My 10 week shorthair pointet poops in her cage day while I am at work. She didnt always do that. I started to only feed her at night so she is ready to poop in the morning, I dont fed her in the morning because i think thats the reason why she was pooping but I was wrong. I mean yes I am away for 9 hours. I let her out all the time and when i am home she is out of the cage. She always poops in the morniing outside and i praise her. I jst want to know corrext steps to take to make her stop pooping in the cage. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

a 10 week old puppy should be taken out every hour. by leaving her in the crate you are teaching her to go in it as she has no choice. 9 hours is much too long to expect an adult dog to wait - puppies have smaller bladders.

at this age your puppy should be getting fed 4 times a day. with feeding only once her glucose levels may drop & cause seizures & even death, & she will be mal nourished & unhealthy.

do you have a dependable friend or relative that could come in numerous times a day to provide care for her?

you really can't expect a dog to be able to control its bladder & bowels until they are about 5 months old. are you able to go for 9 hours without using the bathroom?

why did you get a puppy when there is no one home to care for it? you need to find this dog an appropriate home - even taking it to a shelter would be better than stuck in a crate, living in her own waste & starving. please do something asap before its too late for her

Thank you for your reply. But you do not have the right to tell me what to do with my dog. I love dogs always have and always will. My dog has a warm home, food and people that love her. You should spend more time talking to people who leave their dog ouside in the bitter cold. Please do not ever respond to my threads again. Thank you and have a nice day!!!

[reeskujo]

I'm sorry but suebgone is right...First of all that is certainly to long to expect your puppy to be holding it especially at that age...it's physically not possible...Secondly if I understand correctly your only feeding her once at night so that she hopefully doesn't poop...I'm sorry but that constitutes neglect...You came here asking for suggestions and were given some...I'm sorry if you didn't like what you were told.

I dont care that she is pooping in the cage. i came here for suggestions to see if anybody has any suggestions to prevent it, thats all. if there isnt a way, then fine tell me that. I do not neglect my dog at all. thank you for your suggestions.

[reeskujo]

suebgone did give you suggestions but apparently you didn't like them...Nothing we say will help as long as your puppy is in a cage for that many hours because when their that young they can't hold it that long and not feeding twice a day to avoid the going in their cage is neglect plain and simple...We're not trying to be mean we're just stating facts!

Keeping a dog of any age in a crate that long is cruel. Maybe you don't like the answers because you know it's true. It's really horrible. And it's hard for me to understand that you love this dog. Minn

Talltimbo...here is my suggestions .
u stated that u were out of the house for 9 hours while the puppy was in the crate...i too am gone 9 hours a day and i have two puppies in the crates...

but i had to do some planning before i could get the puppies ...here is my day goes..

hubby or i get up with puppies at 6am ..* morning pees outside* back in crate for both of them until 7:30am ..

hubby gets up at 7:30am and feeds them and puts them outside for * after feeding business* then he plays with them until 8:30am ( he has to leave for work)

i get up around 9 and put them outside for mid morning business then i go off to work at 10..

son gets home for lunch at 11:30 and he takes care of them ( feeding and outside) for an hour until he goes to school at 12:30 * lunch business for them outside*


then at 3:30pm son gets home and takes them out again and feeds them again and plays wiht them for a bit before in the cage..( he plays for about two hours in his room with them)

then my hubby gets home at 6pm and then he feeds them again...and the pups dont go in the cage again until around 10pm ..i take one of them* i get off at 8pm) ...and he takes one of them for one on one attention ..YES we make sure the puppies get alot of one on one attention everyday....

then they go to the crates around 10pm and they are sleeping all the night through ..they are too tired from playing that they wear themselves out...


and my puppies are almost 8 wks old......


my suggestion ..if u cant be there for them cause of work ..i would get family or neighbors or someone who can be there for them when u cant....they are BABIES and cant be left alone that long without food or water or business.......


i read all the posts and i dont think anyone was out to judge u or put you down but only to suggest what to do ....BUT if u dont and u continue to leave them 9 hours ..then they have something to judge you about and yes that is abuse to the animals ....

You might want to check into a pet sitter service to come let your dog out and feed/water him while you are gone. There are several agencies that provide either in home care, (they will come to your house) or on-sight care for pets (doggie daycare). My vet clinic also provides border services for people who cannot be with their pets during the day.

Because you are gone for such a long time during the day, you can probably expect that your dog will continue to “go” in his kennel because he is not being trained to go outside on a regular basis. Looking into a pet sitter service might be the best alternative for you, and your dog, so he gets the attention and training he needs to be the best dog he can be.

I am not judging you in any way, and believe that you love your dog, but, dogs can develop obsessive compulsive behaviors due to lack of attention, and being left alone for so long. For example, I adopted a chocolate lab from the humane society that licks her paw pads until they are raw. We didn’t know she did this when we adopted her. I believe she developed this bad habit due to a lack of attention from previous owners. She is a great dog, and has come a long way since we adopted her, and I realize that I have to spend the time with her in order to break her of her bad habit.

I wish you the best of luck with your dog.

[lil mutt]

i think that's really long time to keep your dog in the crate... and naturally cant hold her poop that long...