Bear is a crate trained dog. He goes in his crate at 6:30am and is out about 4pm each day. He used to sleep in his crate at night also and would probably still be happy to do so, but I started having a little guilt about him being in there SO much in a 24 hour period that I started letting him sleep in my bedroom about a month ago.
Now, often while we're in bed he'll sleep up at the top of the bed next to my pillow, which is fine. But sometimes he'll lay down by my feet - this is where our problem begins.
If he's comfortable and I move my feet, he does this grunt/growl thing. Never a big deal - but last night he was startled by something and make a weird howl/bark noise. He was so freaked out that I even turned the light on to check on him. He settled back down near my feet and a few minutes later I moved my leg to scratch an itch and Bear BIT my foot like four times - HARD. Hard enough that I turned the light on to check my foot - luckily my quilt is pretty thick and there were no marks.
My questions - should I stop allowing him to sleep with me? Is he not getting rest because he's out of his crate and feels like he's "on watch"? Also, if I leave him in bed with me when he does the grunt/growl thing should I get on him? Was the bite sort of my fault for scaring him?
Bear isn't aggressive at all at any other time - I've never seen him aggressive towards a person or another animal.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
UPDATE - Bear has been sleeping in the floor since I posted this, but I woke up to a strange noise last night and found him chewing the corner baseboard and drywall in my bedroom. He had a 30 minute walk yesterday and about 15 minutes of play with his favorite boxer next door and I was in the room in bed sleeping - not even 3 feet from him. He didn't seem to think he'd done anything wrong!!!!
1. Does anyone know how to repair a corner? He damaged the wood in the baseboard and the painted wall.
2. He'll be crated at night from now on. ugh - this is the first time he's done anything crazy like this.