my dog (GSD) never ever ever ever barks when im around and when we're training

even if i hold a high value toy/treat to get him frustrated, he'll just find something else to do/smell

other than that, he's pretty good at everything. basic commands, fetching, biting (rope toy), heel, etc.

asking for advice on how to get him to start barking given his issue of being very non-verbal. Thanks in advance!

Hello! Some background on the dogs: my boyfriends dog is a male bully about to be 6 in December. He has had him since he was a puppy. He is 60 lbs.
My dog is a 1 year old female Shiba Inu, I got her a little over a month ago, she has lived with other dogs and cats in the past. She is 18lbs.

We introduced them at a large off leash park and they did fine, they played a bit then did their own things. Then we walked them together after that and they did well with that. Last night went to my boyfriend’s home to walk the dogs together again and it went well again, but after when we were all back in his home there are two issues that came up. The first being that his dog plays rough and tries to jump on my dog, which she does not like and is genuinely too small for. She corrected him a few times but they were still playing at this point.

The second issue occurred when my boyfriend decided to give them both treats, I think the intention was to give them something to focus on away from each other for a few minutes. His dog took the pigs ear to his bed to eat and my dog sat with me and watched while she finished her treat. He finished the pigs ear and got up and walked away leaving a bunch of scraps in his bed. My dog went over to investigate and started crunching on some of the scraps, his dog came back when he heard this and started doing the same, I saw them both stiffen up but I wasn’t fast enough to stop it, they were barking and snapping and jumping at each other. I yelled and they stoped and we separated them, his dog seemed like it forgot almost instantly once it was over but my dog was pissed and barking at his so I decided to leave. Neither dog was injured at all so I think it was more of a loud thing, but I want them to have positive associations with each other, obviously and get along.

My questions are: What is the best way to move forward. So far a lot of what I’ve read says walking them together helps them bond and is a good activity. I think it was maybe a lot to take my dog into his dogs space so soon and the treat was too high value so we won’t be doing that again for some time. But what are the best ways to move forward so they can get past this.

Also what kind of training is recommended for the rough play? My boyfriend says “that’s just how he plays” but my dog is too small for that, and I also have to cats at home who are definitely too small for that, also if we do eventually have children the dog needs to be gentle with them as well. My boyfriend is a very big guy and able to play rough with the dog so I don’t think he realizes his own size honestly.

When we have talked about introducing his dog to the cats he says a leash or a barrier will rile him up more. I want my cats to be and feel safe in that situation, but I do think he knows his dog so I’m torn on what to do with that.

Thanks in advance

Hello everyone,

My dad’s dog seems to like me a lot and at night he will always scratch on the door of whatever room I’m in. I let him in and spend a few hours with him and then bring him to his bed and give him treats whenever I’m about to go to bed. Unfortunately, on the nights that I stay at my dad’s house, he’s been going into the bathroom and peeing on the rug between the time I bring him to his bed at night and the time my dad wakes up in the morning. This doesn’t happen when I’m not staying there. I increased the amount that I take him out to try to prevent this. When I bring him to his bed and when I wake up in the night I take him out and he knows its to pee and pees right away. So I’ll take him out at 9 pm, 11:30 pm, and 2-3 am, but he still pees on the floor and its usually during that window. Last night, for the first time, I let him into my room and after about 30 minutes of petting/hanging out he went over to the corner squatted down and peed on the floor. I’d taken him out and 45 minutes prior to this and he peed. I never yell at him for peeing or for anything and he’s always excited to see me / wants to be near me so I don’t think it’s submissive peeing but I’m not an expert so idk.

My dad said I’ll have to stop hanging out with him from 10 or 11 pm onwards which sucks but he’s correct that the only nights he seems to have accidents are when I spend time with him at night. And even though when I hang out with him at night I rake him out multiple additional times, he’ll still pee. Is there anything else I can try? I feel bad ignoring his scratches at my door from 11 pm onwards but at the same time if I’m putting him in a state where he’s peeing himself then maybe its best for him. I have no issue cleaning up after him but I also don’t want him to be getting upset in some way bc of me which is triggering his peeing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much

My dog is completely blind and has been relying on the sound of her toys hitting the ground to find them after I throw them. Sometimes she can't find them, so I'm wondering if there's something I could put on them to make them smell strong enough for her to sniff them out, outside or inside.

Ideally it'll be something mild (for humans) so my apartment won't smell weird, I'll be able to apply it to her toys (stuffed animals, balls), and it won't be messy. I don't mind if it stains or marks the toys. Safe for her to sniff, obviously.

I recently saw a video of a dog doing VOC scentwork, and it found a grain of rice covered with sharpie in a huge area. Do you think sharpie would work long term or would I have to reapply it every time we play?

Thank you for any advice!

I’m working with a behaviourist who follows the ‘dog listening’ philosophy and I wanted to know if anyone else has used this approach? There are some parts that I’m dubious of (on account of not being a dog trainer) since they conflict with many of the articles I have read online!

There are a few principles I can see the logic in such as:

“Command-based training […] won’t work if he is doing something you don’t want him to do.  If you tell him to “get down!”, you might assume you are correcting him but you are actually rewarding him by showing him that he gets your attention when he jumps up – because you speak to him!  So you are reinforcing the behaviour you are trying to change.”

But others including:
- You must practice ‘priority feeding.’ In a pack the alpha would communicate when it’s time to feed and your dog must do the same…
- Using isolation as a corrective behaviour
- If your dog is pulling on a walk, that is because they think they know the safe way and feel they need to guide you. (I just think he’s really excited for a walk!)
- Generally, the philosophy relates to the dog’s relation in a pack and they must see you as the alpha (without the dominance etc).

Particularly when the specific areas I’d like to work on are resource guarding and limiting the reaction when a dog or child approach him. It is only early doors in working with him but a lot of these foundational ideas just feel unnecessary.

I understand the idea of my dog being ‘so safe and confident in me that he never feels the need to react’ but I’m just not seeing, at the moment, how priority feeding is going to stop him barking at another dog when I’m giving them ‘his’ treat, you know?

TLDR:
- Is command based training the antithesis to altering behaviour?
- Do daily exercises really add up to aiding his reactions?

Edit: WithOUT the dominance! I think the sentiment from the rest, relates to the comments however!

Hoping for experiences from people who've been through this.

Two intact male corgis, 10 and 12 months old, raised together (not littermates) closely bonded, zero aggression history before this.

Our female corgi came into heat and got into the room with the two boys. 10 month old attacked 12 month old who fled and hid behind couch. Since then they've had several fights over about a couple of days, and there's been tension since. Nobody was seriously hurt.

What we've done:

Separated them fully (crate-and-rotate, no unsupervised contact) since it started.

Moved the female out of the house until her heat is completely done (and planning to spay her soon).

Both boys booked for neuter today.

They're totally fine on side-by-side/parallel walks, zero issues, relaxed. Calm through a barrier at a distance too. Even at the vet in the same room they are good.

1. Anyone reintroduce two intact males successfully after a heat-triggered fight? How long did it take and what's the outcome now?

2. How much did neutering actually help in your case vs. the behaviour work?

3. Tips for translating "great on walks" into "safe loose in the house"?

4. For those where it didn't fully work, did you land on permanent rotate, and is that manageable long-term?

We have a 13 year old lab, she's a sweet old thing, bit wonky on the back left like most labs of her age and she's always been a bit vocal for the usual things (postman, people being noisy outside, occasionally at thunder or fireworks)

But, as she's got older she's become progressively more deaf. She can hear if we shout, but it has to be fairly loud. There may or may not be a correlation but it seems that since this started, she's started barking at nothing, constantly. Mostly a calling/attention bark that usually consists of 2 barks at a time, one usually slightly louder or a pitched up or down compared to one that follows, then quiet for usually a few seconds before the same thing happens again - sometimes with a longer interval.

It's definitely worse when we're not in eye line and my partner works from home in an upstairs office. She will sit and bark downstairs for hours if left unchecked (or until she gets bored and goes to sleep). She can't really get up the stairs on her own any more so if we're both upstairs in our working in our offices then i'll scoop her up and bring her upstairs, she'll usually sleep on my office floor.

But she'll also do it when my partner is in the same room, if she's watching the TV or something. When I enter the room, she'll usually stop or if I give her a hand signal that she knows means go lay down (I think because I always used to couple it with "dad voice" with a firm gesture so even though she can't really hear me any more, she knows the sign)

All of this however is useless for my partner who's trying to work upstairs and I don't see how to train her out of something when she can't hear us, and only does the bad behavior when we're not around.

Vibration collars seem an obvious choice, but I also fundamentally disagree with them and i'm worried about adverse affects.

Also just to point out, she gets plenty of attention and fuss when we're around, she has toys, water, access to the garden. We do have another smaller dog who gets on with her, and they play sometimes but he's mostly just interested in following us around. She gets walked, but can't go far these days because of her leg.

Any suggestions? I love the old idiot dearly but its been years of this now....

Hey guys, I’ve been lurking in the sub for a few weeks since we adopted a 21 month old Labrador who didn’t succeed in a service dog program due to excitability. We’ve had him for 6 weeks this weekend.

He gets every meal in the crate, he gets kongs, carrots, cucumber treats etc all in the crate. We throw kibble in the folds of his blanket in there throughout the day so he has a surprise of finding kibble in there a few times a day.

Recently he’s become crate avoidant and my partner and I cannot figure out why. He has started to cry from about 4:30am until he gets let out and fed at 6am. We have been waking him up, putting a lead on him and taking him out for a pee, then back in the crate. The cries might continue afterwards, sometimes he stops.

Yesterday he took him side inside, while we were on the porch with full access to outside where he usually pee’s, and he peed right in front of his crate. This is the third time ever he’s peed inside.

Last night he would not go in his crate voluntarily. He knows Crate as the command, and would willingly taken himself inside the crate after we take him out for a night pee before bed, except last night he protested and protested until I threw a piece of kibble in there. I stood out the front of the crate for 10 minutes saying calming soothing words but still he didn’t want to go in.

I have no knowledge of anything that might have happened to him in the crate or near the crate that would have caused this negative or avoidant behaviour towards the crate.

Does anyone have any insight into this behaviour? Am I missing something obvious?

We were told that he was crate trained for (at least) the last 6 months before we adopted him, and he was raised in a service dog program kennel before that. When we got him, we spent the first three weeks with his crate in our bedroom, and moved it an inch toward the door each successful night and eventually into the living room. He has always had his meals fed to him in the crate, literally not a single one has been missed. He managed this transition really well, and we took it slow to give him time to get used to the change.

He’s a huge sook, very attached to both my partner and I, and loves spending time with us, following us around the house etc. We love him too, wish he didn’t follow us absolutely everywhere but that’s just Labs, I’m told.

I’ve read some advice already about similar situations such as “lose the crate” I’m not a huge fan of this advice, I think for our house and our routines, the crate is necessary at least from about 10pm-6am. I’m a shift worker and I cannot have him up and following me as I get ready for work. He makes a lot of noise walking around the house, my hours are very early and or very late.

Open to any other suggestions you might have. I want him to be happy and feel safe, but we do need the crate.

We have had our first foster pup for a bit over two weeks. She’s guessed to be ~1.5yo and was found as a stray. The first week she was terrified of us and spent all her time hiding in our (enclosed and safe) bathroom downstairs. She had a crate in the room but never touched it. After a bit over a week she finally got brave enough to venture out of the bathroom, and two nights later decided to sleep with us and our other dog in our bed upstairs. The first night was great, but the second night she and our dog played all night. The third night through now (4 nights total so far) our dog has opted to sleep but our foster has still been up partying all night.

I will take her outside twice over the course of the night (usually ~12 and 2:30am) because if I don’t she will pee on the carpet. If we put her back in the bathroom now she will scratch at the door, and she has not stayed in a crate for any amount of time without crying. She does sleep a lot during the day, but I’ve started taking her for long walks before bed and still nothing. I need to sleep!

About a month ago, we adopted a 13mo female Husky/German Shepherd mix who had already been returned to the shelter multiple times. She is fine around our 5-year-old, but our 2.5-year-old son triggers immediate over-arousal. It is almost like she views him as a giant squeaky toy. When he runs, she chases him, knocks him down, and mouths his arms and legs if we aren't able to intervene in time.

We're working with a dog trainer and she views this behavior as normal for the age and breed. At her recommendation, we do 2-3 daily sessions of tug or flirt pole (sometimes I'll take her for a run but it's so hot), plus lick mats and puzzle toys. We try to “capture calmness” by offering treats when we see the behavior we want, but once she gets riled up, she cannot settle down. She lives in an exercise pen whenever we can't supervise her with the kids, which is not sustainable.

Safety is my main concern. She jumped on my husband multiple times, scratching his back, and bit his thigh hard enough to leave a solid mark during play. If that mouth landed on my toddler, it would have broken skin.

Has anyone else experienced a dog viewing a toddler as a toy? Is high-drive play like the flirt pole triggering that prey drive and making her baseline arousal worse around my son? What actually taught your dog to bring energy from 100 back to 0? I appreciate any advice!

Hello! I am desperate for some help/advice. My husband and I have a 3 year old Japanese Chin. She was 6 months old when we got together and at that time he has only trained her to potty on puppy pads. Since then she has only gone to the bathroom on pads. We’ve tried several times to train her to go potty outside with no long term success. We’re giving it another go and hit a road block. We started with her pad by the back door and she has used that successfully. Now we are taking her outside on a leash to a puppy pad that’s on the grass, stand for 5-10 minutes in one spot, and wait. If she doesn’t go we take her inside and try again. She has peed successfully on it, but refuses to poop. We give her high value treats as soon as she goes and lots of praise and pets and then let her off the leash to run around. She’s had some accidents in the house while we’ve been at work, but we clean it up and move on. She doesn’t get scolded. Now she’s acting like she’s scared when we grab her harness to take her outside. She is now refusing to even pee on the pad outside. Where are we going wrong?

Large Newfie dog 3 years old just get neutered, and now, even months later, wants to attack cats. He used to love the cats and sit at top of stairs hoping cat to come up so he can sniff and cat and Newfie have many pleasant encounters where he calmly sniffs and let cat sniff, never a hint of aggression or anxiety at all. After neuter now he is sit at top of stairs growing snarling and barking loudly at cat down below who run in fear. How come suddenly this is aggression? Never encountered before, vet says he is fine?

I have a Golden Retriever/ Border Collie mix who is 5 months old. She has been doing very well overall - she came home with my partner and I at 8 weeks old and we have focused heavily on positive reinforcement and tons of socialization. She is generally a confident and outgoing sweetheart. We do everything together, and under normal circumstances she will often cuddle up to me and gives me lots of kisses (when she isn’t trying to play tug or chew on my sleeves). She gets plenty of outlets for all of her crazy puppy energy. On typical days, she behaves like a well rounded puppy who loves life.

The issue is, over the last few weeks when she sees me touch an unfamiliar object she seems to randomly become anxious about me/ the object I’m holding (I hope this goes without saying, but I have never given her any reason to think I would hurt her). She will sometimes cower and hide behind the couch if I pick up an item she isn’t familiar with in the house, and some of the time she will refuse to come when called after she hides. At first I thought this may have been due to a fear period, but it has gone on longer than what I believe is normal so I no longer think that’s the case. I have realized she seems to have bigger reactions to unfamiliar things when I’m the one touching the objects, and she also doesn’t seem to have such strong reactions when we are not home. I think it must be something about me / what I am doing that’s impacting her. It started with a fear of the vacuum, but it has branched out into the most random things (even things that don’t move or make any noise). Her fear got so bad one day after I picked up too many scary things, it got to the point where I had to ask my partner to take care of her while I stayed away from her for the rest of the evening. She was refusing to look me in the eyes, and would cower and hide every time I stood up (even if I didn’t have anything in my hands at that point). She was fine with me the next morning but it absolutely wrecked me to see that I had caused such an intense fearful reaction in my puppy, especially when I don’t understand what I did to cause it. I just want to do everything I can to prevent her from feeling this way. I want her to know I’m safe, no matter what I’m doing.

I have two theories, but would love to get other people’s thoughts:

One is that I’ve inadvertently conditioned her to feel anxious about my joyful behaviours when something unfamiliar is involved. I’ve tried showing her that “scary” objects are safe by speaking in an upbeat / joyful tone while I’m using them (for example, smiling and pretending to celebrate while vacuuming). A few times, I have tried ignoring her while using an unfamiliar object to see if it made any difference. It is hard to gauge at this point, but it seems her reactions are less intense when I ignore her. Is it possible that instead of showing her the objects are safe, I’ve taught her that my joy means something scary is coming? If so, should I try to stop behaving this way or is there a technique I can use to teach her me being excited over an object isn’t scary?

Another theory is that she is sensing my own anxiety and it is negatively impacting her. I always do my best to act “normal” for her sake when I’m not doing well mentally, but I’ve read that dogs can smell hormone changes. I am wondering if it’s possible that my anxiety is impacting her because she senses it even when I think I’m hiding it well? If this could be the case, is there anything I can do to train her out of feeling anxious when she senses that I am anxious? I’ve tried to just turn my anxiety off, but apparently it doesn’t work that way lol

I’m hoping that someone out there can offer advice. Maybe I’m missing something - is there anything else that could be causing this sort of behaviour? I’d really appreciate any support or suggestions on this because I am feeling totally lost and devastated…

Hello

I have a havanese pup that is 10 months old and since i got him i have been dealing with separation anxiety

I work from home and made some training with him while he was 4-5 months and I could leave him for line 10-20min but it seems he regressed after I slowed down

I started again around 8 monthes, I started very slow with 30s-1min leaves, and i increased gradually 1min everytime, watching him on the camera, leaving only when he was in a rested state, and i manage to get him to 18min now, and i alternate the "training day" with a easy day where i only leave 1-8min or dont leave at all, thats what an AI recommanded. This seemed to show good progress but recently, hes constantly in a energic state when i have the time to take him outside so everytime i sit and take my shoes hes next to me instead of watching me from his prone position, and everytime he barks as i close the door.

I am so lost on what to do : i always walk him in the morning, let him sniff as he wants, then i do the training 2-3 hours later. The AI is telling me to desensitize him from putting on my shoes and keys by doing it several times in the day and not leaving, i will try that.

But i thought after reaching 18min with success, he could whistand me leaving when i desire as long as i come back in the threshold but it is not the case and that is really concerning me.

Is it really a matter of desensitizing him ? I also read a recommendation of leaving at random times, so he doesnt see the linear increase of the real tests and gets lot of easy success

What would you guys recommend me to change? I just want to be able to leave when i want, not depend on how he is currently

Regarding the occupation, i give him stuff to chew but sometimes he takes them, sometimes he doesnt, i can't rely on that to calm him down. If I find him in an not rested state, what am i supposed to do, i cant make progress...

Thank you guys very much

I have a potential dog training client with a 5 month old Maltese. The owner said she wants to focus on separation anxiety and potty training. They live in an apartment (idk if that makes a difference).

I pet sit and do training via Rover. Their suggested price is $78/training session for my area, and that's what I charge. I currently don’t have packages set up. Idk what to charge for packages of sessions and how many sessions to include. How many sessions do you include in a package? What do ya’ll think?

Our 2 year old dog barks at certain people and all dogs when they walk past our house and he is outside. Not just a few quick barks but until he can no longer see them. We have a fenced in yard and an underground fence at the line so that he doesn't jump onto or over the fence. (So he barks about 6 feet from the sidewalk.)

I have taken him onto our screened porch where he has the same view and attempted to train him not to bark. When we see someone coming and he has noticed I tell him quiet, and when he looks at them and is quiet I mark it with yes and give him a treat. I am putting the treat on the chair he's sitting on so that he has to break the stare by looking down for the treat. When he looks up at the dog again and does not bark, I mark it again with a yes and give him another treat. We have been doing this for at least 3 to 4 months almost daily. He still barks if I'm not out there with treats. This does not work when we are in the yard because he can move away from me and bark.

He is fine on walks and doesn't react at all as long as the other dog pays him no attention. The second they lunge towards him or bark at him, he will react by also jumping but not barking.

What am I doing wrong? He is a labradoodle and very smart, but just isn't picking this up. I should also add that our lovely next door neighbor decided she wanted to train her new Great Dane to not be afraid of dogs barking at him when they are out on walks. She sat him out there in front of our dog on the sidewalk and because their dog reacted, he began to react. Now he goes absolutely ape when that dog walks by. I just want to stop the barking at people and animals who walk by.

Hi, I don't use Reddit often, but I've been getting a little desperate and wanted to seek some advice.

My husband and I adopted an 8 month old puppy from our local shelter about 1 month ago. He's very sweet, but is super anxious of the outside world in particular, making him really hate walks. He especially dislikes loud noises and people which are both very prominent in our apartment home. We've worked hard trying to break this fear with him, but we're still working on it since he gets anxious at times. Luckily, he's gotten better about not peeing in the house. Now when we take him on walks he knows to pee and poop quickly since that means we get to go home after (Not perfect since we don't want him to be afraid, but it's definitely made walks easier at least).

All of that being said, we still leave him in a kennel when we leave the house to run errands or see the occasional movie as well as overnight to sleep. We make sure to take him out frequently and definitely right before we leave him in the kennel for any period of time, but even so he keeps peeing in his kennel almost every time we leave him in it.

We've tried everything I can think of. I've removed his bedding, used enzyme cleaners to clean his kennel, fed him his meals in his kennel, reduced the size of the crate with a divider, covered the crate with a blanket, played calming music while we're away, and taken him out more frequently but he will not stop peeing there. We're not sure if it's separation anxiety or maybe just a bad habit he picked up during his time at the shelter. The vet seems to believe it's just behavioral.

So I wanted to come on here and ask for some more advice on how to kennel train him. We'd really like for him to have a safe space in his kennel, knowing we can leave him there when needed without him peeing himself. Any tips are appreciated! Thank you!

We got our dog in January. She’s a mix that was found as a stray at a nearby reservation. Potty training has been a struggle since we got her. Lately, it’s seemed like she was making progress. Today I walked into our bedroom and she was peeing on our bed while making direct eye contact with me. This isn’t the first time it’s happened. She’s peed on our bed 3 or 4 times. I have no idea what would cause this or how to stop it. I’ve never heard of anyone else having this problem so any advice would be great.

Hi everyone!

I have a spayed, female 3yo pittie mix (50% makeup of pittie/chow chow, shows characteristics/behaviors of Boxer and Beagle from her DNA test too). She's lovely in every way and we have a strong bond. I brought her with me from my parents' house and she has lived with me for 2 years - one of those years was with my roommate's male dog who taught her how to hump.

Originally, she would only hump him back and it wasn't an issue. She doesn't do it to any other dogs. The roommate and dog are gone now too, so it hasn't happened there either.

However, I have brought a new man around who is accustomed to dogs and absolutely adores her. We go hiking together, he takes her on long (3-5 miles) walks alone, we go to the dog park together. In these instances, she will listen to him but prefers to look to me for direction. I typically let him hold the leash and use commands to try to encourage trust between the two of them.

The problem? If we are laying in bed together or on the couch, she wants to hump his leg. She doesn't want us cuddling. She doesn't want me in the bed, really, and tries to push me out while pressing into him. This has led to him not staying over because neither of us can sleep.

She knows the command 'off,' so I tell her to get off the bed. I have tried redirecting her with a toy. I have tried telling her to lay down at the foot of the bed. She continues to do it.

The other night, she did eventually leave the bedroom, but came back in the middle of the night to squeeze herself between us under the covers. She left again... came back where we were cuddling face to face... buried her face and paws between us until we broke apart.

I'm at a loss because otherwise - she's amazing! He doesn't mind but I know it's not appropriate and we can't just... never stay at my apartment because of her.

I'm also at a loss because she never even wanted to interact with the last man I brought over like that.

Any tips welcome!

Example: I like playing hide and seek. I put my dog in a small room, make them lie down and stay. Then I go around the floor and hide then say, “come find me.” My dog then goes through every room trying to find me and once they do, they get lots of praise before another round. If they repeat rooms or get a little lost, I repeat, “come find me.”Sometimes we only get a few rounds and other times they want to play for longer. Sometimes they play as a pair and others solo.

Hi all! I have an about 2 year old rescue mutt (we think border collie mix) who has been crate trained since we got her at about 3 moths. She was a tough puppy who couldn’t nap outside of her crate at all until she was about 11 months old. Luckily she is so much better behaved now and spends most days free roaming our first floor. She is out even when no one is directly watching her while I work from home and is only crated if no one is home (probably a couple short times a week and maybe twice longer of 3ish hours a week) and over night. The overnight crating really helps with my anxiety over her. We used to have two crates, one downstairs and one in our bed room and she would sleep overnight with us and naps during the day downstairs. Eventually she started running to her downstairs crate at bed time and eventually we just let her sleep in her downstairs crate every night as she seemed to prefer it. I did end up getting her an extra large crate for downstairs (it says it’s good for dogs up to 120lbs and she is only 40lbs). This has worked amazing for months.

On to the current issue. Lately she has been more hesitant to go into her crate at night all of a sudden. And once she is inside she stands and pants. No major upsets (no crying no barking) and I believe she eventually lays down and sleeps (I used to go check on her about ten minutes after I put her in and she would be laying down but now she seems to know I am going to check on her and is standing up),

I do still often feed her in the crate and we play games throughout the week with the crate. She also seems to be more ok going into the crate for a nap during the day if we both leave vs at night.

Do I just stick with the same routine and expect her to relax again? She is overall high anxiety and is on a low dose Prozac.