Zach Bennett

Thank you so much for your detailed and helpful reply and for sending the article links! I really don’t want him to become more afraid and reactive and I’ll try these approaches for the next time someone is coming and we can’t get him out and about. We have some adaptil in a diffuser and a collar adaptil for him going already for his car concerns but I will see if the vet can help him with something extra for when they come and the training approaches as well. Thank you again and warm regards, -Anna & Zach

Hello, we have a 1 year old rescue German shepherd that we have had for a month. Every day we discover new reasons to love him but he also has a new challenge almost every day! At the moment our landlords have scheduled a lot of work to be done by various contractors so I have been placing him in his crate with bikkies and treats before they arrive and having him in there for the duration (1-2 hours) to keep them and him safe. He can open the doors in our house and jump the backyard fence so the crate is the only 100% secure spot and is his place as well. He is otherwise well crate trained and happy to be in there. He goes in by himself to relax during the day. My question is, when he barks at them furiously and snarls and whines from the crate what do we do? I have tried the ‘be a leader’ method telling him I will go look and then checking it out coming back and saying it’s all fine and getting him to go to a down position but he begins barking again a few minutes later. My partner has tried interrupting him by banging on the top of the crate during frantic barking then complimenting when quiet but I don’t want to end up with a fearful dog or make him hate his crate. How do we help him to feel safe and not wanting to bark and snarl and jump around when strangers are in the house or at the door.