Crate Training Please Help

Kimberley

Is it possible to get a dog to stop pooing and weeing in their crate? My 11 month old JRT b.i.t.c.h. poos and wees in hers even though she doesn't have much room in her crate. She is in the smallest possible for her size so that she can lie flat and lay down, sit up and turn around and thats all. I have tried feeding her at different times in the day to get what time she needs to poo in the morning but she has already been in her crate by the time i get up at 7am. She is also left in it when I go to work (4 hours) and most times she has been again, I'm having to bathe her every bleeding day and change her crate bedding everyday and i'm sure it's not good for her coat. Once I have washed her and changed the bedding as soon as she is put in her crate she will wee as if she is marking her territory and i don't want her doing this. A crate is supposed to be a den for her not a toilet. Even when she is in the house and the crate door left open, if no one is in the room with her when she goes to the backdoor to do a wee or poo in the garden she will go inside her crate. I gave up fostering dogs who were not housetrained because it was getting to me with the house smelling of wee all the time and now i'm getting it with my own dog.

Has anyone been successful in re programming a dog to teach them that a crate is their den/bed and not a toilet?

sarabe

Did you shut her in her crate overnight and for the 4 hours during the day from when she was a very young pup?

Even when she is in the house and the crate door left open, if no one is in the room with her when she goes to the backdoor to do a wee or poo in the garden she will go inside her crate.

From her viewpoint that is probably the most logical, and safest place for her to go if there is no one there to let her into the garden.

The problem with relying on your dog to tell you when they need out is that the house training breaks down if you are not there to tell.

Kimberley

sarabe wrote: »

Did you shut her in her crate overnight and for the 4 hours during the day from when she was a very young pup?

She was one of my fosters pups from last Xmas, she was dumped in January after the Xmas period. She was very young and probably taken from her mum at 4 -6 weeks old going by how old she was when she was dumped in Jan. She was crated overnight and for the time i'm at work which was 4 hours but now my hours have increased and she is crated from 8am until 1.30pm. I get up at 7am and let her out of the crate until she has to go back in at 8am when I set off for work. Even when she was left in it the 4 hours she was the same as now.
I don't know whether to to do a trial of having her in my room in a dog basket without being crated to see if that helps but i guess it's the worry that she will wee or poo in my room.
Maybe she thinks her crate is a toilet I don't know. I also need to find out the best time to feed her in the day so that she does her poo around 7am or after 1.30pm in the afternoon if anyone knows how long dogs need to open their bowls after a meal. She is now 11 months so would she be out of the chewing stage, thats the whole reason why i crated her in the first place? If she would be past that stage then I could try shutting her in the hallway with a baby gate on the stairs to keep her from upstairs and therefore she wouldn't be shut in her crate, what do you think?

Sid_Wolf

I would start again from scratch, take out all bedding and leave her with just the crate bottom, wont be for long, just until she realises that the crate isnt her toilet.

When you are at home, take her out every hour, tell her to 'go pee' or whatever your command is and give a treat if she does. Stay outside for 15-20 minutes, if she doesnt toilet go back indoors and take her out half an hour later to try again. If you see her sniffing or circling in the house drop what your doing and take her straight out and give the command.

Basically dont give her a chance to toilet inside, the way to break a habit is to not allow it to happen

at night, feed her 4 hours before bed, and dont put her in her crate until she has toileted. Then set an alarm for halfway through the night and take her again.

Before work, feed her at least 2 hours before you leave, and take her for a walk, exercise stimulates the bowels, but wait an hour before exercise or you run the risk of bloat, once she has toileted put her in the crate.

sarabe

There is no way that a young pup can go for 4 hours during the day or overnight without needing the toilet.

Therefore she will have had no choice but to toilet in her crate.

Obviously dogs prefer not to soil the sleeping area but if you cannot get away from it and you are busting to go then what other option is there?

So yes I expect she does see her crate as the toilet plus she has never learned to 'hold on' which is one of the things the house training process does.

Please don't leave her with no bedding - that is mean, it isn't her fault that she is soiling it. Perhaps use old towels that are easy to wash.

Meanwhile you have to housetrain her which is not going to be easy if you are not there because the only way to do it is to make sure that she is always in the garden when she needs to go.

I expect all dogs are different with regards to timing of eating and needing to toilet.

Are you feeding her twice a day? What is she fed on?

I'd leave her out of her crate regardless but perhaps leave it up and open for her to toilet in if she gets taken short whilst you are out.

I personaly wouldn't leave a dog crated fot more than a couple of ours other than overnight.

Kimberley

I used to foster pups of 4 months of age and they never soiled their crate when I worked for the 4 hours so they can. I know 5 hours is a bit long but when we decided to keep her I didn't think i'd get offered more hours at work. I wouldn't leave her with no bedding, I have plenty of Vet beds to change her bedding each day whilst others are drying out. I give her a few biscuits in the morning and used to feed her a main meal at 6pm but changed that to 4pm. I feed her raw food mixed with some pedigree chum mixer.

CFC

Hi Kimberely, I think that Sid's advice is spot on, you need to treat her like a 'housetraining pup'. You might need to take her for a walk in the morning before work to stimulate the bowels to empty and I think you'll need trial and error with the timing of the meals. To ease the pain of morning walks you might be better to feed her at 2pm, this means the evening walkies hopefully will empty the bullets from the gun.
As Sarebe says, she's not learnt to hold it in for whatever reason.
Sounds disgusting but you could find out her bowel throughput timings by giving her some sweetcorn, at least some generally goes through undigested so you can work out when the food went in and when it comes out in relation...

jippynip

put a small bowl of food in with her? hopefully she won't go where she eats...

Sid_Wolf

sarabe wrote: »

Please don't leave her with no bedding - that is mean, it isn't her fault that she is soiling it. Perhaps use old towels that are easy to wash.

Its not mean at all, it may be the only way to stop her from using it as a toilet, as some dogs simply like to soil on soft things.

Things like towels, soft beds and blankets can be soiled on, then bundled up and pushed into a corner so she has a little clean spot to lay. Taking it out means that she literally has no way to get away from it (especially a pee) so she will be less likely to do it

sarabe

You are assuming the dog is peeing for the sake of peeing rather than she has a full bladder and needs to go.

Unless the OP leaves her heating on all night then it is mean to shut a dog in a crate with no bedding overnight.

Sagz_2

I think she needs to start housetraining again, but if you are not around that's going to be difficult - not blaming you, most of us have to work!

How about getting a larger cage with enough room for a toilet area (litter tray with a towel in it) and resigning yourself to managing the problem until you have sufficient time off work to train her?

My own year old pup is not fully housetrained yet as I work away from home some of the week and OH is not as vigilant as he might be! I'm hoping to crack the problem over the Christmas break when I'm home for around 3 weeks solid. Luckily she is clean in her cage overnight, just likes to have a sneaky pee/poop on the kitchen floor if we don't notice her in time...... bless her!