# Pooping in crate!



## FuryanGoddess (Dec 26, 2009)

He wines when I put him in there, yeah. I expect that... too bad, it's bed/crate time. Thing is he keeps pooping in there.. right after we had him outside before bed... 

He's still having squishy poop, I changed his food because she was feeding him crap, so I expect it, but come on! 

I got up at 1 and then at 3:30 to take him out. He peed and wanted right back in. 6 am, two piles of poop all in his cage! WTH? How long can pups hold it at this age? He is a pooping machine... like 5-6 x a day at least. 

He was in his crate during the day, once for like 2 hours when I had to go and get my new glasses and no pee or poop. 

From what I understand, he shared a large crate w/ his littermates and there was paper on one side for them to do their thing. 

How can I stop this so it doesn't become a place where he thinks is ok to go? Is it because he just can't hold it any longer, is it cause he's mad that he's in the crate or is it just the crate is too big. He's so small, 10 lbs, and I'm sure he'll grow in no time... 

Thanks


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## AvaLaRue (Apr 4, 2010)

How big is the crate? Dogs don't like to "go" where they sleep. Try putting a barrier in the crate so he only has enough room to stand up and turn around. You can use a cardboard box, just be careful he doesnt eat the cardboard.

I have a big 42 inch crate and it's not the kind that comes with the adjustable barrier. So, I actually put a baby gate in mine. As Ava is growing, I move the baby gate a little further back. 

I think the rule for "holding it" is 1 hour for every month of there age plus 1 hour. So....for example, Ava is 4 months (almost) so she should be able to hold it for 5 hours.

I'm sure others will chime in with some good advice, this is just what has worked for me. Good luck!


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## FuryanGoddess (Dec 26, 2009)

I'm not sure how big it is, I didn't buy it, got it when someone gave us our beagle.







Not big enough for an adult size GSD. 

I knew the rule about pee, didn't know if worked for poop too... Man he's so full of POOP!!


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## AvaLaRue (Apr 4, 2010)

Oh yes, he has waaay to much room. See if you can create some sort of barrier in the crate. Only enough room to stand up and spin around. 

If he was raised with his littermates to use a crate with a potty section on one side...then he doesnt know any better. You are definatly going to have to break that habit.

I would also not leave the food in the crate all day. Not sure if you do or it just happens to be in the picture when you took it.

Let me take a pic of Ava's set up and post it in a second.


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## FuryanGoddess (Dec 26, 2009)

yeah, that was right when he came home. NO food in there now cause I'm sick of him laying in POOP! blahh, yuck! Easy to clean a 10 lb puppy, not so much when they're 15, 20... 30..


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## AvaLaRue (Apr 4, 2010)




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## AvaLaRue (Apr 4, 2010)

Ava has a little more room than she should but that's because she's proven herself to me that she won't go in her kennel. For the 1st month, she had only a couple inches wider then she is. Just enough to barely turn around.


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## FuryanGoddess (Dec 26, 2009)

Cool, thanks. And she doesn't try to EAT the wooden grate? I think Murphy would try to chew on it... he's a chewer. I'm gonna talk to hubs today, see if we got a piece of wood we can zip tie in there for a while. 

Oh and Zeva snapped and mouthed Murphy from him trying to eat her food. I corrected her, moved him and now I feel bad that I did wrong because she was just doing what Alpha's do. Blahh, she's NEVER one time done that w/ anyone. She needs to learn to EAT when the food is set in front of her. I have to keep it away from the little tank, which sounds easier than it really is. She's laying in front of him now, watching him sleep.. guess she's not holding a grudge. She also let him chew on one of her bones.. but the food is a no no. Good for her, I think.. I don't want her getting skinny agian, but I'm afraid of having fights when it's feeding time... did I screw up?


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## sadie006 (Feb 19, 2010)

We tried putting cardboard to divide the crate, but Lucy chewed the cardboard. We then stacked two plastic tubs on top of each other. The tubs fit perfect, nice and tight, so they did not fall over, or move. Lucy did not chew the plastic. We did this for a few weeks and at 4 mo. I took out the tubs. Lucy has never had an accident in her crate.


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## AvaLaRue (Apr 4, 2010)

Ava is not chewing on the gate yet. But that will become a problem, I'm sure, when she starts teething. My husband was going to rig up something with plexyglass and zip ties but the baby gate works fine. When she starts chewing on it, I will take it out of there. I probably could now because she refuses to mess in her crate but I will leave it until she starts eating it.

As far as Zeva snapping at Murphy over food....I have that same problem. Both my Shih-tzu's snap at Ava during feeding time. I keep them separated now. Ava eats in the laundry room. (She's raw fed and it's linolium..easy clean up). The shih's eat in the dinning room. They usually finish by the time Ava is done her raw. If the shih's arent finished, the food comes up and that's it until the next meal. Ava takes 15-20 to eat so if the shih's can't eat in the time period, they can't be that hungry.

Have you tried separating Zeva and Murphy while they are eating so Zeva doesnt feel threatened?


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## FuryanGoddess (Dec 26, 2009)

I put her food at the bottom of the steps by the back door, that worked for now until Murphy grows and can safely do the steps. After that, I hope she's learned to eat when fed or it's gonna get dicey. Zeva also gets canned on her food because he's a bitch and doesn't care for dry kibble. Murphy will eat anything. I'm hoping I can ween Zeva off the canned cause Murf don't need ANOTHER reason to poop!


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

if he was allowed to go in a crate previous, well that is 'normal' for him at this point.

as for zeva nailing him over her food, that also is normal,,I would feed him in his crate so she can eat in peace

while many think making the crate area smaller will stop them from going in a crate because they 'won't sleep where they poop',,well with puppies, some don't care, they'll step in it, roll in it, whatever,, my feeling is, tho I don't want them pooping in their crate, I'd rather have a big enough area where they atleast aren't going to get it all over themselves..

Kinda catch 22 here...At this age, all they do is poop, eat, play, sleep)


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

Are you cleaning up the poop when he goes in the crate?
With my first dog I instantly cleaned the crate out because it smelled so bad, she eventually learned that's a foolproof way of getting instant attention so she would do it on purpose.
With Jax, I left it dirty for an entire day. I took him outside like normal and when I went to work it was still dirty. I finally cleaned it when I got home from work... I only had to do that twice!  he never pooped in his crate again (except one time, but he was sick so it wasn't his fault) We've had him since he was 6.5 weeks... He was able to hold it all night when he was about 20lbs. 
Dogs are clean creatures and won't sleep in their own filth but when they have maid service, there is not much point for them to try.


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## FuryanGoddess (Dec 26, 2009)

He ends up w/ it all over him and cries cause he wants out of it and feed so he can make more poop. 

I've never had to crate train a dog, Zeva and Pepper came trained in the crate not to go. I don't think Zeva EVER went in her crate, we got her at 11 1/2 wks. 

I try to scrub it as much as I can to get the scent of poop out of it in hopes he won't do it again, then of course I have to hose him down, he's not that keen on that.

He's smart, that's for sure. He's already sitting down in front of me and looking at me because he wants a treat! He'll be nice to train cause he loves food so much, now I just need to get my stuff together so I know what the heck I'm doing, cause... an 8 wk old pup is SOOO different than a 12 wk old one!


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i've never heard of pups being allowed to
go in their crate. i'm thinking that's
the problem.

you have to reverse this. i'm not sure how.
i would take him out more often.



FuryanGoddess said:


> From what I understand, he shared a large crate w/ his littermates and there was paper on one side for them to do their thing.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

Take all the bedding out also!....feed her meals in the crate...they don't like to do their business where they eat...and make the crate A LOT smaller, like AVA said barely enough room to turn around. The bedding serves no purpose other than a thing to go to the bathroom on and soon something to chew up...take pup out to go potty...give pup 5 min...if they go mark it, reward it...if in that time they don't go, back into crate, wait, then take back out, etc....


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

FuryanGoddess said:


> I try to scrub it as much as I can to get the scent of poop out of it in hopes he won't do it again, then of course I have to hose him down, he's not that keen on that.


That's exactly why he poops in The crate 
If he poops in the crate, leave it there and leave him poopy for a while (carry him to the door by his ears LOL). He'll be so revolted (and so will you because your house will reek) that he'll try harder next time to not mess up his home.
If he gets to poop in the crate and it's suddenly spotless again, it's the other extreme from pooping in their crate because they're used to it and think it's ok.


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## FuryanGoddess (Dec 26, 2009)

I'm happy to say that we had no poop in the crate at all last night. He settled down pretty fast. 

We're still dealing w/ loose stools and I'm afraid I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy a bag of Puppy Chow *GAG* and ease him back on that and do a slow transition. I'm not sure if what I have is too rich for him but He's been eating it since Thursday and still has pretty runny stool. I've even given him some Pepto, and that seems to help, briefly. The thought of buying Puppy Chow makes me shudder but... I'm kinda nervous about taking him off food completely. He also went since like ... 6 pm last night to 6 am w/o any food and had the runny pudding poops shortly after eating this morning... I'd think he'd be used to it by now... wouldn't you? 

He eats a LOT and he's hungry, isn't lethargic and drinks a lot... Acting fine... just can't get the poop to make logs  *sigh* I also have to wonder, if he's got squishy poops, then he's not really getting the good stuff from the food, right? 

Puppy Chow Large Breed claims it has 27% crude protein in it? Really? 10% crude fat. 4Health Puppy is 28% crude protein min and 15% fat. Is it perhaps the fat that's causing him to have the loose stools?


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