[aaron23]

Hi guys. Just yesterday, I adopted an 10 week old lab hound mix and I need some advice. It would be SINCERELY APPRECIATED.

Please read this in full.

Last night the puppy woke me up 10 times last night, from 1am to 6am relieving itself 5 times in the crate, and 3 of them were shits.
The smell woke me up and each time cleaned it up.

I have been home EVERY SECOND with the puppy. I have read and done my research. EACH TIME it sniffs around and decides to take a wee on the rug I CATCH IT RIGHT IN THE MOMENT, YANK it by the scruff and rush it downstairs and out the door. It sits there looking at me like wats going on.

So today I went and took a bounty towel to soak up the urine on my rug and place it outside as to tell the puppy this is where it should go.
30 minutes standing outside and nothing.

It will not stop taking a wee on the rug. I am crate training the dog.
It will not relieve itself outside.

Just now I went outside for 30 mins - It did not do a thign with the bounty towel soaked in its urine.
I went back inside and put him in the crate. He is there now sleeping.

i greatly appreciate it fellow members for any advice you can offer.

Aaron

[Todd]

First of all, hello and welcome to the forum! Glad to have you!

You're saying that the pup is peeing/pooping in its crate right? How big is the crate? If it's too big the dog will relieve itself in it because there is too much room to move around and they can relieve themselves away from where they lay. a crate should only be big enough for the dog to stand up and comfortably reposition itself. Otherwise, it should be a fairly tight fit. Dogs instinctively will not relieve themselves in their sleeping area. If your =rate is already small, have the vet check him out. He may have a problem that makes it very difficult to hold it. Do you take him out to go potty right before bed? Also try not to feed him to much before bed. Puppie can't hold themselves nearly as well as an adult dog. If all else fails, remember that crate training simply does not work that well for every dogs. Every dog is different and different methods of housebreaking are more successful for different dogs. Although I'm not big on paper or pad training, this may be your only option in the dog keeps on relieving itself in the crate multiple times during the night. I still would really like you to tell me the size of the crate though for this could be the underlying issue.

Pooping 3 times seems quite a lot even for a puppy. What food are you feeding him? Sometimes a poor quality food make the dogs poop a lot more of it out. A higher quality food would cause your dog to produce less waste, therefore less pooping accidents/urges.

Another possibility is that your dogs pooping and peeing in the crate could be due to anxiety of nerves. Does the dog act nervous or anxious in the crate? How does the dog react in it? Is it aware that it's going in the crate or is some done while asleep? If nerves could be the issue, I'd recommend checking out the following thread;

Nervous Peeing ! Advice pls ?

Your could also look into some natural remedies to relieve anxiety if this could be the case. You could try rescue remedy commercially available or some natural remedies. Here is a link for info on that;

Best Way - Natural Anxiety Relief for Dogs | eHow.com

Also, don't forget the positive reinforcement. If your dog is pooping or peeing in the crate because of stress or anxiety firm correction may only make thing worse if not correctly supplemented with positive reinforcement, and plenty of it! If the dog ever pees or poops outside, give her a cookie and verbal praise! Make her very excited that she pleased you!

Let me know the answers to the questions I asked you earlier. In the meantime, here are a few general links on crate training and housebreaking in general. Good Luck!

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/cratetraining.htm

http://dogbreedinfo.com/housebreaking.htm

[aaron23]

THANK you so much for the welcome It seems I will be here VERY often.

Hi Todd, I SERIOUSLY appreciate your post thank you for the quick reply.

The cage is 4x2. Yes this is a big cage for a 12" or so LAB / Hound mix puppy. I purchased a crate divider and gave him just enough space about 28" Length x 12 width out of the entire crate.

I suppose since yesterday was the first day in the crate and first time in my home It was very nervous and pooped and peed so many times in the crate.

So after the 30 mins i spent outside with him I went back in. I put her on my lap and she stayed there putting her head down. Then her nails began to come out so i knew something was up. I quickly went out and she peed outside.

Going back in I played with her for another 20-30mins. She then knew it was time to go into her cage.

She seems very comfortable with the cage because I have been feeding her meals infront of the gate opening it up to feed her the meals.

She went back in (with a little bit of kibble coercion) and i closed the gate.
It began to whine and I ignored this as when she is usually ignored when i put her in the crate she always whines. I turned my back for 5 mins while typing on this thread and she pooped and peed in the crate.

Cleaned her feet took her out and cleaned up the mess and put her back in.

The food they have been feeding is science diet. I am slowly adding and mixing in the food i am going to feed her which is Eagle Pack Holistic select puppy heatlh.

Any advice on the above?

So the question is:

I fed her at 8:30AM, then 1pm then around 4pm
Took her till around 9:30PM to take her first poop. And she has been wee'ing very often.

How often at night should I wake up to take her out and make sure she has done her poop / pee?

So yesterday she did 3 poops in her crate. I'm worried im going to be waking up to the stink tonight.

Thank you so much Todd and anybody else who can offer some advice.
I greatly appreciate it.

Additionally I suppose it could be that the puppy just came to my home yesterday and I may be asking too much from it??

wanted to add that she did not poop at all yesterday until last night (3) times.
Last night was just RIDICULOUS. pooped 3 times waking me up from the stink and pissed in the cage like 6+ times waking me up to clean it

[Todd]

Originally Posted by aaron23

THANK you so much for the welcome It seems I will be here VERY often.

Hi Todd, I SERIOUSLY appreciate your post thank you for the quick reply.

The cage is 4x2. Yes this is a big cage for a 12" or so LAB / Hound mix puppy. I purchased a crate divider and gave him just enough space about 28" Length x 12 width out of the entire crate.

I suppose since yesterday was the first day in the crate and first time in my home It was very nervous and pooped and peed so many times in the crate.

So after the 30 mins i spent outside with him I went back in. I put her on my lap and she stayed there putting her head down. Then her nails began to come out so i knew something was up. I quickly went out and she peed outside.

Going back in I played with her for another 20-30mins. She then knew it was time to go into her cage.

She seems very comfortable with the cage because I have been feeding her meals infront of the gate opening it up to feed her the meals.

She went back in (with a little bit of kibble coercion) and i closed the gate.
It began to whine and I ignored this as when she is usually ignored when i put her in the crate she always whines. I turned my back for 5 mins while typing on this thread and she pooped and peed in the crate.

Cleaned her feet took her out and cleaned up the mess and put her back in.

The food they have been feeding is science diet. I am slowly adding and mixing in the food i am going to feed her which is Eagle Pack Holistic select puppy heatlh.

Any advice on the above?

So the question is:

I fed her at 8:30AM, then 1pm then around 4pm
Took her till around 9:30PM to take her first poop. And she has been wee'ing very often.

How often at night should I wake up to take her out and make sure she has done her poop / pee?

So yesterday she did 3 poops in her crate. I'm worried im going to be waking up to the stink tonight.

Thank you so much Todd and anybody else who can offer some advice.
I greatly appreciate it.

Additionally I suppose it could be that the puppy just came to my home yesterday and I may be asking too much from it??

wanted to add that she did not poop at all yesterday until last night (3) times.
Last night was just RIDICULOUS. pooped 3 times waking me up from the stink and pissed in the cage like 6+ times waking me up to clean it

Being that you just got her yesterday, I wouldn't be too worried just yet. Just be patient. Housebreaking a puppy isn't always an easy task. Strange though that she didn't poop at all outside all day and then pooped 3 times at night in the crate. Are you taking her out often enough? I'd try and take her on a few short walks during the day and the new smells may cause her to poop to mark her scent. I'd try to let her outside every hour or so and do 3 or 4 short walks too. If you get her to go a few times during the day she may not have any or at least not as many accidents during the night in the crate. Problem with Science Diet though is that I feel it is a very low quality food so it takes a while to digest through the system. This may be why she is pooping a lot later in the evening. So therefore ythings will probably be a l,ot easier when you are on Eagle Pack 100% of the time, but don't rush it because that could make matters worse.

So do you think her anxiety of being in the cage could be causing the pooping/peeing as well? By the way you talk she isn't that upset to be in the crate but not that happy either. Make sure she is comfortable in her crate with blankets, toys, and treats. Maybe try some of those relaxing remedies I gave you the link to.

Again, remember to be very consistent with positive reinforcement when she goes to the bathroom outside. Give her a firm, but not overly firm, correction when she goes inside or in the crate. Also, never use the crate as a place of punishment. This will associate a negative energy with the crate.

Eventually you want to find the root cause of the issue and solve that issue. Obviously I'm not there so it's hard to pinpoint the exact issue. Just try my advice above and see what works. Again, I wouldn't make any conclusions to stop crate training and moving on to another method of housebreaking until she has been on Eagle pack full time for at least a few weeks. The just give him a little time. You just got him so be patient in the early going. He will catch on, hopefully. LOL. Don't feel bad, my dog slept with me in my bed just fine as a puppy until she was big enough to jump off of the bed and boy did I wake up to a putrid smell. LOL.

Good Luck!

[aaron23]

You have been extremely helpful and I am so thankful Todd.

thank you so much, I want to add that she doesnt like being walked yet she isnt use to the leash and continues to bite it. So the short walks i dont know where that will go besides a few steps to the left and a few to the right?

Also though,
I had blankets and a dog pillow in there, and i replaced the blankets after she continued to pee but because she consistently peed inside there, I'm done putting blankets in there to soak up the pee.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by aaron23

thank you so much, I want to add that she doesn't like being walked yet she isn't use to the leash and continues to bite it. So the short walks i dont know where that will go besides a few steps to the left and a few to the right?

Looks like you also need to work on leash training then too. What I did when leash training Lucky was I just got a treat and tried to capture her attention, diverting it away from the "evil leash" If she bit the least I'd stop and give her a firm voice correction in a low tone of voice. Then if she back off of it, I'd praise her and reward her with a treat. Just don't get too excited when praising her or she'll sense your energy and then probaby try to grab the leash again. Trust me, I know from experience Here is also a helpful link on leash training your dog;

Teach Your Dog to Walk on a Leash, Heel, Dog Training and Obedience Lessons

[aaron23]

that is awesome, thank you I definitely have to work on leash training.

About the blankets and trying to make the crate comfortable, she continues to pee and do her business in there, is it worth putting the blankets inside?

And at night I mean tonight how often should i wake up to see if she has to go to the bathroom for wee or poop? since last night was ridiculous...

[Todd]

Originally Posted by aaron23

that is awesome, thank you I definitely have to work on leash training.

About the blankets and trying to make the crate comfortable, she continues to pee and do her business in there, is it worth putting the blankets inside?

And at night I mean tonight how often should i wake up to see if she has to go to the bathroom for wee or poop? since last night was ridiculous...

It's hard to answer that question. You don't want the dog to think it can wake you up every time it gets the slightest urge to use the bathroom, however you don't want the dog to poop and pee in the crate either. Is the crate in your room by your bed? if not, move it there and she'll be less anxious. I assume it is though or you wouldn't be able to smell the poop is the poop diarrhea or loose? This could make it very hard to hold and an issue you would have to address separately. You should let her out now and try hard to get her to go to the bathroom. Don't go out and play, which would divert her attention. If she still is going to go three time during the night then I let her out to go every 2 hours or so. This may be a pain in the neck at first, but once she goes outside and get rewarded she will soon be housebroken. But then again, you don't want her to wake you just to go whenever she has the slightest urge, so if that continues to happen v=crate training in general isn't going to work. It doesn't work for some dogs. Paper training may be your only option right now. But still wait it out and be patient for a while. When science diet is gone for good things should be a lot easier though. Just be patient and if things aren't progressing in 2 or 3 more weeks, look into a different housebreaking method. Main thing for now is that I'd try to get her to poop as much as possible during the day. Feeding her at 4 is the wrong time when feeding science diet because it's going to go through her at just the wrong time. maybe try feeding her for the last time at 2 in the afternoon. I know this seems a tad bit harsh, but only do this until the science diet is gone. Eagle Pack will digest quite a bit quicker and she won't have to poop as much. Let us know how things are going in the next 3 weeks or so and if there is still a major problem at night you may have to resort to paper training, but be patient and diligent for now. I'm not a huge fan of paper training because it can be hard in the long term to get them to go completely outside and not on the pad anymore. But sometimes its necessary. remember though, there are a lot of things you need to address before resorting to this method. Good Luck!

[aaron23]

Yea the crate is in my room, its pretty moist lol its good stool.

When i go out to let her go, she doesnt do anything but sit there staring at me AS if She empties her bladder when i say NO STOP!, I'm very serious when I go out and want her to go to the bathroom after yesterdays nightmare.

If crate training doesnt work, im goign to cry lol.

I will definitely try to do the last feeding at 2pm thank you Todd I think that is great advice everything you're saying, i'm SO appreciative for your help.

Question also,

At night yesterday - the 3 poops and the several atleast 5 time wees inside the crate, AFTER each cleanup she wanted to play. CONTINUED to squeel and whine and make ridiculous noise until i kept ignoring her.

I THREW in a teething ring and that appeased her initially. Woke up in the morning to see half of the teething wrong all gone.

Just ignore her at night after cleaning up the mess? I could barely get any sleep last night and had a major headache I guess going out without enough clothes on and running her out the door to go potty without her even going.

It was honestly a NIGHTMARE, cleaning up after her and her constantly squeeling to play and wow it pissed me off... :\ lol srry for a little ranting


- Going out at night from 1-6AM every 2 hours seems a bit insane doesnt it? I will not get any sleep?

[Todd]

Originally Posted by aaron23

Yea the crate is in my room, its pretty moist lol its good stool.

When i go out to let her go, she doesn't do anything but sit there staring at me AS if She empties her bladder when i say NO STOP!, I'm very serious when I go out and want her to go to the bathroom after yesterdays nightmare.

If crate training doesnt work, Imo goign to cry lol.

I will definitely try to do the last feeding at cpm thank you Todd I think that is great advice everything you're saying, I'm SO appreciative for your help.

Question also,

At night yesterday - the 3 poops and the several atleast 5 time wees inside the crate, AFTER each cleanup she wanted to play. CONTINUED to squeal and whine and make ridiculous noise until i kept ignoring her.

I THREW in a teething ring and that appeased her initially. Woke up in the morning to see half of the teething wrong all gone.

Just ignore her at night after cleaning up the mess? I could barely get any sleep last night and had a major headache I guess going out without enough clothes on and running her out the door to go potty without her even going.

It was honestly a NIGHTMARE, cleaning up after her and her constantly squeeling to play and wow it pissed me off... :\ lol srry for a little ranting


- Going out at night from 1-6AM every 2 hours seems a bit insane doesnt it? I will not get any sleep?

Well you may have no choice but to let her out every 2 hours for a few more days at least, until she stops pooping and peeing in the cage so much. Oce you try the methods I suggested and once science diet is through, you hopefully won't have to keep letting her out every 2 hours. You want her to poop as much as possible during the day. Again, last meal at 2 just until science diet is gone. It's going to be hard for the first couple of days, but things should get better over the course of the next week. If not, than crate training is not an option. You may have to try paper training, but for now I'd let her out every 2 hours or maybe even just place newspaper in the crate or something to absorb the accidents. This isn't training, but it will be hard to do any real training in the middle of the night. You need to fix a few issues we discusses before first then things should be a lot easier at night. Major thing is to work on getting her to go outside during the day. give her PLENTY of time outside and praise her for going outside with verbal praise and treat. Like I said, it may be rough for the next couple of days, buy there are a few things you need to try and straighten out before any real progress can be made. Again, if all else fails we'll talk about paper training, but be patient for now. She also seems to be anxious in the cage which adds to the pooping/peeing. follow my advice I gave you before but also make sure she gets some exercise maybe before bed to calm her down.Nothing like a good run and dump before bed eh?

[aaron23]

thank you so much Todd.
I will definitely work on feeding at 2pm latest and leash training to get her outside and moving. She is only 10 weeks old though, she isnt old enough to be walking outside? She hasnt had all her shots yet and was just spayed March 3rd.

Is there any treat you use specifically? I have eagle pack holistic treats but it does not like that very much just sniffs it and chews it out of its mouth.
Would you suggest any liver treats or anythign like that? I will go pick it up tomorrow at petco....


I will definitely follow everything we just spoke about thank you so much for your help. If theres anything you could add with the info I provided above that would be great!.

thank you Todd.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by aaron23

thank you so much Todd.
I will definitely work on feeding at 2pm latest and leash training to get her outside and moving. She is only 10 weeks old though, she isnt old enough to be walking outside? She hasnt had all her shots yet and was just spayed March 3rd.

Is there any treat you use specifically? I have eagle pack holistic treats but it does not like that very much just sniffs it and chews it out of its mouth.
Would you suggest any liver treats or anythign like that? I will go pick it up tomorrow at petco....


I will definitely follow everything we just spoke about thank you so much for your help. If theres anything you could add with the info I provided above that would be great!.

thank you Todd.

10 weeks is young. you don't want to over exercise the dog but a little running around the yard (15 minutes or so 3 times a day) will do no harm. This will stimulate the body to have a bowel movement. Also, always let the dog out about 5 minutes after eating. Dogs have a natural instinct to relieve themselves right after eating. Try and get her to go outside during the day. That is your major goal to make housebreaking a lot easier.

I use any healthy treats. My dog is a pig though Liver treats are fine. You may also want to use some fresh cut up pieces of chicken breast or fresh liver! Your dog will go nuts over these!

be sure to keep me update of what goes on tomorrow, etc. I will be happy to coach you through this. Record your observations and how the suggestions I gave you worked so we can solve each of these little problems and ebentaully have the dog house trained! It's kind of like outting together a jigsaw puzzle. You need to find the cause of backward steps and find what makes for improvement. keep us updated. Work hard og getting her to go poop and pee outside during the day tomorrow! That is VERY impirtant. Also try and find clues as to what the root(s) problem is in her pooping in the crate. Let me know hoe my different methods work for certain situations. This will help us come to a conclusion and edit out plan. Housebreaking a puppy is trial and error. Good Luck!

[aaron23]

Thank you so much Todd, I greatly appreciate all of your help through this.

You do mean cooked chicken and liver pieces?
The puppy also is teething and continues to bite its tail - Is it okay to continually place a teething ring in there for it? Or leave it be?

I will definitely take note on everything I do you are awesome thank you.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by aaron23

Thank you so much Todd, I greatly appreciate all of your help through this.

You do mean cooked chicken and liver pieces?
The puppy also is teething and continues to bite its tail - Is it okay to continually place a teething ring in there for it? Or leave it be?

I will definitely take note on everything I do you are awesome thank you.

cooked or raw. My dog eats a raw diet. Raw chicken or liver is perfectly safe but you can cook it if you don't feel comfortable feeding it raw.

All pups go through teething. This is normal. Yes give him the teething ring unless he is tearing it up. Wouldn't want him to swallow little pieces. The best thing to do for a teething puppy is to get a washcloth and get it wet, then put it into the freezer to freeze. The chewing will be just what your dogs needs during the teething stage. The cold contents on the frozen rag will also act as a numbing agent for his teeth which will be in some pain during this stage. This may also keep him occupied while in the crate and help relieve some anxiety that may be present. I also recommend raw meaty bones from your grocery, butcher, or pet store. NEVER cooked bones though. Try to avoid knuckle bones and the huge, thich marrow bones because these have been known to chip teeth. Stay away from beef bones as well. Chiken bones are the best. Turkey is good too. Make sure the bone is the correct size for your dog. Not too small to swallow without chewing. You can feed frozen bones found at the pet store. This will also sooth tooth aches. Grocery stores generally have soup bones for dogs too. There will and should be some meat on the bone too unless specially made at the petsotre. avoid rawhides. Look for raw (not cooked).

[aaron23]

i really appreciate everything Todd, have a wonderful night

[Lunareclipse]

Hello Aaron and welcome. I wanted to ask you questions about where you got your puppy from. If you got it the pet store or from a kennel that never let their dogs out, then laying where they poop or pee might be normal for the little guy. But at 10 weeks you should be able to break it no time. Some dogs may take longer to go than others. My girls go out and immediatly do their business, but Buster it takes him a half an hour. I went out and bought a kennel so I could leave him in there while he does his thing. Taking forever to take a dump must be a guy thing. Another suggestion would be to take your pooch outside along with a lawnchair and book and tie your pooch to a post or something. And sit down and read a book while you wait for your puppy to go. As soon as he goes outside, give lots and lots of praise and treats. If your neighbors don't think you are retarded, you aren't giving enough praise. Also take your puppy where other dogs pee. Nothing entices a dog to pee like smelling another dog's pee.

On a sad note, my tank crashed mid-cycle. I think one of the cats used my aragonite for kitty litter before I put it in the tank. Now I have to replace it all. I was kinda pissed about finding a cat turd floating around in my tank. no wonder my fish died...

[Lara's mom]

That's a shame. did you lose all of the fish?

[aaron23]

thank you so much for inviting me to this forum, it is wonderful! and everybody is so helpful.

I adopted the puppy from here:
pawsafe.org/dogs.htm

Jeez its freezing outside right now i cant imagine having to sit there for that long waiting for her to do her business!

Oh jeez,,,, im so sorry to hear about the tank and the fish. scoop up the turd, and all of the dead fish. Let the tank go through the cycle again and do a water change. continue until the ammonia levels become near or = to 0 at this time the nitrates and nitrites should become lower as your tank finishes its cycle. If you have any questions dont hesitate to send me a message.

[Lunareclipse]

Originally Posted by aaron23

thank you so much for inviting me to this forum, it is wonderful! and everybody is so helpful.

I adopted the puppy from here:
pawsafe.org/dogs.htm

Jeez its freezing outside right now i cant imagine having to sit there for that long waiting for her to do her business!

Oh jeez,,,, im so sorry to hear about the tank and the fish. scoop up the turd, and all of the dead fish. Let the tank go through the cycle again and do a water change. continue until the ammonia levels become near or = to 0 at this time the nitrates and nitrites should become lower as your tank finishes its cycle. If you have any questions dont hesitate to send me a message.

Yeah, all of the fish died. I took out all of the old sand and drained the tank. I will buy new sand and salt today and recycle the tank. I had to get rid of everything because cat pee and poop is very high in ammonia. I'll wait until my baserock comes in before setting it up again.

[aaron23]

you dont need to buy all new sand and all new base rock. It is just another cycle. You can complete the cycle through just weekly water change with no fish, coral, inverts in the system. No need to buy more or new rocks / sand.

I brought the puppy to the vet today as required by the adoption contracts within 72 hours. I've been catching and rewarding the puppy to relieve itself outside and last night I was able to help her keep the cage clean!!!



Between 1-6am i was up every 2 hours to check on it and help it go to the bathroom. The vet said that is ridiculous to meet its demands but to just let it go in the cage and when you correct it it will eventually stop
-should i go with that?

Additionally the vet today brought up the fact that if the pup stopped eating its blood sugar could drop to severe levels and the puppy can go into comma.

Weird thing she barely answered any of my questions told me to go to the behavior center and get them answered there through a program...
After I came home and took the pup outside and then back in for a meal... it has a loss of appetitie.

She ate at 6AM and then went to the vet at 11am. I tried the second feeding at 12pm and she will only eat pieces from my hand and occasionally nipping in the bowl. What should I do or is there anything to be worried about?

Thank you all

Aaron.