For your consideration:
Agape a 2 1/2 year old Yorkshire Terrier exhibits the following behavior:
Setting: Agape and his brother Guido are confined a a play area that is 12 x 15 feet. The area has two gates with glass inserts ( so they can see into the adjacent rooms) and a low 4 foot couch wall down the length of one of the long sides of the area.
Agape and Guido are fed in their crates with the doors open. The crates are usually stacked up in a corner when they are not being used for feeding.
Incident: The crates were not stacked after feeding. I observed Agape jumping upon to the top of his crate and looking over towards the couch wall. He then jumped down and took hold of the door in his mouth and attempted to drag the crate toward the wall. This was apparently uncomfortable, whereupon he employed another method to move the crate. He jumped at the side of the crate with his forepaws and the crate moved a bit more toward the couch wall. He then jumped onto the crate and looked toward the wall. He jumped down and began jumping at the side of the crate with his forepaws. It moved a little. He them lowerd his head and, in a head butt fashion, pushed the crate toward the wall a bit more. By this time he had moved the crate toward the wall so that it was about 3 feet from the wall. He then jumped back onto the crate and faced the wall. He assumed a crouched position as if he was about to try to jump to the top of the couch wall. At this point I came out of hiding and stopped him for fear he might hurt himself.
This type of behavior happened again on few other occasions when my husband forgot to stack the crates. Each of these times I interrupted him before he could get close enough to reach the top of the couch wall. On the last occasion, I arrived a bit late and found the crate quite close to the wall and Agape walking down the top of the couch wall (it has a 6 inch wide ledge cap on it) toward a sofa that is near one end of the wall in the adjacent sunken living room. He was about to jump from the wall to the back of the couch.
His brother Guido will stand on top of the crate but does not attempt to move it or jump to the couch wall.
Does anyone consider this tool use?
