I have had my puppy for about 2 months now and we are trying to crate train him,which seems to be a difficult task. We don't keep him in the crate longer than 5 hrs at a time. We walk him first thing in the morning and before we put him up at night but it seems like less than 5 minutes after we put him up he's pooping in his crate. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!

How big is the crate?

How old is the puppy?

How big is the crate?

How old is the puppy?
The crate is large but It has the divider so I have it sectioned off so all he can do is turn around and lay down and he's 3 months old

The crate is large but It has the divider so I have it sectioned off so all he can do is turn around and lay down and he's 3 months old

That is strange. Most times the issue is that the crate is too big, but obviously that's not the case here.

Where did you get the dog? That may be the key to this puzzle.

I'm going to guess a pet store. I'll tell you why after you tell me where you got him from. :)

That is strange. Most times the issue is that the crate is too big, but obviously that's not the case here.

Where did you get the dog? That may be the key to this puzzle.

I'm going to guess a pet store. I'll tell you why after you tell me where you got him from. :)

I got him from someone in the walmart parking lot... she said she had a laundry rm that she kept them in but I'm not sure that that was the case. He doesn't lay his poop he is usually pacing whining and barking when I go in to clean it up, it's almost like he knows he shouldn't have done it and he doesn't like it.

Yikes. Walmart parking lot.

You have a puppymill pup. No breeder sells their dog in a parking lot to someone they just met. I'm not being mean to you, I get it, it's hard to turn away from that pup, especially knowing that you can give him a much better home than the one he has.

The pup may well have been kept in a laundry room, which means 24/7, no walks, no socialization, no training. He was forced to pee and poo where he slept, and that's what he's learned.

Dogs are clean animals, they do not like to pee and poo where they sleep, that's why he whines when he does it. Not because he knows better, because he doesn't, and he doesn't think that way, he's a dog, not a human. He whines because it's not natural to him, which he feels deep down inside. But, that's been his life since minute one. The human who had him from birth trained him to go against his instinct, to the point where he now believes that he's supposed to pee and poo in his crate.

The good news is that he can be taught. The bad news is that it's going to take time and patience, a lot of time and patience.

Let me put it this way. Most puppies come into our home and don't know that they have to potty outside. They won't potty in their crate if they're well raised, given the opportunity to pee and poo outdoors. But, many of these dogs never see the inside of a house until they're brought home to their forever parents. Puppies can't hold it for long, which means they have accidents. Training them to potty outside can take time, and patience, but it's usually a fairly easy thing to do, because you're training them to follow their natural instincts.

Your pup was trained to potty where it sleeps. In a huge way he's already been potty trained. You're not starting from scratch here, your dealing with a dog that's been trained to do something, and now you have to untrain him, and train him to do what you want him to do. Instead of a clean slate, you have a dog that already has a very exact standard of what's expected of him.

When he poops in the crate what do you do? When you take him outside what do you do? Let's start there, and then work our way up.

You can train this pup, and turn his life and yours around. But you're going to have to be all in on this. No half way. If you can't devote the time needed, then he will fail.

Are you all in?