Yorma writes to me:
Our 11 year old puppy obviously hasn’t read the dog crating rules and doesn’t know NOT to poop/pee in his crate. He does use wee wee pads when outside the crate and we give plenty of time to relieve himself before placing him in the crate. But after we leave him alone for 30 minutes to an hour…we return to a crate full of poop. We’ve made the area quite small within the crate, where he can barely turn around but it keeps happening. (little if any bedding). Something is in his head and we can’t figure it out. We also clean and disenfect very, very well after any accidents… ANY ADVICE WOULD BE APPRECIATED…but please do not simply send me to a site about crate training. READ THEM ALL and almost none assume the dog will poop repeadedly in. HELP PLEASE!!! Thanks.
Adam replies:
Hi, Yorma:
Is your dog 11 months old, or 11 years old? Please let me know. If he’s 11 years old, I’m curious why you’re crate training now, and if he’s displayed separation anxiety in any other contexts?
It’s very likely your dog is suffering from separation anxiety… which isn’t really a true housebreaking issue in light of what you’ve described.
This is what our local veterinarian recommends. The last time we were there, she told me that she’s had a lot of success, with a lot of different dogs using the DAP Diffuser:
http://www.amazon.com/DAP-Appeasing-Pheromone-Electric-Diffuser/dp/B000O5HUEA
Please report back (good results or not) and we can go from there.
Or, if you’d like to try two remedies at the same time: Ask your vet about a med called “Clomicalm” (or something similar that she might suggest?) It’s basically an anti-anxiety type med. It’s not forever, it’s just to get him over his issues.
Keep me posted. — Adam.