Isabella is 6 months old and has hated the cage from day 1, she jumps and barks wildly....and worse of all potties in the cage. I am at wits end, no matter if I leave the room for 15 minutes no less go to work, she pees & poops and jumps through it. I tried leaving her loose just in the kitchen, but she then does the same thing. I have definately come to the conclusion she has separation anxiety, because otherwise, she potties outside and can hold it all night as long as she is in bed with me....but I can't even take a shower without coming out to the mess...EVEN when she has already gone. She does understand potty outside and everything is ok as long as I am home AND in the room with her. I and my daughter clean her and the cage daily and sometimes 2-3 times a day depending on our schedule. We are both at witts end.
Isabella potties in her cage HELP !
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I just want to say im sorry for what youre going through. I dont have any real answers but I am definately interested in hearing some as my 6 mo old has just started peeing in his crate. He never did before but we made his cage larger by moving the divider that is in it and since then he has gone pee. I would move it back to the size it was but he is too big and he is squished. My point here is maybe her crate is too big that that is one reason she feels comfortable peeing and pooping in there? What size is it? I know she is only supposed to have enough room to turn around and stand up comfortably. I would say from what you have wrote that you have a bigger problem than just that of course but maybe it might help.
Lots of people on this board have gone through everything you can imagine so soon youll get some better answers. Hang in there i know it's tough!
Lots of people on this board have gone through everything you can imagine so soon youll get some better answers. Hang in there i know it's tough!
I feel your pain...Lucy is 8 mos and she is still peeing and pooping in her crate. It is not everyday so I know darn well she can hold it some days so I am not sure what the answer is. I stand out there with them for 30 minutes every morning so I know they both go before I leave...Very frustrating!
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Ok, we went through this forever with Abby...one, get her checked. It turned out Abby had giardia when we resecued her...meds helped a LOT!!!! But, she was still very difficult to train. While she quickly stopped pooping in her crate after getting over the giardia, peeing was an issue for a long time. probably at least once two weeks, we still deal with it and she's almost 18 months!!! A few things though...first, let's address the issue of spearation anxiety. It is very possible...at that age, they get nervous being alone and that is the result!!!! I took Abby with me EVERYWHERE! When I showered, I closed her in the bathroom with me. Running into the kitchen quickly? Take her with me, etc. Now, if I know she has recently done her business, I can let her roam free for a while...but I still have her with me in the same room about 80% of the time. And immediately before I allow her to roam free, she MUST pee. I still keep her with me while I shower, unless, again, she JUST went. If I allow this, I do leave the door wide open so she can stay with me if she wants...maybe just knowing she CAN see me if she is willing to stop playing for a few minutes is enough.
With respect to crating though, obviously, you can't keep her with you so you need to address those issues separately. The night before I go to work, I fill a kong with peanut butter and freeze it overnight. Immediately before I head off to work, I tell her to go in her house, and she gets the kong. It works wonders for us...rather than her getting all worked up about us leaving, she spends a good 30 minutes or so trying to get all the peanut butter out. By the time she's done, she's comfortable with us not being in the room with her and while she may whine for a few minutes, she's now tired and off to sleep she goes. Spending some time with her whiel she is in her crate is useful too...make a few nights of sitting right outside it (door open), with my legs inside the crate and her in my lap was very useful for us...she didn't see the crate as a "bad" thing when I was hanging out with her in it....
Stopping her from peeing in her crate altogether is still difficult even once well adjusted to being left alone and crated. Once they are used to going in it, it is a hard habit to break, so you basically need to make them get disgusted with it. You want to keep the crate area as small as you can (use a divider)...I think the standard is, big enough for them to turn around and lay down. Thus, if they go, they HAVE to deal with it the remainder of the day (and of course, you then have to bath them!!! gets annoying but breaking this habit is most important).
For a long time I stopped putting her crate mat and towels in there...so that the fluid would not get absorbed...she stopped going in her crate. Then I started to add the crate mat back in...and found that she started peeing again. I just washed it every night and right back in it went. She eventually got the point and now, rather than peeing everyday, we are probably down to about once every two weeks.
Good luck, it takes a LOT of patience...but 6 months is rather young for a boxer to be capable of handling everything. SO wait it out for a while and just keep being consisitent and patient.
With respect to crating though, obviously, you can't keep her with you so you need to address those issues separately. The night before I go to work, I fill a kong with peanut butter and freeze it overnight. Immediately before I head off to work, I tell her to go in her house, and she gets the kong. It works wonders for us...rather than her getting all worked up about us leaving, she spends a good 30 minutes or so trying to get all the peanut butter out. By the time she's done, she's comfortable with us not being in the room with her and while she may whine for a few minutes, she's now tired and off to sleep she goes. Spending some time with her whiel she is in her crate is useful too...make a few nights of sitting right outside it (door open), with my legs inside the crate and her in my lap was very useful for us...she didn't see the crate as a "bad" thing when I was hanging out with her in it....
Stopping her from peeing in her crate altogether is still difficult even once well adjusted to being left alone and crated. Once they are used to going in it, it is a hard habit to break, so you basically need to make them get disgusted with it. You want to keep the crate area as small as you can (use a divider)...I think the standard is, big enough for them to turn around and lay down. Thus, if they go, they HAVE to deal with it the remainder of the day (and of course, you then have to bath them!!! gets annoying but breaking this habit is most important).
For a long time I stopped putting her crate mat and towels in there...so that the fluid would not get absorbed...she stopped going in her crate. Then I started to add the crate mat back in...and found that she started peeing again. I just washed it every night and right back in it went. She eventually got the point and now, rather than peeing everyday, we are probably down to about once every two weeks.
Good luck, it takes a LOT of patience...but 6 months is rather young for a boxer to be capable of handling everything. SO wait it out for a while and just keep being consisitent and patient.
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jeeez i know that must be frustrating ! although i dont have that exact issue...Isis will do this for no apparent reason only sometimes..i KNOW she can hold it..just every so often she doesnt...
i hope there are some answers for you on here...im SURE there will be...this is such a gret forum !!! i love how everyone cares so much for all of our pup families
its such a nice place to come ...
i hope there are some answers for you on here...im SURE there will be...this is such a gret forum !!! i love how everyone cares so much for all of our pup families
its such a nice place to come ...It could be separation anxiety and issues with being confined. Delilah was like that. She had really bad separation anxiety when I got her from the shelter. she freaked out in the crate, thrashed around trying to get out, pooped and peed in it.
I tried leaving her out in the house, and she didn't tear up anything, but she peed and pooped in the house (she was house trained, just not when we weren't home, even if only alone for half an hour)
I also tried gating her in the kitchen but she broke down all the gates- she just hated being confined like that!
finally I thought to try tying her up in the kitchen. I use a 6' leash with the handle shut in the dishwasher door. She is in the corner of the kitchen and can't get under any table legs or anything to get tangled up. she doesn't chew cabinets, so thats not an issue with us.
Funny thing is- she does fine like this! Its amazing the difference between being tied up or being behind a gate or in the crate. she no longer poops or pees while we are gone, and she doesn't get upset like she did in the crate either.
I don't know why it works, but it does. I have a theory- she was in a kennel in the shelter for over a month, and maybe she used to be tied up in the back yard or something in her previous home so she is used to it?
anyway maybe its worth trying for those of you who have dogs that hate the crate.
I tried leaving her out in the house, and she didn't tear up anything, but she peed and pooped in the house (she was house trained, just not when we weren't home, even if only alone for half an hour)
I also tried gating her in the kitchen but she broke down all the gates- she just hated being confined like that!
finally I thought to try tying her up in the kitchen. I use a 6' leash with the handle shut in the dishwasher door. She is in the corner of the kitchen and can't get under any table legs or anything to get tangled up. she doesn't chew cabinets, so thats not an issue with us.
Funny thing is- she does fine like this! Its amazing the difference between being tied up or being behind a gate or in the crate. she no longer poops or pees while we are gone, and she doesn't get upset like she did in the crate either.
I don't know why it works, but it does. I have a theory- she was in a kennel in the shelter for over a month, and maybe she used to be tied up in the back yard or something in her previous home so she is used to it?
anyway maybe its worth trying for those of you who have dogs that hate the crate.
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we went through that with our lab which is why we were thinking of another dog when Isis came out of the blue..
he had SERIOUS DANGEROUS sep. anxiety....was aweful !!! it really subsided ALOT when we got Isis...just give people a chance to answer i know theres alot of peole on here that can help you and will
hang in there..i know its hard...and so frustrating...
he had SERIOUS DANGEROUS sep. anxiety....was aweful !!! it really subsided ALOT when we got Isis...just give people a chance to answer i know theres alot of peole on here that can help you and will
hang in there..i know its hard...and so frustrating...
Kira had the same issues as a puppy. Instead of crating we used a dog anchor, http://www.luxuryhousingtrends.com/archives/2006/11/dog_anchor_keep.php
Very quickly we had to add a couple 25lb weights to keep her in place but it worked well.
Very quickly we had to add a couple 25lb weights to keep her in place but it worked well.
Hi I just wanted to again say thank you to everyone, the support and advice has been so helpful ! Since I have posted this, I was so torn about if this was ever going to get better. Well it has been like a miracle the past week. I read a book called HOW TO RAISE A PUPPY YOU CAN LIVE WITH. Well , between the tips in the book and responses from this site, Isabella has had a huge turn around !! I started with the advice in the book to start putting her in her cage "matter of factly" with no big to do while I was home. ( this was hard, because I do treat her like a baby and like having her always with me, but I did it and gradually started leaving the room). At night she used to sleep with me the whole time I slept, but being caged I do hear her wake up and quickly put her out 2 times during the night ( this was a pain, but was better than waking up to a mess before work), no less the goal was to get her used to the cage as a safe place & her bed so hopefully she would not go potty in it. The next advice was to leave her in her mess to discust her, I hate to admit it, but I did this next, when I came home from work and had an evening appointment, I came home to the mess and wanted to burst into tears that I knew I only had time to clean it & her, leave to probably return to the same thing so I scolded her for potty in the cage and went back out and delt with it when I got home. The NEXT DAY amazingly she did not potty in the cage ! WOW I really think between those two things, she is getting comfortable in the cage and now treating it like her bed where she had never had an accident in my bed. I gradually have started adding her stuffed animals and blankets at night , (believe me I can't tell you how many I have had to throw away). So far it has been 5 days ! the only hard part is the waking in the middle of the night...but I gladdly get up now ! Keep us in your prayers ! so far so good ! Last week I was broken hearted that I may have to give her to somebody who is home all day. The support I got from this site has given me the strength to deal with this, I am so happy ! Thank you all and HAPPY HOLIDAYS ! One more tip that has helped was I watched Dog Wisperer on tv, he made a point that a dog has to be treated as a dog not a human for their own well being, as well as other tips.
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That is great news! So glad to hear that....I don't agree with everything Ceasar says, BUT that is one thing I agree 100%.....Too many times our babies issues stem from things that we have done to cause it, and I am just as guilty....It's funny tho, for some reason right when we are at our wits end, our babies surprise us with something amazing and remind us why we love them soo much...Here's hoping that Bella keeps up her good behavior
Glad to hear the progress. I had similiar problems with Oggie. He had terrible SA and couldn't take 5 mins alone at first. I'll tell you, for severe SA, a kong just doesn't work. I could put filet mignon in front of him, he wouldn't even notice it. I worked on it gradually and eventually I was able to leave him alone more and more. But that didn't solve the crate problem. From day one he hated the crate. I had to drag him in there, he wouldn't go in willingly. I was never able to get him to stay in the crate without him throwing a tantrum and eliminating all over the thing. It went on for weeks and I eventually couldn't take having to go on a cleaning rampage every time I went out and came home, so one day I said "%[email protected]%$ it!" and left him home without the crate....instead of coming home to barking, drooling, and crap everywhere, he was asleep on the couch. Since then I leave him in a gated area and he's basically fine. Although he did chew on the couch one time so I've had to change the area. So now he's basically fine. I'm not out very much (I work from home) but I do worry that as he gets older and stronger, not having him crated is going to lead to serious destruction. I have an extra room with no valuables where I leave him, but nothing is stopping him from chewing on the doors, molding, and banging on the window. I'm just playing it by ear.
Now with your success, maybe my mistake was cleaning up right when I got home. Perhaps a little tough love would have taught him a lesson. He's 6 months now as well, it might be worth a second shot.
Now with your success, maybe my mistake was cleaning up right when I got home. Perhaps a little tough love would have taught him a lesson. He's 6 months now as well, it might be worth a second shot.
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