How to keep your dog from defending it's crate?
I recently adopted a dog from questionable circumstances who has 2 major passions in life: protecting her crate (from within or without) and being OCD for tennis balls. Weaning her off her tennis ball addiction was very easy, but she isn't yet trustworthy enough around the house to leave outside the crate at night or when humans are away from the home.
Have you experienced this issue and how do you wean an unconfident young dog from her crate without removing crating entirely from her life? She can climb any combination of baby fences we have yet invented. She is a counter surfer and cat terrorizer (even though she loses every run-in) We keep the crate lock closed when she isn't "put away" which keeps her from actively protecting it but she hovers around the crate when it's locked.
The crate is away from the active part of the home, upstairs in the main bedroom so she can be close during sleep.
UPDATE: Dog is now only crated at bedtime to give the cats free roam of the house. Dog will still bark at any noise in the bedroom coming from the other dog whether there's a blanket over the crate or not. I think she was traumatized in the crate at some point, it's not guarding--it's fear.