Crate crap, literally

[Magz]

Ok, what am I doing wrong?

Juno is 8 weeks old and we bough her a large crate that will fit her more so when she's full grown. Luckily the crate came with a a divider that we use.

At first we gave her just enough room to turn around in the crate, but man that seemed like a bad idea. (1) I take her out about 30 mins after I pull up her food for her night feeding. If she's sleeping, I wait until she stands up and starts to sniff around. She usually does her business no problem outside pretty quick. (2) I then try and take her out about an hour or two after that. (3) The last time I take her out is usually right before I go to bed myself.

During the 3rd trip outside, she usually runs around trying to eat leaves or just runs off in the darkness where I have to use a flashlight to find here haha. Majority of the time she doesn't end up doing anything outside.

After I take her in and place her in her crate, I go to bed.

I wake up to a hardly wonderful aroma of urine and crap. Being that we gave her only enough room to turn around, she trounced around her poop smudging and smearing it everywhere. The result of this is a bath for her since poop is all up her legs and belly (one time somehow on the top of her head, idk how), and me power washing the crate's plastic base at 6 am. I have a 5 month old baby that I have to feed and get ready for the sitter as well, so the combination of all of this usually ends with me being late for work just about everyday.

This part here is the WORST!!!!!! Since we bought the large crate, she has all kinds of head space and after her crap trouncing night, she jumps onto every inch of the inner crate's caging. Therefore smearing all of that nights poop down every bar, hinge and latch of the crate that she can reach. To include the divider behind her. Poop ends up all over the blanket that we leave beneath the crate (thank God, since it saves my rug).

I moved the divider back a little to give her more space hoping that she doesn't jump all over the inside of the crate, and this helped slightly, but far from totally.

I would love to leave a nice dog bed or some kind of toy for her to chew on at night, there is no doubt that it would be ruined after one night. I would love for her to be comfortable, and I can sympathize with how stressful it must be and feel like, but crate training is necessary.

For some time, we've been putting puppy pads inside the crate and all she does is rip them up and soaks them in urine. I actually don't mind this as much since the pad, ripped up or not, helps with a faster clean up.

What am I doing wrong and/or what can I do better?

 

[Caney Creek]

At 8 weeks old she is too small to "hold it" all night long. Try setting your alarm for about 3 am or so (at least an hour prior to whatever time you've been waking up to the smell of pee and poo) and take her outside then. I know it will not be easy as you've already got your hands full with a 5 month old! But she will only need this 3am potty break for a few weeks, then you can slowly wean her off of it by taking her out later and later until eventually she's going all night without a break.

I would definitely put her crate divider back where it was and take the puppy pads out! That is only reinforcing that it's OK for her to potty in her crate. The more she eliminates in her crate, the more she gets used to doing so -- another thing you DON'T want. Do everything in your power to prevent crate accidents. It is much, much more difficult to break the habit in an adult dog!

 

[Magz]

Thank you for the advice! I will start waking up in the middle of the night with her then. Any tips for her jumping on the crate if she does void and trounce? Would it be easier if I covered the top and sides of the crate leaving only the front open to view so at least if she jumps it would only get on the front (theoretically). I mean taking her out in the middle of the night should remedy this problem all together with, but just in case.

 

[Caney Creek]

Thank you for the advice! I will start waking up in the middle of the night with her then. Any tips for her jumping on the crate if she does void and trounce? Would it be easier if I covered the top and sides of the crate leaving only the front open to view so at least if she jumps it would only get on the front (theoretically). I mean taking her out in the middle of the night should remedy this problem all together with, but just in case.

Covering the top and sides with a blanket should be just fine, it may even provide a sense of security. I'd try it, if she doesn't like it or it doesn't work, you'll find out soon enough!

 

[Magz]

Covering the top and sides with a blanket should be just fine, it may even provide a sense of security. I'd try it, if she doesn't like it or it doesn't work, you'll find out soon enough!

Yea, I tried the blanket and she just pulled it into the crate with her. I am thinking wood or cardboard somehow . It will look like something out of Mad Max I'm sure haha.

 

[TwoDogs]

During the 3rd trip outside, she usually runs around trying to eat leaves or just runs off in the darkness where I have to use a flashlight to find here haha. Majority of the time she doesn't end up doing anything outside.

Take her out on leash. She might be getting distracted and just doesn't go. I'd also play around with her evening feeding time--perhaps a little earlier. The poop she does after she eats dinner is really the waste from her mid-day meal. She's probably ready to poop the waste from her dinner meal sometime in the middle of the night. Feeding a little earlier might help move that poop time early enough that she'll go during that last trip out. At 8 weeks, she still needs a trip out in the night to pee though so as suggested set the alarm and take her out in the middle of the night.

 

[LoveMyLoki]

It took me quite a long time to get him to not go in his crate and sleep the night.
Well, i say a long time, but in reality it was about 3-4 weeks. Right around 9-10 weeks.
This was also about the time he stopped screaming bloody murder when i would put him in the kennel.

Puppy pads were worthless to me. he would potty and then tear them up to get them out of his way.

I failed at keeping him in the kennel at night, i was told either set an alarm to wake you up every two hours or put him in the bed with you and he will wake you up (which he did).
Of course now that hes in the bed at night, theres no getting him out.

 

[Skidmoretx]

We had that problem with our puppy. I used a potty pad whenever he was little. But I lay alot of sleep bc I'd take him out every 2 hrs. After a few weeks he started holding it. Now he sleeps through out the night. Just be patient with your puppy. Remember he's just a puppy. Hope this helped a little

 

[Bastiansgrlz]

Well Sebastisn is 8 weeks old. He isn't sleeping through the night but will cry bloody murder for me to let him out the crate at night when he has to go. It's roughly every 2 hours or so between 12 and 5 am !

I admit that the night I slept on the couch with him he woke up once and that was closer to the time it was for us to get up. I don't want to get in that habit since he probably won't get the same treatment when I am out of town on business and a friend has to watch him.

For the OP , having the alarm set at night and even stopping food at a certain time would be ideal. I stop water by 9 and food at 6:30-7ish.