8 month old puppy still pooping in crate
Hi.
I adopted an 8 week old Pit Bull mix from a pet store in July. From day one, she has peed and pooped in her crate nearly EVERY night. She did have coccida, but was treated and is now cleared. She was spayed at 12 weeks of age. I thought she was going to the bathroom in her crate because that's what she learned to do while living in the pet store (she's not a puppy-farm girl - the pet store carries dogs for the local animal control to help get them placed).
She is very smart - I do my own obedience training, and she knows several tricks and games. I know about teaching them that I am the dominant of the pack, etc, and that is not a problem.
My only problem with her is that she is STILL going to the bathroom in her crate - she is 8 months old now. It sounds very similar to the pug puppy that I saw posted in this forum. I always let her out just before bed and make sure she pees and poops. However, by morning, there is pee and cold, dry poop (so obviously several hours old) in her crate. At first, she had a blanket on the tray with several toys in the crate with her (she is also fed in the crate), but because she would soil her blanket and toys, I ended up taking them out. Also, I would have to give her daily baths because she would be covered in her mess. She has been fully housetrained for about 2 months now, so I decided to let her stay out of the crate and sleep in my room at night. But, I woke to find my books and stuffed animals shredded, along with several puddles of pee and piles of poop. So, I bought a grate to in the crate, and started putting her back up at night. At first, it was great - she would still pee overnight, but at least she wasn't laying in it. She had stopped pooping in the crate at the time. However, after about a week or so, she started pooping again, and it get mashed into the grate and creates a HORRIBLE mess to clean up (I live in a rented townhouse, and we don't have a hose, so it makes clean-up very difficult). Even though I scrub the crate every day, it still smells and the downstairs STINKS! I can't take this much longer! We have tried ignoring her for 20-30 minutes before leaving and after getting home, but that seems to make it worse.
Any ideas?