Our pup Oliver has been doing much better with aggression towards people and other dogs. We have not had very many bad incidents at all. I've worked with various trainers and one thing that helped me greatly was working with a head collar and really working on our walks and micro managing.
However one issue still persists. When Oliver is in his crate (generally about to sleep or already half asleep) certain sounds make him begin growling and acting aggressively. Sometimes if my girlfriend or myself are near his crate in the position where he can hear us but can't look up to see what's going on, he will again aggressively. Usually I just say no and get down on one knee to let him see me. He usually growls a bit more but when he stops and goes back to bed. I walk away and continue what I was doing.
While this may have been a horrible idea. I've even tried opening the cage when he shows me his teeth, growls when he's in the "don't bother me" zone but as soon as I open the crate he stops growling and turns around to go to bed rather than lunging at me like it seems like he would.
It may sound like he's protecting his crate but this doesn't seem to be the case. I've tried getting him to fall asleep out of his crate (tied down) and if I open a drawer (that makes a certain sound) or if im walking back and forth doing house work next to him, he will do the same thing.
Any suggestions on how to approach this issue?