Pooping in crate

[gregory'sdad]

Sir Gregory is at it again. He is pooping in his crate everyday now. What gets me is the amount. Just a little poop at a time. Enough for him to go crazy, have to be taken out of the crate, crate cleaned and him bathed. I feel like his is doing this to get out of the crate. I have been told by another boxer owner to leave him in the soiled crate when he does it. Is this okay? Seems a bit cruel, not to mention the mess will be harder to clean up. I am just at a loss. I love the little guy, but I am getting really frustrated with this happening. FYI, I feed him at 6 in the morning. He poops by 6:30. He pees a couple of times. I put him in the crate while I get ready for work. I take him out again...sometimes he pees, sometimes he doesn't. I take his water bowl up about an hour before I leave. I feed him again at 6 in the evening. He doesn't poop until about 7:30. He pees several times during the evening. His schedule did change this week as I went back to work after taking a week off to acclimate him to his new home. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[Cami]

How long after he eats breakfast is it before he is in the crate?
My girl does her early morning business before eating, then again (both) after within an hour.
She will also go *sometimes* #2 in the middle of the afternoon, depending on the amount of treats that she has wrangled out of me. The after dinner combo is not a guarantee for her....maybe thats the reason for going twice in the AM within a few short hours.
I guess I am just wondering if your pup is going #2 before breakfast....and also needs to go again after, or not going before thus the reason for after while in the crate.
I hope that some of this made sense, (I didn't get a good night's sleep)LOL.

Susi & Cami

 

[gregory'sdad]

After breakfast

He doesn't really poop before breakfast. Just after. If he needs to go twice, who can I get the second one out of him by the time I leave for work?

 

[Hs'ing Mom]

Would it be possible to hire someone to come let your pup out to potty while you are at work.

My girl is 9 months old. She is crated at night. I let her outside at 11:00pm, 3:10am, 6:30am, and every two hours afterwards, until bedtime. That's a LOT of potty breaks! But that is what she needs. Anything other than 4 hours or so, and she just can't hold her poop yet.

She had been sleeping thru the night but she was so uncomfortable by morning and would sometimes have an accident. I've started setting the clock for 3:10am for the last 2 weeks and she's done wonderful. Not one accident.

Maybe your little one just can't hold it very long.

Just thought I'd share my experience with crate pottying.

 

[gregory'sdad]

Wants to play

I have tried waking up in the night and taking him out, but it did't curb the issue. Also, when I would wake him up, he would want to play and not go back to bed. I can't afford to lose that much sleep as work full time during the day.

But thank you for you response. You know who frustrating this can be.

 

[neraknna]

I would suggest some exercise to help go poop a second time before you go to work. Sometimes all it takes is a few minutes of running around to get my 3 month old girl to go before I need to leave her in her crate. She was having problems with night time pooping in the crate and I removed her bed. She has not had and accident since.

 

[Hs'ing Mom]

I know all about the sleep issue!

I have a one year old child, a two year old child, and a 10 year old, whom I homeschool for 6 hours each day. Sleep is a treat around here. LOL! My husband works full time (55+ hours week) so I do all the "getting up" with 3 kids and the dog. LOL!

If it were me, I'd look into having someone to come during the day for a good walk and potty break. (I wasn't necessarily meaning, in my last post, to take him out at night. I was referring to the actual time in-between potty breaks.) Hope that made sense. LOL! He just might need more frequent potty breaks than what he's getting now.

Hang in there! I know it's really hard on you right now. It'll get better! I keep thinking in 3-4 years, all my skin-kids should be old enough to sleep thru the night and the dog too! LOL!

 

[gregory'sdad]

Oh my

Gregory did it again this morning. After I took him out about 5 times this morning, I put him in his crate. He was barking like he needed to go out. I took him out for about 15 minutes...I wanted to make sure he did his business. I brought him back in and took him to his crate. I went to finishing getting ready for work. I was out of the room for about 7 minutes and when I came back, he had pooped in his crate. He looking at me like "look what I did...now please clean it up so I can relax." I don't know what else to do, but I am really getting frustrated with this. I am trying very hard to be a good dad and take exceptional care of this pup. However, this behavior is becoming more than I can deal with. Please HELP!!!!!!!!

 

[Hs'ing Mom]

Sorry you had such a bad morning. Hang in there! It'll get better!

Some ideas:

Is he in the correct size crate? If it's too big, sometimes that causes a problem. We had to block off part of Chloe's crate when she was little. The pup should have just enough room to stand up and turn around.

Is the stool formed? Could he have a bit of a sick stomach? Have you switched his food lately? Is it agreeing with him? Chloe cannot tolerate certain foods at all and we learned this the hard way. She would have accidents in the crate but her tummy was upset and she couldn't help it. Once we found the right food and correct potty times, accidents have ceased.

Just some ideas......I'm sure you probably already know all that but I thought I'd throw those things in. It sure is annoying to have Crate-Clean-Up-Duty every morning. At my house, my husband would take Chloe outside to potty while I cleaned up the crate. LOL! He couldn't stand the smell and it would make him sick. I got that job. Ewwww!

Hang in there. You'll figure out the problem! I would also call and talk to your vet for recommendations on what to do.

 

[gregory'sdad]

Vet today

We go to the vet today for Gregory's boosters. I am going to ask about that when I go. His crate is a good size (life stages crate w/ divider). The poo is formed until he steps in it. All the plumbing is working correctly. You can see why I am at my wicks end. Everything is way it should be...I guess this is not a textbook case!! But I do love the little boy.