I have two 11 week old lab siblings, that have separate crates. My female is doing great with the crate. The other male however is not. He is not afraid of the crate and does enter and sleep in it without hesitation,but he does poop in it 3-4 times a night. I make sure he poops before bed 10:30 -11:30 at night and I get up 2 or 3 times a night to let him out and clean the crate. I can let him out and watch him poop and 20 minutes later he is pooping in the crate again. I've tried to make the crate smaller by putting a partition up to no avail. Ive tried not feeding after 5:00pm,4:00pm and still receive my nightly presents.
I am at my wits end on what to try next, I do praise him when he goes outside and scold him when he goes inside. I treat both of the puppies the same so they are getting the same attention. PLEASE HELP!!!
Trouble With Crate Trainning
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Re: Trouble With Crate Trainning
Dont scold him when he goes inside - unless you were to do so at the second he is actually pooing, it will have NO beneficial effect at all, even if you DID manage to scold him in the act..... the lesson he is MOST likely to learn isnt 'do not do that there' but 'do not do that in front of me' which is not at all what you want him to learn!
The more you scold him when you find poop in the crate, the more he is going to associate being crated with an angry owner which increases his anxiety (even if he seems to go in there willingly) and in turn that makes him more likely to make a mess - anxiety and stress create the urge to go as many humans know!
Ideally... i would move them to your room for the time being - so he can wake you when he needs to go and you can take him outside.
Failing that, sleep in the room with hima nd wake when he needs to go and take him otuside.
Failing that.. set your alarm and go to him BEFORE he makes a mess in his crate and take him out.
I would go with the first option as it is much more likely to succeed, and because the more he does this, the worse and more ingrained the habit becomes, the harder it is to crack, so if you try method three and it fails, then method two and that fails, by method one its going to take you months to sort the problem out.
Whichever you choose though, no more scolding when you find a mess - it isnt his fault he needed to go and couldnt let you knwo (presuming you dont actually want him yelling his head off in his crate at night... most folk dont), and it isnt his fault hes in a crate - both of those things are your choice, so if he has to go, cant tell you and is in a crate.... whose fault is it you have to clean a poo-y crate out in the middle of the night. Yours.. so wheres the benefit in telling HIM off?
The more you scold him when you find poop in the crate, the more he is going to associate being crated with an angry owner which increases his anxiety (even if he seems to go in there willingly) and in turn that makes him more likely to make a mess - anxiety and stress create the urge to go as many humans know!
Ideally... i would move them to your room for the time being - so he can wake you when he needs to go and you can take him outside.
Failing that, sleep in the room with hima nd wake when he needs to go and take him otuside.
Failing that.. set your alarm and go to him BEFORE he makes a mess in his crate and take him out.
I would go with the first option as it is much more likely to succeed, and because the more he does this, the worse and more ingrained the habit becomes, the harder it is to crack, so if you try method three and it fails, then method two and that fails, by method one its going to take you months to sort the problem out.
Whichever you choose though, no more scolding when you find a mess - it isnt his fault he needed to go and couldnt let you knwo (presuming you dont actually want him yelling his head off in his crate at night... most folk dont), and it isnt his fault hes in a crate - both of those things are your choice, so if he has to go, cant tell you and is in a crate.... whose fault is it you have to clean a poo-y crate out in the middle of the night. Yours.. so wheres the benefit in telling HIM off?
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Re: Trouble With Crate Trainning
No Don't Scoll him & don't use the crate as a Punishmentemmabeth wrote:Dont scold him when he goes inside - unless you were to do so at the second he is actually pooing, it will have NO beneficial effect at all, even if you DID manage to scold him in the act..... the lesson he is MOST likely to learn isnt 'do not do that there' but 'do not do that in front of me' which is not at all what you want him to learn!
The more you scold him when you find poop in the crate, the more he is going to associate being crated with an angry owner which increases his anxiety (even if he seems to go in there willingly) and in turn that makes him more likely to make a mess - anxiety and stress create the urge to go as many humans know!
Ideally... i would move them to your room for the time being - so he can wake you when he needs to go and you can take him outside.
Failing that, sleep in the room with hima nd wake when he needs to go and take him otuside.
Failing that.. set your alarm and go to him BEFORE he makes a mess in his crate and take him out.
I would go with the first option as it is much more likely to succeed, and because the more he does this, the worse and more ingrained the habit becomes, the harder it is to crack, so if you try method three and it fails, then method two and that fails, by method one its going to take you months to sort the problem out.
Whichever you choose though, no more scolding when you find a mess - it isnt his fault he needed to go and couldnt let you knwo (presuming you dont actually want him yelling his head off in his crate at night... most folk dont), and it isnt his fault hes in a crate - both of those things are your choice, so if he has to go, cant tell you and is in a crate.... whose fault is it you have to clean a poo-y crate out in the middle of the night. Yours.. so wheres the benefit in telling HIM off?
