Alpha dog

by Rody
(USA)

Adopted JRT about 2 years old, male and fixed, very good, is in training but freaks out when he has to go in the cage, it looks like the mad dog pictured in THE MASK with Jim Carrie. Once we shut the door he starts getting crazy and calms down when we turn out the lights he shuts right up, the other day something spooked him during this nightly ritual and he attacked my hand, no blood, but I never had my own dog, not even a mini pinscher do that! I grabbed him and so did my Beagle/Lab, he stopped and then tried it again. Same thing. I had to press on his throat and up against the wall to have him submit, and yes my beagle/ lab knows how to do her thing without damage but she also will do damage when needed, JRT can be quite dumb about that. Any ideas? It has been 6 weeks and it is apparent that the last owners dumped him because of lack of good discipline and training, but he is getting that here and has everything else down pat, his adopted furry-sisters have taught him well too. Any ideas on how to stop this? This seems to be the one problem, he obviously has some anxiety but we are unsure other than ignoring him and just keep doing the praising when we can.