Question:
Whenever we leave the house, we crate our dog. She happily runs into hter crate because she knows that she will get a treat once in there. This morning when it was time to go in, she ran upstairs and hid on her dog bed. It wasn't until my DH went up and petted her and said "come on" that she came out of the room (I think she thought she was going with us!). When we tried to get her into the crate, she began trembling. Then we realized that she hadn't gone into her crate at all last night, which is very unusual. We checked the crate and there's nothing in it and she hasn't had any accidents.

The only thing different is the placement of furniture. About 2 months ago, we moved the living room furniture around. We noticed that from that day on, she cries whenever we take her out of the crate. We've been trying to figure out why, but haven't been able to. Her crate used to be between the couch and a wall so it had a nice little cave effect. Now, there is an entertainment center where the couch was and the center is not as deep as the couch, so about 1 foot of her crate is "exposed".

We also just got digital cable and the box somtimes runs even if the tv is not on. Could she hear a sound from that box that could be causing her to be afraid? She was abused until she was 2 (she's now 7) and is afraid of certain sounds, especially high pitched sounds like smoke detectors, pagers, etc.

We're considering moving her crate to the opposite wall so that it is between the couch and the other wall again, but other than that, we're at a loss.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Answer:
unplug the cable box and see if it helps. if you plug all your entertainment stuff (tv, cable box, dvd, etc) into a power strip, just flip the on/off switch to turn everything off.

it could also just be the change in environment. I think your idea of moving the crate back between the couch and the wall sounds like a good idea.

sometimes it's the little insignificant things that can cause major anxiety in a dog, especially one with an abusive past.

Answer:
You could also try covering her crate with a nice blankey! My boy used to love that!! I think it gives them a sense of security!

Good Luck

Answer:
Thanks for both of your replies. We'll try moving the crate first and then go to turning all electronics off if the move doesn't work. We tried covering the crate with an old curtain once and she pulled the curtain through and ate part of it.

It just breaks our hearts that she's doing this because she used to see her crate as a quiet place where she could go whenever she wanted her space and to think that she's afraid of it now is just so sad. Given her past, we're used to working with her and I'm sure we'll get through this too, but it's such a helpless feeling when they can't tell you verbally what's wrong...

Answer:
When she's out of her crate, where does she lie? Maybe her crate needs to be moved in consequence of moving the furniture... Maybe her crate's not "feng shui" anymore.

Answer:
My first reaction is that "This is an electrical charge issue !!!! ". People don't sense the electro-magnetic field (EMF) because we have grown up with them and our bodies are more sophisticated at ignoring their fatal wrongs.

I don't need to tell you that dogs are not stupid. If she now telling you that this is a scary place ~ you need to look into it if only for respect.

At the very least get an electrician in to the house to have a boo ~ what can it hurt ?

Answer: