How do I stop my 6 month old chocolate lab from doing his business in his crate. We leave him in his crate from 7am-3pm while we are at work and school. Every day we come home to a messy dog. I've tried everything that I can think of to correct this problem by feeding in the crate, different toys each day, blankets, music and T.V. on, dividers, moving the crate from downstairs to upstairs.

It is possible 8 hours is too much for him. Does he do OK for shorter periods evenings and weekends? If none of you can make it home for a mid day break, could you have a neighbor or a professional dog walker give him a break. You could check doggy day care. I am sure he would enjoy spending the day in supervised play with other dogs. That may be the closest to a magic bullet for this problem.

At 6 months, you could cut him back to one meal. Feed in the afternoon, and he may able to empty his bowel in the morning. A little exercise would help that too. I have seen no evidence that more expensive dog chows improve dogs' health, but there is no doubt that a concentrated, meat based chow produces smaller stools which should allow him to go longer.

Some dogs seem to deliberately foul their crate. I lean more to it being stress. Providing the strong leadership dogs need may help in either case. To see what happens if you don't give a Lab proper leadership, read Marley and Me. The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position