Ask Me Help Desk - Help! Dog suddenly pooping in crate!

I have a 18 week old boston terrier that I got from a local pet store. I've had him since he was 14 weeks and have crate trained him. He is also house broken, minus the occasional accident. Recently in the past few days he has been defecating in his crate, not urinating though. This puppy is on a pretty regular schedule as far as feeding and walking go. He is praised when he relieves himself outside and is also very active. There have been no changes in his feeding schedule at all. He also benefits from me working second shift and my fiancé working first shift so he is not in for more than two hours at a time, except at night. I have crate trained dogs before and once they are trained this never happened, so I am at a loss for words or reason. Example being yesterday before my fiancé left she took him out to do his business at 730. I put the kids on the bus at 830 walked him, he went again, then I put him in his crate to go golfing. I was home by 11 and he went in his crate while I was gone. I played with him until I had to leave for work at 130 walked him again, did his business, and put him in until 3 when she came home. He went again! I am frustrated at this and I can tell he is as well. Please help!

Have you had him at the vets to see if this is a medical problem?
Is his crate only big enough to stand in and turn around? Problem with pet store dogs is they have to poop where they sleep (which goes against dogs nature). You will need to retrain him from that. By giving him a smaller crate it may help.

That is the trouble with pet store dogs,which is why I was shocked with how well he adapted and conformed to not relieving himself in the crate. I haven't taken him to the vet for it yet as he was just there about a week and a half ago. She told me he looked very healthy and happy. Really nothing in his demeanor has changed other than this. I am trying shortening his crate now. He's been in about two hours and no accident! I am going to work shortly so I will update you when my fiancé gets home. Thanks for the support!

The bad part about pet store dogs is that the majority of them are puppy mill dogs. They're born in a cage, never allowed to go out, they're then transported to a pet store where they're also expected to do their business in a cage.

At 18 weeks he's still very young, and the first weeks of his life (not sure how old he was when you got him) were spent peeing and pooing in a cage. I'm actually shocked that this hasn't been an issue all along.

If there are no medical concerns, look at the feeding schedule. When does he eat? How long after is he given a chance to poo?

It sounds like he's regressed back to bad habits that sadly he had no control over. That's what he learned from minute one, which actually goes against his very nature. Dogs don't like to poo or pee where they sleep, they only do it if they have no other choice. But, they can learn, just like they learn everything else, to accept what they're taught as the way it's supposed to be.

Positive reinforcement. If you come home and there's poo in the crate, take him outside, clean up the poo, and when he does go outside, tons of praise, a treat, act like he just won the lottery. If you catch him mid poop, a firm no, take him outside mid poo, use the potty word, and then praise. It seems like you already know this part. :)

Bottom line, he's still a puppy. Many puppies regress in their training if it's not consistent. I don't mean that this is your fault, it's not, but once a puppy is trained we tend to forget the praise, we feel it isn't necessary anymore. He's still learning, still growing, and still needs that confirmation.

He also may just really need to poo and doesn't have any choice but to do it in his crate, so definitely look at his schedule and see if there's an issue there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alty

The bad part about pet store dogs is that the majority of them are puppy mill dogs. They're born in a cage, never allowed to go out, they're then transported to a pet store where they're also expected to do their business in a cage.

At 18 weeks he's still very young, and the first weeks of his life (not sure how old he was when you got him) were spent peeing and pooing in a cage. I'm actually shocked that this hasn't been an issue all along.

If there are no medical concerns, look at the feeding schedule. When does he eat? How long after is he given a chance to poo?

It sounds like he's regressed back to bad habits that sadly he had no control over. That's what he learned from minute one, which actually goes against his very nature. Dogs don't like to poo or pee where they sleep, they only do it if they have no other choice. But, they can learn, just like they learn everything else, to accept what they're taught as the way it's supposed to be.

Positive reinforcement. If you come home and there's poo in the crate, take him outside, clean up the poo, and when he does go outside, tons of praise, a treat, act like he just won the lottery. If you catch him mid poop, a firm no, take him outside mid poo, use the potty word, and then praise. It seems like you already know this part. :)

Bottom line, he's still a puppy. Many puppies regress in their training if it's not consistent. I don't mean that this is your fault, it's not, but once a puppy is trained we tend to forget the praise, we feel it isn't necessary anymore. He's still learning, still growing, and still needs that confirmation.

He also may just really need to poo and doesn't have any choice but to do it in his crate, so definitely look at his schedule and see if there's an issue there.

A little update. I shortened his crate today and there were no accidents other than the initial one this morning. Praised the heck out if him as soon as I got home. I usually allow about 30 min to an hour after he eats to take him out, and I never feed him before he goes in. Usually I cut him off about an hour and half before he is crated. I will give progress reports as often as I can. Like I said I've had several dogs before and this is the first time one has regressed on me to this extent. Hopefully the shortening of the cage helps and ill probably start to take him for a 3 am stroll until this passes. I also didn't take offense to what you said I do understand where you are coming from. Not that my training has been lax but there is definitely room for improvement. Thanks for your advice and as I said I will keep everyone posted.

There's always room for improvement, that's true of everyone, whether it be training a dog, or raising a child. None of us are perfect. :)

Shortening the crate seems to have done the trick, and it's a great recommendation. If the crate is too big, the dog will use a spot for potty time, especially a dog that was born and raised (until adopted) to use it's crate as a potty place.

Glad that it seems to have been a minor thing, but updates would be great. We also love pictures. Hint hint. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alty

There's always room for improvement, that's true of everyone, whether it be training a dog, or raising a child. None of us are perfect. :)

Shortening the crate seems to have done the trick, and it's a great recommendation. If the crate is too big, the dog will use a spot for potty time, especially a dog that was born and raised (until adopted) to use it's crate as a potty place.

Glad that it seems to have been a minor thing, but updates would be great. We also love pictures. Hint hint. :)

I have the mobile site on my phone I'll send a picture