For Dreama I have an idea. Not so much about the agression, but since your problem is with the crate I think I can help. When Loki was a puppy and he thought we were going to put him in his crate it was "chase me" time. He likes his crate and immediately settles down when in it, but being chased is more fun for him! Eventually I just taught him the "crate" command and he goes there on his own. Here's how you do this.
Start slowly during the day when she does not feel threatened by you putting her in there. Set her in there and say "crate" and give her a treat. Don't even need to close the door. Then make HER walk in the crate and give her the treat. Basically she associates "crate" with TREATS! Reinforce this randomly throughout the day, closing the door for varied periods of time (keep her guessing). The end result is this: When we leave I typically leave Loki with a special toy, a kong, or if it's only for a few minutes - just a treat. I hold up whatever it is (usually the kong), say "crate" and he bolts to his crate and sits and waits for it in his crate. Sometimes if I give him a Kong during the day I will find him with it IN his crate even with the door open because he knows Kongs=crate. He tends to take his special things there. Anyway, if you work on this in a few days/weeks you might just have to ask her to go to her crate and she will do it eagerly. No more biting.
As a side note, Loki also knows "off" and "on" commands. If he gets annoying when he's on the bed (like he won't budge from my spot, or he bugs us to play) I ask him to get off and tell him to go to HIS bed on the floor. He behaves most of the time because he doesn't want to get kicked off. |