Help Again - with four month old puppy

[11laura11]

Okay,

Max is four months old and my husband works out of the house but has to leave for appt. Last week, he was crated when he left and he pooped in his crate, stepped all in it, and got it all over the place. I came home with our 2 1/2 year toddler and had to spend hours cleaing him and the crate. Which I can not do, because I need to feed her and bathe her at night. So we decided to give him more room. The crate was not too big. So we did the kitchen. He did the same thing, but got it all over everything, it was so disgusting. So we put him in the bathroom yesterday. It was only for four hours. He got poop all over the walls, in the grooves of the floor, the bathtub, the toilet, the doors, and the sink. He jumped up on everything with poop. I was in tears. I spent 2 1/2 hours cleaning him. My daughter had junk food for dinner. I don't know what else to do. He can not handle being alone for a couple of hours. When we are home, he does not go in the house at all, and will go to the door and go outside and poop and pee by himself! So it is not that. And we make sure he has gone many times before he is left alone. What am I supposed to do? I can not keep cleaning at night and I can not let him destroy my house. And it is not all day, just 4 or 5 hours. I also am not hiring someone for those couple hours. Pleae help....

 

[ADDAVIS]

I wish I could help you! I am currently going thru the same thing. My girl just turned a year old on Saturday and she will still go pee/poop in her crate when I am not there. Then she steps all in it, then when I get home it looks like a circus show when I am trying to keep her from jumping all over me. It does include at least one hour of cleaning the crate, floor, her, and then myself. I try to leave her Kongs, and other toys and I am never gone for more than 7-8 hours. Please if there are any survivors of this issue out there please help us!!!:confused:

 

[luvfritz]

Right now you have two babies. Most pups are not entirely housebroken until one year. You sound really stressed and that's perfectly normal for someone caring for two young babies. IMO a young puppy bladder cannot hold it for 4 hours. Your baby boxer will mature (much faster than your daughter), this accident situation in the crate is not forever. When you know the pup will be left alone for more than two hours is there anyone who could spend a little time with him? Invest in a bigger crate so the cleanup is isolated to this unit instead of an entire room. This is a very trying time in your lives but if you hang in there the rewards will be wonderful when the puppy is housebroken. Think of yourself as the mother of two

Barb

 

[luvfritz]

Originally posted by ADDAVIS
I wish I could help you! I am currently going thru the same thing. My girl just turned a year old on Saturday and she will still go pee/poop in her crate when I am not there. Then she steps all in it, then when I get home it looks like a circus show when I am trying to keep her from jumping all over me. It does include at least one hour of cleaning the crate, floor, her, and then myself. I try to leave her Kongs, and other toys and I am never gone for more than 7-8 hours. Please if there are any survivors of this issue out there please help us!!!:confused:

Same advice here - is there anyone who can come in during that 7-8 hour stretch to let your boxer out (maybe at a 3-4 hour break for a one year old)? There maybe someone in your neighborhood that could use an extra $5 dollars a day to let him out? I just think 8 hours is a long time to go without a bathroom break - I'm potty trained and I couldn't go that long Good luck, you both certainly sound like caring people willing to seek advice instead of throwing in the towel.

Barb

 

[fdknuckles]

Hi There,
if it makes you feel any better, we also have a 4 month old who seems to revel and waller in her own mess given the chance. What's been working for us is to always take her out to poop 5-10 mins after meals, after exercise and after we let her out of the crate. Give it a shot, it worked for our Jo. Good luck either way....

 

[austin02]

Our little boy is about 4 1/2 months too. We have a pretty large crate for him. Our trick is as soon as we wake up (6:30am) we take him out to do his business. He usually goes pee and then poops once. Then we feed him breakfast, change for work and pack our lunches. Maybe 45 -50 minutes later, we take him out again and let him relieve himself (usually poops again!) and pees.

We give him a little treat to get him in his crate -piece of an apple, or a small cut of a bannana, but no more water, until lunch time which is about 11:45 or 12:00. At that time we do the same routine.

He used to poop in his crate if we didn't let him go right after feeding. I think the trick would be to get him on a little routine where he poops closer together in time. It worked for us.

Your little one will start learning and get the hang of things in due time. I agree with a previous post about investing in a larger crate that would help contain the little one if it decides to poop at least it'll be in one area rather than all over the house. It also helps teach them to hold it rather than having too much space to go everywhere. Boxers ( in my little experience) are very clean and will try not to poop or pee in their home.

I wonder, also, if they get anxious or excited after you leave. Maybe putting on some relaxing music ( I found smooth jazz very helpful), will calm and help them sleep! :o I also try to warm up his blanket in the dryer for a few minutes and let him snuggle in that too. Now, he rarely if ever poops in his crate.

Good luck to you!

 

[Lukin2069]

Well, maybe I have been lucky so far...but Sully (4.5 mo) has only pooped in his crate for the first few weeks I had him. It didn't matter how long he was in there, once we left, I think he just got too worked up and out it came. In the last month and a half to two months he has only had 2 accidents in the house. Both of them were my fault for trying to finish a movie before bringing him out. I got through the first few weeks by changing his bedding and reinforcing him to go outside. I have left him in his crate for up to 6 hrs a couple times, and he didn't mess a bit...

 

[boxertalk]

The trick that worked for us....

We originally purchased a VERY large crate (Newfoundland size) for our puppy and then later we decided to purchase an additional sky crate in a much smaller size for her to sleep in at night. That did the trick...she no longer could stand to mess her sleeping crate and because the big crate is used for rest times during the day, no more accidents at all.

The big crate was just too big, she could create her own indoor "potty-place" to use in it and still be clean and comfortable in another section of the big crate. Now with the smaller crate she waits until she is taken outside in the morning to relieve herself....nice!