aggressive behaviour & biting

[Mom2Luci]

My 15 month old maltipoo has recently started showing aggressive behaviour/biting when I try to take her out of her crate in the morning. One or two days a week she has been going to work with me. I have a crate the same size as one at home and a gate at my office door. She receives much attention from other employees and is taken out more than when left at home. But, she seems to prefer being at home with my husband, even though she has to stay in her crate until noon on those days. Now when I attempt to take her out of her crate first thing in the morning she backs up as far as possible and will bite if I put my hands in the crate. She must go out because she has not been out since the night before ( whether she stays at home or goes to office with me). How can I break her of this? I feel so sad that she is doing this as she is usually a very sweet dog.

[Beckyyy]

Have you tried leaving the crate door open and walking off while you get ready, then bribing her out with a very tasty treat and praise?

Think of it from her point of view... if somebody pulled you out of bed when you didn't want to get up you'd be pretty annoyed

[ladybug1802]

Yeah thats what I was thinking too......you should never reach into the crate - it should be seen as the dog's safe place where he/she can get away from it all and not be bothered. If you reach in to her.....it will make it a very claustrophobic place for her as she has nowhere to go. Added to this she may well not like beiong picked up at all.

At your work, you say she gets a lot of attention....what form does this attention take? Do lots of people pick her up, bend over her, look at her? If so this may well be making her fell MORE insecure, whereas at home she is free to chill and be in peace?

[Mom2Luci]

I have tried leaving the crate door open, then trying to bribe her with her favorite treat. No deal!!!

[Mom2Luci]

As far as the attention Luci gets at work, since I have a gate people stop at my door. Luci is the one wanting the attention. She stands at the gate and barks if someone comes in and fails to speak to her. No one picks her up, just pats her on her head. She has toys and her crate is in a quite place.

[emmabeth]

Can you run through your routine, both the days you take her to work and the days you dont...

I don't think its the being at work thats the problem, i think theres something before that .... possibly the journey to work, possibly something when shes still at home.

If you can let us know how your routine runs for each day, we can see where the differences are and what might be triggering this problem. For now, stop trying to physically get her out of the crate at all, just open the door and walk away, regardless of what day it actually is.

[Mom2Luci]

I think I have found a solution. On the days Luci remains at home I take her out to potty before I dress. The days she goes with me I wait until after dressing to take her out of the crate. Tomorrow I will take her out to potty before dressing BUT this time I will close the crate door so she can't go back in.