I have been a dog owner for many years :p and I would like to just ask one question. Why do dog owners continue to tell new dog owners that puppies do not poop in their crate? :mad: Puppies poop where ever they please until you teach them otherwise. They are not trained or born to know not to. They must be taught. If your puppy is pooping in their crate, check the amount of food they are eating and make sure you are not giving them too much. they have to be feed in small amounts and only 2-3 times a day. read other sites and find out what your dog needs for nutrition and only give them that. they should not be fed table foods or any other type of foods during their training. They should not be given treats or snacks during their training. Just tell them no and put them outside and they will eventually learn. They will always poop in their crates. For someone to say they won't , doesnt know dogs at all. :D

I have trained 3 labX's using a crate, if your crate is too large for the pup then of course it will use it for potty, the proper size crate and the proper amount of time your pup is in there depends on whether he dirties in it or not. All 3 of mine were house broken by 8/9 weeks using this method. Not one ever soiled in her crate.

BS I don't believe that... how many times are you taking these dogs out?? I made my crate as small as possible and the puppy only had room to lay down and still pooped in its crate. Yes if your home all day and you don't have a job and you take your dog out every couple of hours... sure it isn't going to have a mess, but us working people have to leave our puppies for long days and they are not going to hold it that long when they are puppies and they don't have the bladder or bowel capacity to do so. Puppies make messes and I am just tired of people saying that they don't and if they do your doing something wrong. Its not like that at all. Puppies have to learn and training is a long process. Just putting them in a crate for their size doesn't train your puppy for you. Sorry and these people who come on here for advice and hear that this should not happen and puppies never do this is wrong advice.

WOW! Those are some very interesting remarks you've made, rfrank41, and the first and only 2 you've posted since becoming a member. So, let's see if we can help you out here a little bit and touch on your questions and statements...
I guess it's because, when adopting an animal, most people commit to properly caring for their pet. This includes taking into consideration that their new puppy will have to relieve itself every few hours and make the proper arrangements to allow him/her to do so.
Such arrangements could be to have a family member, friend, or neighbor let the puppy out while the owner is at work and/or stopping home during their lunch break for a "potty break". These are both good examples for crate training during the day. If this is just not possible then crate training should not be the method used. Leaving a dog/puppy in a crate for endless hours at a time is not considered "training".
("Crate training should not be abused, otherwise the problem will get drastically worse. The crate is not intended as a place to lock up the dog and forget her for extended periods of time. If your dog soils her crate because you left her there too long, the house training process will be set back several weeks, if not months." quoted from: "perfectpaws" - a link has been provided below)

There are other solutions to keeping a pet happy, healthy, and clean in the training process such as, having a run, kennel, or fenced in back yard, providing a doghouse or shelter to protect them from the weather, while only crate training at night and/or on days when the owner is able to supervise. Or, blocking off a puppy proof area/room of the house (bathrooms and laundry rooms do well), laying training pads or newspaper on the floor, and putting the crate inside the room with the door of the crate open. This gives the puppy a safe and comfortable place to stay while their owner is at work, And once again, only closing the puppy in the crate at night or when able to supervise.
These are just some of the many things and sacrifices done by the many successful potty training pet owners that care for the wellbeing of their animals in order to avoid accidents in crates.
For the sake of the animal, if none of these options are possible or considerable, then one should not be a pet owner.
Animals are not happy wollering in their own waste, not to mention it's unhealthy and unsanitary. Given the choice ( by this I mean, providing them with a run, kennel, or backyard with a doghouse, or a designated room with their crate door open), they are not going to "poop" in their crate or doghouse.
It really does all boil down to the simple fact that, dog owners who chose the day crate training method could fit it into their lifestyle and took the time to do all the necessary steps involved to successfully train their pet. The other methods mentioned above are used as a means to prevent the animal from soiling itself because the owners lifestyle does not permit them to constantly be at hand.
So, there you have it, the answer to your question, the reason why so many dog owners tell new dog owners that dogs don't poop their crates and if they do then you're doing something wrong.

It is not that they do not know dogs at all, it is that they know dogs all too well.


Right here is where you ever so slightly point out what your doing wrong.
(leaving the puppy in the crate for extended hours without potty breaks and with no other place to relieve it's self). You make a clear statement that you work and your puppy cannot/could not hold it for the amount of time you were/are away.

*dogs are social creatures and need a sense of belonging. They do not prefer to be solo. When left alone for extended amounts of time, especially while confined, they can become depressed leading to bad habits and disliked manners that range in a wide variety of areas - one being potty issues.
And of course, just as every person makes mistakes, a dog will too... There could be several factors that could possibly lead to an accident (people food, change in brand of dog food, impactions from chewing and swallowing non food items - the list goes on and on), but under normal circumstances, given the proper care and attention, along with the potty training method that fits the owners lifestyle, there will be no poop in the crate.
*Picking a dog breed that's right for an owners lifestyle plays an important part in successful training as well. Every puppy is fully capable of being potty trained by 16 weeks old. However, the breed, age, and size of dog does determine the length and amount of time they can withhold from going.

Any more questions? You can visit this website for a complete guide on the do's and dont's for crate training and other methods.
http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html
Another good site : http://www.perfectpaws.com/crt.html

Exacllty so stop giving bad advice to people who are trying to do the best they can and you people make them feel like they are doing something wrong . Your not an expert and you don't know everything so don't sit there in your little smug world and think your are something your not.

rfrank41,
It took you 1 year and 2 days to respond to the answer I gave you.
I was expecting you to disagree with me a year ago.
Congratulations!!
You get the award for THE LONGEST DELAYED RESPONSE in the history of ask me help desk.
You should be so proud... I know I am just tickled over the whole thing.

rfrank41, members are expected to show respect for each other here. You and AkaeTrue need to accept that you have had different experience and different results. You are making some strong generalizations that don't fit other people's experience. Since 1991 my family has raised 20 puppies mostly for a large dog guide school. We often leave them in a crate 4-5 hours, and seldom have any accidents. We have held various jobs, but one of us has always managed to either make it home to give the dog a break, or in some cases, take the puppy with us to work. Time after time here, I have told people if they can't give the puppy a mid day break find a neighbor or professional dog walker that can. Yes if you leave a young puppy 8-9 hours in a crate, it is going to foul it. And once you force it to do that regularly, it will be tough to ever teach it to stay clean.

So why do so many puppies foul there crates almost as soon as they are put in them, an so many people say it doesn't happen? Many of the advice givers start with a healthy, well bred, properly cared for puppy, and don't crate it all day. With it being allowed to follow its instincts to keep clean, the puppies accept being crated and rest until let out. With their limited experience, they repeat that a dog won't foul its bed. There are more people giving dog advice that there are people that know enough to. You for instance insisting that fouling its crate is inevitable.

Other puppies come from puppy mills, pet stores, backyard breeders, etc. that either don't have a clue about puppies needing a chance to stay clean, or just don't care about anything except the money. Shut a puppy up that has only know begin shut up and left all day or more, and yes it will foul its crate, often immediately due to stress. We get 3-4 questions a week here from people planning on breeding dogs that should like they never read even a general dog book. I wonder if people that have to ask how long a dog is pregnant, have a clue on giving puppies proper care.

I am very heavily involved with dogs, including answering questions on some other sites. I have been since 2000. Most of what I see in real life and other dog forums, seldom includes more than occasional accidents in the dog's crate. I think so many people with problems end up here do to the Google keywords AMHD pays for. When you do a search, what you get depends on who paid for your key words.

So please, tone it down a bit and be ready to learn a little. The moderators here are patient, but quite a few became former members over the weekend.
You haven't quite crossed the line where I start editing or deleting posts.

Congrats, you should start a career in how to potty train your pet,cause you have a gift.If I put my beagle in a small kennel he'll just poop and get it all over himself.A larger kennel he'll just poop and stay away from it, so I just choose the lesser of two evils and stuck with the large kennel,at least I don't have to clean the dog and the kennel.very... frustrated

2dognite- No need for sarcasm. Where did you get the dog from? That is a big factor. What potty training method are you using? Did you bother to read the whole thread before posting?

I have never crated a dog. I really see this as unnatural. My dogs have always had their places in the house or apartment where I lived and when they were young I had them watched. Slowly I let them be by themselves and then extended the time. Large breed dogs grow very fast and I have taken in so many dogs and rehomed them after helping them with their behaviour, which included housetraining them. How many ate their feces because they were locked up and yes they want to be clean. Crates are overused and I find not at all natural. Maybe for some trainging for certain people and with experience. Before the 1980's crates were not so popular. People overuse them and many dog suffer. Yes you need to supervise the dogs, puppies at the beginning but it is so worth. I travel with my 2 60lb and 70lb dogs and can stay at people's homes with very well behaved dogs that go and sleep on their blankets. Could you imagine havign to lug around cages that would be big enough for them to be comfortable in? Dogs lose quailty of life with all the caging that is going on and to me it feels like an extension of puppymill life. My dogs ring chimes to go out and very rarely soil my home. I have them taken out and can leave for 7 or 8 hours no problem and they do not destroy anything. They have toys and each other and have taught to stay of garbage baskets and touching things that are not theirs. I never in my life could think of making them sleep in a cage. They sleep on their on dog beds on the floor and they love it. The most common comments I get on my dogs is "wow they are beautiful and so calm".

Crazy thread from 2006 CLOSED!