thing. And really, am I more anxious about her being unhappy in the crate or that the other people will be upset that she's barking? I don't think it would bother me if it was another dog, but I don't want people to think I'm the bad owner with the naughty dog. She would be fine sitting quietly beside me. We've never been asked to crate our dog in a class environment before. So that's definitely new. And perhaps optional. I need to talk to them. Tonight is our second class. 

Otherwise I think this might be fun. I'm sort of clueless about what we're really doing. So far we've found treats in boxes. We haven't even gotten to the actual scent yet. And Maggie is not timid... but she is sometimes reluctant to offer new behaviors. I would like her to find the confidence to just offer new behaviors and see what happens. We're going to give it a fair shot. I got her the cutest green harness for this class! But if it doesn't work out for some reason we can always take a different class next time.

[GBK]

HI Stacy, just saw this post :)  I have been involved in NACSW Nosework for over 5 years now training and competing and just graduating to teaching it myself.  My Bud was 8 years old when we started this adventure and hated being in a crate or car and away from me.  We luckily had an indoor venue when we started an I was able to crate him very close to me for the first class and gradually each class move him further and further away.  His treat and obsession became the search itself.  By the second round of classes he was able to crate with the rest of the dogs in the crating area, still pretty much able to see me.  The car he would bark, but same thing, once he saw he got to play he understood the routine.  I now have a puppy I will be starting and he is as much of a mama's boy as my Bud was, so here we go again :)

[Stacy]

Thank you for this! I'm really excited to see how it goes. I hope she likes it. She's not super food motivated, and when she's stressed she refuses treats. It was a long time before she would take treats from me instead of just turning her head. We've come a long way since then. And this is meant to be low stress and fun. She ate them last week, so hopefully we are going in the right direction. I'm hoping she will decide that crating there isn't so bad. Probably our biggest trick so far is figuring out that crating isn't something to freak out about. That too has improved. She really is a wonderful girl. I would like to find the thing that she just loves. I want her to live her best life.

[GBK]

Biggest tip....high value treats!  Hot dogs, steak, cheese, stinky dog treats :)

[GBK]

I can answer any questions you might have regarding nosework, it is my and my dogs favorite thing to do together. Hunt drive and confidence are built before the scent is introduced. The dogs should ultimately be introduced to all of the search areas using food first and then transitioned to pairing the food with the scent as the next step. That's how I teach it myself. If your dog is food motivated it should drive to wherever the food is hid, over and under any obstacle to get there. This is what we want them to do for odor also, so we build that drive with food first.

I lost Bud in September.  Best Dog Ever!  Competed in Elite one month before he left me.  I attribute this sport to keeping him young and engaged.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

So glad you saw this and posted, Gina.

I get goosebumps from that photo of Buddy with his ribbons. He was really something special. 

[GBK]

Thanks Karen!  He really was!  I feel so lucky to be teaching students and watching them thrive like he did.  Passing on the joy is in his honor.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes. It's his legacy. :)