Won't go outside, but goes immediately when put back in cage.

Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
5
Likes
0
Points
0
#1
My wife and I have a 11 week old Boston Terrier. We have her in a cage with an area that is about 3 times the size of her. Usually it is in the morning when we take her outside (after much whining and barking because she messed her cage) she will not go. In fact, she will run back to the door and wait for us. This went on for 30 minutes this morning. We cleaned her cage, waited with her outside, put her in "her spot", nothing. We bring her back in, put her in her cage and no sooner is she in there, she poops again in her cage. Starts whining again, take her out, clean the cage, doesn't go outside, back into the cage, poops again in the cage. My wife and I cannot figure out why she is doing that. It is exactly reverse of what everyone has been saying!

Any idea why she is doing this and how we can prevent this from happening?

Thanks in advance,
Brian
 
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
5
Likes
0
Points
0
#3
My wife said she was in the cage (whining and crying) for most of the day. I got home yesterday from work around 4:30 pm. She was out until 6 or so. Back in the cage til about 6:20 (calmly, I was able to get her to sleep) then back out until about 7:20 at which point I put her to sleep again while I went out. I came back an hour later and she was awake, but no mess. Took her out, she took care of her business (both) and then my wife and I played with her until 10pm or so at which time we put in the cage for the night. I guess that is a possibility, but I thought he puppy was supposed to spend most of her time in the cage so she becomes to know it as her home, wants to be there, and will learn to hold it until we let her out? Forgive my ignorance if this is incorrect. This is our first puppy.

Thanks for the help,
B
 

Saje

Island dweller
Joined
Dec 26, 2004
Messages
23,932
Likes
1
Points
38
#4
Sounds like the size of the crate is your problem. She shouldn't be able to poop in her cage and then get away from it. the idea is that you don't poop in your home. So if she poops in her crate and then can sleep on the other side it's not going to be that big a deal for her. You'll probably have to get a divider for it if you want to continue crate training.

Or you could keep her in the large pen and put down papers. Teach her to go on the paper by covering the whole area with papers so she has to go on them and then making it smaller and smaller. You can also put paper down outside in her spot so she gets the idea that's where to go.

No matter what always give her tons of praise when she goes outside.

Sometimes if you take them for a walk it gets their bowels moving. I wouldn't focus so much on HER spot as just going outside.

Take her out every few hours so that she knows that she will always have an opportunity to go outside.

She doesn't need to be in her crate all the time. She needs to be with you to bond as much as possible. Her crate should be a fun, cozy spot with good associations. But she needs to be with you. Have her on a leash at your side so you can always keep an eye on her and she can't sneak off and poop somewhere else. Watch for signs that she wants to go potty like sniffing the floor, circlng, whining...

That should be a place to start.
 

Vickih

New Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Messages
354
Likes
0
Points
0
Age
42
Location
Derbyshire, UK
#5
From my understanding, you need to make the cage fun for your pup so she knows its HER fun place! If the cage isnt special for her, then its just somewhere you shut her into when you cant play. Renee might be right in that she's found a way to get you to let her out of the cage. In order for the cage to seem like your pups own space, and somewhere she doesnt want to dirty, you need to teach her that the cage is a great place to be because its all her very own!

Are her toys in there? Do you put treats in there with her?
 
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
5
Likes
0
Points
0
#6
We will try the smaller cage and see what happens. She does have some of her toys in there. A tennis ball, a rawhide chew stick, some other kind of chew stick that is flavored (my wife bought them, not sure what the official name is), a ny-la-bone specifically for puppies. Maybe it is a combination of things. The cage being too big, the dog finding a way to get out. When we put her in the cage we try to play with her a little bit to show her the things that are in there so she is less likely to want to come out. We had been putting towels in there with her, but doing laundry 1-2 times a day for nothing but towels from her was getting old so we switched to paper towels (which will become newspaper tonight).

I have read somewhere that a hotwater bottle with warm water might help to keep her calm as well. Is that a good idea?

Thanks again,
B
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
94,266
Likes
3
Points
36
Location
Where the selas blooms
#7
A crate is only for times when a pup can't be supervised. If your wife is home during the day, Lucy should be spending the majority of her day out of the crate as well. It's fine to put her in the crate when you're eating dinner, but have her out while you're home in the evenings. You can't bond with a pup or expect the pup to have any ability to interact with people if she spends most of her time crated.

There is a formula for the length of time a pup should be crated at a stretch; I believe it's an hour + another hour for each month of age - within reason. That's not to say that a 9 month old pup should stay crated for 10 hours! By that age, crating time shouldn't be necessary as much of the time, only at night and when you're gone, and once your pup is well housetrained and isn't chewing on dangerous things you may not even need to ever crate her with the door shut! Emma CreatureTeacher, one of the professional trainers, has no doors on any of her dogs' crates! Personally, I've never owned a crate for any of mine.

Please, Free Lucy! :D
 
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
5
Likes
0
Points
0
#8
Trust me I would like to!! All of us (my wife, myself, and Lucy) are all trying to learn. Maybe we will try that. I am afraid that if we keep her out then she is not going to want to go into her cage. She is going to develop separation anxiety and that is something I don't want to deal with. Not sure if that will happen or not, but that is my fear.
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
94,266
Likes
3
Points
36
Location
Where the selas blooms
#9
Crating her all the time doesn't have anything to do with not developing separation anxiety. If anything, it's likely to make her much more anxious. Leave her cage door open when you're home with her and she may decide she likes it much better than she does now. You should start having better luck with housetraining too. I really do think that she's messing in her crate in order to escape.

Puppies take a lot of patience. If you'll read some of BigDog2191's threads about his adventures with his German Shepherd pup, Rocky, you'll get a good idea of just how much patience it can take.

We're happy to help you and your little Lucy out and very, very glad you found us!
 

Saje

Island dweller
Joined
Dec 26, 2004
Messages
23,932
Likes
1
Points
38
#10
I never crate trained Maverick when he was a pup and I'd never crate train any futures pups either. Not that they are wrong but I don't feel they are necessary.

Your dog really needs to learn to be part of the family. That's point of having a pup. Dogs that are kept in cages all day at puppy mills, pet stores, backyard breeders... all learn to go in their crates making it VERY difficult to housebreak them.
 
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
5
Likes
0
Points
0
#11
We currently have the cage in our bedroom, where we spend very little time (other than sleeping). Should we move the cage into the livingroom where we spend most of our time and then back into the bedroom at night? Should the cage stay in one spot? I don't want her to have freedom around the entire house.

Thanks
B
 

Saje

Island dweller
Joined
Dec 26, 2004
Messages
23,932
Likes
1
Points
38
#12
You can have a playpen in the living room with you and the crate in the bedroom if you'd like. I still think you should keep her with you as in at your side. Tie the leash around your waist. Go for walks. Play games. Start some fun training.
 

Members online

No members online now.
Top