We have a 1 and half year old rat terrier/wolf mix. I know what you're thinking. How in the?? The people we got the dog from certainly didn't plan on this litter of puppies! Anyway, she's bigger than a rat terrier but nowhere close to wolf size. She has really short fur so she gets cold easily. So when it's too cold for her outside, we put her in a crate. The first few times we left her in it, she was having accidents almost every time. But she never seemed like she minded being in there.

Then it was warm for a long time and she was left outside during the day. (She chews on everything she can find so we can't leave her in the house alone) Then when the weather got cold again, we once again put her in her crate. She would walk right in it and seemed to actually like it. She didn't have any messes in the crate for a few weeks.

Then suddenly, one day she started barking the minute I put her in the crate. When we got home, she had pooped ALL over the walls and floor. The next morning, she barked again and when we got home, she had pooped everywhere again. We wondered how long she barked after we left so we taped her one night when we were gone. She barked, continuously, for 5 hours until we got home.

Usually the longest she is in the crate is 3 hours. What can we do to stop the pooping and barking? She did so good for a few weeks and now suddenly she hates being in there.

My guess she has matured, and no longer accepts your right to crate her. You must not back down. 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

A wire grid in the bottom of the crate will help keep the puppy up out of urine and to a lessor extent stools. They are available with the crates, but expensive and hard to find. A piece of closely spaced wire closet shelving from a home supply place is cheaper. This reduces the mess, making the protest much less effective. The longer haired the puppy, the higher it needs to be. In warmer weather, you can just haul the crate out and hose everything off. When the puppy sees you coping with the situation, and you stand your ground, most of them give up and learn to relax, and that you will return. One more thing that may help is using a smaller crate, or blocking off part of a larger one so the puppy can't fouled one spot and retreat.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy. Very few houses even have a
Safe room. How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing
Else? Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else. In addition
To destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have
Intestinal blockage from the pieces. I had a friend that left her dog in a
"safe" room. It ate a hole in the floor covering. The safe rooms fail to
Give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires. Nor
Do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving
Itself.

I have never had much luck with the old clock or radio tricks with a new puppy. What I do is lay down by the crate like I was going to sleep there. Usually a puppy may fuss a little, but then settle down and go to sleep. Once it is asleep, you can get up and go to bed. This could help with your problem too.

You can also try the Kong with peanut butter in it trick too. It will last even longer if frozen.

Thanks Labman! I give her, her favorite toys but she seems to ignore them. We have a Kong somewhere. I just have to find it. When she wasn't making messes in her crate, I started putting a little food in there with her since she didn't have time to eat in the morning before crating her. She would walk right in her crate and eat and we'd come home to a mess free, happy, non-barking little dog.

Now, if I put food in there, she immediately pushes the food bowl upside down so her food spills everywhere. (I don't feed her in the crate anymore since she makes messes) It's like she's so mad at me for putting her in there, she decides to make the crate as messy as possible.

At night we don't crate her. She sleeps on her bed in our room. Other than this crate issue, she is a really good dog. She learns fast and always listens to us. We just couldn't believe it when we had her on tape, barking for 5 HOURS STRAIGHT!!

I don't know if it is anger, spite, or stress, but some dogs do foul their crate when they should be able to hold it. If she barks for 5 hours, she certainly isn't happy. I hope you are not having to leave her longer than that. If so, you might find a neighbor or professional dog walker to give her a break. You could also look into doggy day care.

She is usually only in her crate for about 3 hours, at the most, in the morning. Then my dad lets her out to run around for a few hours. Then she is either put on a chain outside or put back in her crate until my fiance' or I get home which is about another 3 hours.

You might try reducing the size of the crate. The smaller the area the less lightly the dog will poop or pee. Also, I had a friend who had to mussel her dog to keep him from hurting himself while he was created. You could also try giving him benadry to make him drowzy. It might be a physic thing, talk to your vet about physic meds. It might help.
Good Luck

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Originally Posted by pengland

You might try reducing the size of the crate. The smaller the area the less lightly the dog will poop or pee. Also, I had a friend who had to mussel her dog to keep him from hurting himself while he was created. You could also try giving him benadry to make him drowzy. It might be a physic thing, talk to your vet about physic meds. It might help.
Good Luck

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Please don't put a muzzle on her! It is very dangerous! She can suffocate from not being able to pant. She can rip her face open trying to get the muzzle off. It is a VERY bad idea! Drugs will only help the symptom not the problem.

I agree with Labman, try finding someone who can dog sit or take her to doggie day care or better yet consult a behavior specialist.

Is she spayed? If not, that might account for her radical change in behavior. Also she might have separation anxiety. A behavior specialist (not a trainer) can help you deal with these problems.

Also be careful about putting a rack in her crate. Dogs can get their feet caught in them and break their legs if the openings are too large for the size of the dog. Not to mention they can be very uncomfortable for any length of time.

Again please don't muzzle her, it is cruel and it could be disastrous.

Hope this helps,
Molly

Heather has also questioned the use of racks. Using them has been my own idea, not like much of my other advice taught to me by highly experienced professionals. I am reconsidering them even if 10-12 of my puppies did fine with one. I would like some details of the problems with them. Any tool can cause problems.

No experience here with a muzzle, but it sounds like a bad idea.