[gatorgirl]

I have a 5 month old shih tzu that keeps pooping in her crate. I feed her three times a day and always try to make sure she poops before I have to leave. I never leave her in the crate for more than 4 hours and if I have to I make sure I have a friend come by to take her out and play with her. I'll come home after less than an hour and she will have poop everywhere. She likes her crate and likes sitting in it and playing with toys, and after the first few weeks of training she no longer cries when I leave. I have no idea what to do and I am so frustrated. I feel like every time I come home I spend 30 minutes cleaning up poop. Please help!

[Lunareclipse]

For smaller breeds, you only want to feed once or twice a day. Feeding too many times a day makes it harder to control when your dog has to go. For some reason Shih tzus are one of the hardest breed to house train. Some are easier than others, but for the breed as a whole, they are the hardest to train. It can take up to a whole year to train your dog. Take your dog out every hour until it understans that it has to go outside. Since Shih tzus are small breed dogs, you can also train your shih to use a litter box. Maybe you can put a litter box in it's cage?