Hello, I have a 9 week old Westie. He started of pootty training well and went outside for the first 4 days. After a recommendation from the Vet, I increased his food intake. Since then he has been fouling in his crate every time. I work just down the road, so every 3 hours I go home to let him out. Each time I get home he has messed in his cage. We stopped getting up in the night with him, and for the first 2 nights he went all through without making a mess. Since he began fouling we decided to return to getting up once a night with him. However, each time we are getting up there is nothing in his cage so we let him out the toilet but when we get up to give him breakfast there is a mess. I have put a bed inside his cage and since doing this, he is foulding through the bars of the cage so not to get it in his bed. He is going to the toilet each time we take him outside, including for a poop. Is he attention seeking? Please help!

How much are you feeding him?
How many times a day are you feeding him?
What are you feeding him?
Has he been wormed?

There is also a possibility that he has separation anxiety. But I'm leaning more towards the fact he may have an intestinal parasite problem. Puppies with worms/coccida/giardia have a hard time holding it for normal amounts of time. They can have diarrhea or it can be a formed stoole.

Take him to the vet and see about ruling out the medical problems. Get a second opinion on how much he should be given for the day. For that, I would contact the breeder, or a breeder/rescuer and ask them. You could also contact a dog trainer to help you with your problems. That would be more hands on and your problems may become resolved faster than waiting for answers on the internet.

I agree, could be illness or anxiety. He should be fed 3x a day and will likely defecate within 30 minutes of each feeding. When and how much are you feeding him?

Hello,
Thank you for your answers. He is at the moment having a mix of Supadog Burgess puppy food and Pedigree Puppy food. He went from 10pm until 4.30 last night without needing the toilet and then went from 4.45 until 6.30 without fouling in his crate. He is being fed 3 times a day. Went to the vets on Saturday for his injections and he was checked and all OK. We are trying to feed him early in the morning so that he has time to go to the toilet before we leave for work at around 8.15 but this morning he didn't go and then pooped in his crate. He is being fed around 80g as per the information provided on the dog food packet.

80g seems like a lot. I would recommend feeding 3/4 of a cup for a total days ration. I also would get rid I the meal in the afternoon. It seems you are feeding a lot of food and the puppy has no choice butto defecate continuously.

I'm only familure with pedigree. I would suggest to switch I a better food. Food with lots of fillers will make house training very hard.