Almost 2 year old reactive Rottweiler, has had intense training for about a year but 1 thing we can’t figure out..

[iram730]

So we took in a rottie boy when he was 9 months. He had elderly owners who never socialized him, probably hit him and other than at least feeding him didn’t do much after that adorable puppy stage. Oh he was house trained so that was a plus.
So he’s reactive and a fear biter. Not good right? He does wear a muzzle in public, but we’ve made strides. I do use an ecollar and it’s changed his life. I can walk him without pulling. He has obedience now and understands commands. He stays off the furniture on his own and asks for food, toys, water, treats and if it’s okay to proceed... walking sniffing whatever.
Also he’s kennel trained.

So here is the issue. He gets kennel time when we’re gone and eating and occasionally when I’m doing housework because he’s my shadow and I have 2 other rotties.

In his kennel he’ll be fine, snoozing or chewing on a toy/bone then out of nowhere he’ll bark and freak out at whoever may be in the room. Tail up and wagging but a nasty bark and he moves his kennel with the force. He’ll do it if someone exits the room too
And it’s not always or constant but it’s startling to say the least. He has a 120$ wire kennel from PetSmart. I use zip ties on the edges and corners for extra structure as he kinda thrashes when he does this.
I’ve sent video to my trainer and he says that the boy wants to play and be let out when he does this based on posture and tail. That if he wanted out to attack the zip ties and kennel would have been destroyed long ago.
We have used his collar for everything else and he’s responded well except for this issue. I’ll click him and say down and he’ll stop but I want the behavior to stop altogether.
I will not let him out unless he’s chill, so he’s not being rewarded for this behavior.

All in all he’s very lovey and loves hugs and belly rubs, could run all day. We exercise him and play mental games. He’d be great at agility but there are zero courses where I live or within a reasonable distance.

Anyone else have an idea that can help?
Anyone else deal with this?

pupper tax

 

[anniep]

@iram730 Dogs are weird with how they generalize things. It's something you see here a lot, for example, "my dog is great until he's on leash."

For some reason he's gotten into this behaviour pattern while in the crate. You'll just have to work on it the same way you've worked on everything else. Introduce the trigger from enough distance that he doesn't fully react, maybe just starts to stiffen up. Then redirect his attention and when you get it, reward him (like crazy). If he blows up, sit there calmly until he chills out and try again with the trigger dialed back a notch.

Regardless of whether he wants to play or guard, he's over-stimulated. The training principles stay the same either way.