Schnauzer having a hard time with crates?

[Olli4]

My family and I recently adopted a ten week old schnauzer. Everytime we put her in her crate, she poops. What do you think we should do? Last night, she did that twice. And when we went to church today, she pooped in her crate even though we were gone for an hour. We don't know how to stop this disgusting behavior. Any tips?

[Dibbythedog]

Your pup is a baby and baby's poop It's not disgusting behaviour, she's just not going to the toilet in the right place.
She needs to have a routine and to be taken to the toilet outside in you yard after every meal and also at least once an hour. Watch your pup all the time and if you see her start to sniff and or circle , take her outside straight away. Don't tell your pup off if she goes in the wrong place and give her praise when she gets it right. Dos she wee in the crate too?
Dogs don't usually like to soil their sleeping area but if she was kept in a crate for too long by the previous owner and not given the chance to toilet elsewhere, she might have got into the habit of pooing in the crate so make sure she has pooped before you put her in it.
If her poos are loose then she might have tummy problems and not be able to help it and you might need to change her diet.
Alison

[emmabeth]

Instead of focussing on the awful disgusting behaviour..... would you like to look at this from your puppys point of view?



" I am 10 weeks old. For the last 9 and a half weeks I lived with my Mommy and my litter mates, there was always someone to play with, room to play and snuggle up and I knew my surroundings like the back of my paw. Everything was comfortable and familiar, and I was never ever alone.'

'Now though I live with these strange people, and I don't understand them. Everything is a bit scary, smells strange and unfamiliar, I don't know the proper place for anything, and they tell me all these words but I don't know what they mean.
Sometimes they put me in the scary metal wire box, and that frightens me so much some poo comes out, then they see the poo and they shout or look angry and THATS scary too. The other day they ALL went out and left me on my own for sooooooooooooooo long and then came home and were angry because there was poo again. I don't like it when they leave me alone.'

So - ok its a little emotional and not massively accurate as I am sure there are nice, non-scary things about being at your home for your puppy... the poitn IS, she is a tiny baby animal. She has very little control over her bowel and bladder and she has not learned about much of the things shes going to need to learn about.

So if she HASNT been crated with the breeder,a nd you are now crating her at night and when you are gone, thats new, and she may not like it - YOU need to give her reasons to like it, not force her to accept it without complaint. So you have to introduce it slowly, seconds at a time, in conjunction with meals, chew toys, food rewards.

Get her thinking it is an AWESOME place to be to sleep, to eat, to play - and she is ALWAYS let out of the crate BEFORE she needs to potty.

That might well mean she cannot have the door closed on her yet, or she cannot be shut in for more than a minute at a time - if thats the case then that is the pace you have to work at. If you just chuck her in and shut the door and go out for an hour, all she learns is that being left is awful, the crate is awful, the whole thing is scary. If you then come home and are mad, at her or just at having to clean up a mess, that makes the process even WORSE.

So start over - teach her the crate is good, do not ALLOW her the opportunity to mess in it.
Teach her that choosing to be on her own, choosing to go in the crate is good - get a chew toy, tie it in the crate and leave the door open so she CHOOSES this for herself, praise and reward her well through the crate bars (do NOT sneak up and shut the door though!).

Get yourselves a rota going so shes never left alone for the first few days, and then only left alone in controlled amounts that she can cope with - yep sure that means you won't be going to Church as a family for a few weeks, or out for a meal together for a few weeks, but fixed NOW, taught that being alone is ok, will take you weeks/months.

A seperation anxiety problem left to develop now, until shes an adult, will possibly take YEARS to fix - and dogs with serious sep. anx. end up in shelters and put down because so few people have the time to solve it in the adult dog.

[Suzette]

Hi Ollie, As always, Emmabeth is spot on. I just wanted to add some encouragement from someone who was (sort of) where you are now just two weeks ago. We brought home our (then) 7 1/2 week old Corgi and though the breeder said she was crate trained, that wasn't fully the case. Yes, she had been IN a crate many times at the breeders, but the door was always left open, so when we closed it here at our house for the first time, Piper was not only unhappy, but frightened.

Doing just as Emmabeth has suggested to you, I took Piper back to basics. I threw treats in there, fed her in there (via her Kong), put her most favorite toys in there and I also put a small blanket in there the breeder had sent home with her which had a familiar scent to her, all the while letting her go in and out at will, door left open. Once she was happy and comfortable with this, I started closing the door for very small moments, feeding her a treat through the crate door then letting her out. Slowly (at Piper's pace) I kept the door closed longer and longer while feeding treats and talking softly. We did this off and on throughout the day and by the time evening came, she was happily in her crate, door closed,for the evening.

Good luck, and if you follow Emmabeths advice, you and your little puppy will soon be much happier and her crate poo free!