Dog Crates (merged)

Dexter08

Hi,
We have a 11 week old Cocker Spaniel and he constantly messes his crate, we have been washing the contents for the last three nights non stop, bothe faeces and urine. We have tried all new bedding and also tried getting up in the night and through the day with him to get him out and about every 2 plus hours but he still continues to go in the crate.

We are at our wits end with the situation, it's not nice to come home to a house that smells of faeces.

Please help us, any details you want please just ask.

Cheers,
Dexter

Bromley86

Pretty inexerienced here, but the 2+ hours thing looks wrong to me. If your dog is learning to mess inside then you need to take him out every hour (or sooner, if necessary) to avoid any accidents during the day.

Obviously, he shouldn't be in the crate except at night or if you have to go out. Even then, if he's messing during the day when you're out I'd leave him in a room to avoid creating more situations where he has to go in the crate.

Re the night, feed earlier and get up during the night (as you have been). If he has nothing in him, nothing can come out (in theory!). Be careful about withholding water, although I have seen someone here recommend it if necessary.

Good luck!

EDIT: Use Bio powder or a special pet odour eating product. Another thought - switch to Burns. Their feeding guide is lower than most and we really noticed the difference in, shall we say, output productivity switching ours from 650g Beta a day to 400g of Burns.

Paparika

I'm crate training my pup too

It's hard work and i'm still washing the bedding every now and then.

As poster says above try every hour outside, don't forget the treats because once that association is sorted then its done and dusted, don't tell pup off for doing it indoors, just ignore and clean up.

It's been a few days of staying clean and dry all night 7 - 8 hours.
my pup has been with me since the beginning of the month and was only paper trained at the time.

bear with it, it does get easier.

zebidee1

Harley is 10 months and has always been crated since day one. He took to it well and we've never had any problems. It's a big crate and he's always had enough space.

Just recently though, he's not been all that happy at going in the crate at night and would prefer to stay on his mat at the window. (It's all the same room and the same mat is also in his crate so it's not a comfort thing btw.)

He will go to into his crate after a bit of persuasion but I'm feeling bad shutting him in there now. His crate is accessible all day and he goes there himself when he wants to but night time is really the only time the crate door gets closed.

I'm considering leaving him in the room so he can wander between his crate and the mat should he want to but I'm not sure if this is asking for trouble or not.

He's a good dog and he's grown out of chewing things he's not supposed to. He never even attempts to get onto the couch etc so no worries there.

I suppose I'm worried that if he does do something 'wrong' then it will be harder to get him back into the crate to sleep again.

Jules22

is his crate in a room you can shut off?
if it is then just try leaving the crate door open and let him decide. if it works then start removing the crate in the day then the night. do it slowly otherwise it might upset him.

mine were out of their crates by 1 yr with no problems.

zebidee1

His crate is in the living room (nowhere else for it to go unfortunately) and he wanders between crate and mat at will until we go to bed, that's when we shut him in the crate.

Lol...I wasn't even thinking about taking the crate away (although now I have thought about it, it is a bit of an eyesore I suppose), I was just thinking of leaving the door open as you said.

Jellicat

How did you build him up to being crated overnight? He needs to have a pleasant association with the crate for it to work. Did you start by leaving the crate open and letting him wander in and out as he pleased, then shut the door for ten minutes while you were in the room, and then out of the room, and built the time up? If he doesnt see his crate as his home he might not respect it.

When he does go outside, praise him heavily, and dont tell him off when he messes in the house. Remember how tiny he and his internal system is, obviously he needs to go a lot more often than you or I.

Lastly, 11 weeks old is very, very young. You may well have to put up with the smell of faeces for a while yet. You should always be prepared for a stinky house when you take on a dog.

MrsTinks

Kira had a crate for the first 9 months ish after we got her as she was very destructive... Now I look at the living room and wonder how I managed to fit it in!
SO long as he still has a "den" area then I'd start thinking of weaning him off it to be honest

poppy_f1

my dog was about 8 months old when we stopped crateing him at night

Raksha

What sort of environment did he come from? Was it a family home where the puppies had access to the garden to toilet if they wanted to? Or was it a kennel or barn where the puppies were forced to toilet indoors?

If it was the later, this may be the root of your problem - he sees nothing wrong with what he's doing, because it's what he has always done - and pooing and peeing when you need to go is rewarding in itself. What you need to do is to give him the opportunity to go outside, by taking him out (you need to go with him) every 30 mins or so to start with, and allowing him a couple of minutes (on lead to focus his mind, if he's used to a lead) and offer him a tiny smelly tasty food reward while he is actually 'going' (don't wait until you get back in, or he will think he's being rewarded for dashing out, squatting and coming back in again).

It's a bit like toilet training a baby - it only happens when the child is ready and the bladder is mature enough. For most puppies this normally happens before they are between 16 and 20 weeks. Although a huge difference can be made by the type of start they get in life.

HTH