I have a 5 year old chihuahua mix that I do agility with. In class, they’re expected to be in a crate/car until it’s their turn. She was initially very scared of using a crate because it’s not something I used at home, but overtime she’s gotten very comfortable with it. Now when I say “kennel” she happily goes right in. I taught her to enjoy the crate by giving treats when she initially goes in and every few minutes when she was being good in there.
The problem now is that she expects me to give her treats when she’s in the crate and will growl/bark/make dinosaur noises until I give her food. If I ignore her or tell her to stop, she gets louder. She’s only this awful in class - she doesn’t bark in her crate at home, although she does stay alert waiting for food. She will eventually curl up and sleep. When we’re at agility trials, it takes her very a long time to lay down comfortably. She mostly just stares at me waiting for food, with the occasional growl to get my attention. When she gets really loud (mainly just during class), I take her out of the crate and put her right back in without food. This gets her to stop barking at me for a few minutes until it starts up again.
How do I encourage her to settle in her crate? We recently started taking classes at a new location (where we also compete) and I don’t want her to learn to misbehave like this in the new environment.
Thanks for any advice!