I Need Help...please!!
 

Hello!! I have had Lexie for two months exactly tomorrow and from day one she has had a little problem which has now become a big problem. She poops in her kennel. Not only does she poop but she then proceeds to walk around in it and it gets EVERYWHERE! I've tried Comfort Zone (the spray) which is supposed to calm down separation anxiety. I've tried making her cage smaller so she doesn't have much room to walk around...and that just made the mess seem worse. I've tried an x-pen and she just jumped out. I've tried putting her in our bathroom and she would poop in there and walk around leaving little poop footprints everywhere. I've tried putting her in my laundry room (bigger than the bathroom) and putting up a baby gate so she wouldn't feel locked in and she just jumped out. I don't know what to do. My family and I are getting tired of coming home and having to give her a bath EVERY DAY. My sister and dad are starting to threat that they will just keep her in her kennel until I get home. I leave for school at around 12 noon and my sister is home at 1:30/2:00 p.m. so it isn't like its a long time!

I've thought of doggy daycare but they are WAY too expensive. I can't pay for doggy daycare only working 2 days a week while I go to college. I AM IN NO WAY SUGGESTING I'M GOING TO GET RID OF HER, BECAUSE THAT IS DEFINATELY NOT AN OPTION!!!! I love her with everything I have... but it needs to stop.

I don't know what to do! HELP!! PLEASE!!

Ellie does that occasionally. She usually pees and stands in it though.:rolleyes: I have found no answer. How about a trainer since it is separation anxiety?

I would make sure she poops before you put her in her crate and leave her for the day.

try a dog sitter..i charge $10 a day..no matter if it is 24 hr or 1 hr..
there is alot of people that will do this..look at your local stores ..that is where i found my bird sitter...and where most of my customer find me..
But your pup is young... she will learn ...do not give up...
was she taken from her mother young..i was told by a vet.. that if they are taken away from there mother really young like 7-8 weeks...it is harder for them to catch on to stuff (doggie stuff) like...do not poop in your bed..
but do not give up..she will learn...you will have to teach her..

There is only one dog sitter around my house and they charge by the hour...and a lot too. She was taken at 14 weeks. I didn't want any trouble so it was later than usual.

She usually poops once or TWICE before I leave and she poops within the first 30 minutes because I have come back to grab something and she had already pooped.

I live in a town of 4000 on a good day so there aren't any trainers around here. The only trainers are obedience and we tried that with Beau and he wasn't feeling it. (He would learn fine at school then I'd get him home and practice and it was like he had no idea what I was asking him.)

This morning my dad informed me that she WILL be put in the garage when he comes home if there is any poop so I don't want to leave...because I KNOW she will poop. AAAAAaahhh!!! I'm so frusterated! I don't know what to do!!!

i wish you luck... i don't really know waht to tell you but i wanted to keep this post bumped... i'll ask around and see if i can find something...

Are you free feeding her if so maybe try a feeding schedule? Maybe if you could plan to feed her 1 hour before you leave her she will poop before you leave and be ok while you are gone. Is she eating a premium quality food that produces firmer, less frequent poops? Have you had a stool sample check by the vet to make sure their are no parasites etc. Is she left alone or with another dog? That usually helps with the seperation anxiety.
I am just trying to some up with some possibe solutions as Iknow how stressful it is to deal with these issues. Hopefully she will grow out of it and settle down they ususally do.

I free feed her, because she WON'T do a schedule. She grazes and if I limit her food she won't eat all of the food when it IS out and she just pickes up a few pieces. She startes eating anything that is close to edible (wood, plants, etc.) after that because she is so hungry. She DOES poop usually twice before I go...and the second one is RIGHT before I leave. She is on Innova Evo...for her brother's food allergies mostly. Yes, I had a fecal sample looked at and there wasn't anything wrong with it. She is left with my other yorkie and she just makes HIM panic...he never used to bark when I leave and now he does.

NOT free feeding is you best way of knowing when she'll have to go poop.

If you free feed they will free poop.

Good luck to you.

When we first brought Koda home we tried the Kennel/crate training. Since, they are not suppose to want to go to the bathroom in them.
Well, he would do the same thing, poo and pee in his crate. :eek: The crate was small enough but he would still do it. And it would be all over him. I was having to bathe him all the time too.:(
So, when I had enough of that I went and bought him an ex-pen. I put his food and water at the one end, his pee pad on the other end, and his bed, blanket, and toys in the middle. And since then he has done so much better. Most of the time he will pee and poo on his pee pad. And because there is enough room in his ex-pen he doesn't hang out at the end with his pee pad, only when he has to use it. So, we haven't had a problem with him getting it all over the place.:)

Anyway, maybe you can try an ex-pen again. Get one that is tall enough that she can't jump out. Koda's is 2 feet tall and that's all he needs. He is small only 3 lbs. right now. The ex-pens come in all different heights 3 feet, 4 feet, etc.
So, maybe give that a try.
Good Luck.
Sheri:)

just for her comfort
 

I would say leave a shirt that smells like you like your pj shirt the poop thing i dont know what to tell you but i know with skinbabies leaving a shirt with them in there crib that smells like momma helps them clam down

If you find a good solution that works, let me know. My Yorkie doing that is an instant bath, which sometimes leads to 3 or 4 baths a week.

Lexie is pretty small...5 lbs but she can scale the 3 foot walls with NO PROBLEMS!! She won't do it if I'm looking but she gets out everytime so I know that she can do it. I don't have room in my house for anything bigger... I don't know what to do. I've tried leaving a shirt in there for her with my scent on it..and that didn't do anything. I've poured a ton of money into this between getting vets to look at her and do test to make sure nothing is wrong, buying a crate, buying an x-pen, doing a load of laundry a day with just her crate blanket in it (water isn't cheap you know!), and buying Comfort Zone. There is no limit on what I would do for her...but I can't say the same for my family...:(

Gigi
 

I had a little dog that my mother has now, Gigi. She did this very thing...no matter what I tried! You can get an x-pen big enough so she can't jump out of it or pm me and I will send you a pic of one my dad built me so that my puppies would be safe from eagles and hawks if I had to run in and get the phone or help the baby. You could use it in your house instead of outside. Anyway, as soon as I put Gigi in the x-pen (one she couldn't jump or climb out of) she stopped walking around and sometimes it seemed rolling around it her poop. She started using the piddle pad in the x-pen and is now great... but she still HATES the crate and if you crate her she will use it in there (unless you are right there and even sometime then). Good luck. pm me if you want the design of the covered xpen my dad built!

I had the xpen and used it all the time, but, we decided to let Ginger(almost 7 mos) start sleeping with the other ones..Well, every morning, I was getting up to pee and poop on the family room carpet, so, i went to TSC and bought a huge cage on sale for $79, I started putting all 4 dogs in it..well, one of them was peeing and pooping in there every night..so, started weeding them out, keeping one out each night, until I had one left, ginger..So, I decided instead of cleaning up dog crap every morning, I would put a pad in there..so, now, she's back in the cage with pad..I don't know whoever said they don't like to soil where they sleep, some dogs just DON"T care..

Do they have a doggie day care where you live? Maybe that would work. I sure hope you find a solution. This is a "crappy" ;) thing to come home to all the time.

Sarge didn't catch on to the "Don't poop in Bed Idea" until he was about 6 months, but in his defense his "bed" was my tiny apartment kitchen that I baby-gate him into when I leave. I don't even keep his pads in there anymore because he refuses to use them. I've heard a trick that If you keep their food in the crate as well it may help, It would probably take you being long time away from the house to make her OK with pooping in her food and water. I understand that free-feeding is sometimes the only option. Sergeant eats like a bird too, picks up like 2 bites and eats them, then he's on to other things. Poor dear would starve if I didn't leave food down, so I started picking the food up when he was done then putting it down about and hour or two later, etc etc... and I hope to increase the gap of time to teach him he has to eat when its there. He's litterally gone all day without eating more than 5 bites because I felt like I was supposed to pick it up when he was done. Hope this helps. I'm also a student, I know its a little work to try and compromise with other people in the house. ;)

Gee ..you have had a lot of good advice here..and I am lost to what to tell you..just do not give up..could she have a medical issue?..ask a vet..sometimes they can give good suggestions...
just do not give up...

Yea, I asked the vet...and she just laughed and said she would grow out of it. Well I also read that if they are around it for too long (like how she has been doing it for 2 months...) they will get used to it and it will become the norm...well I can tell you one thing...this will never be the norm for my sister or family who are the ones who have to give her a bath and scrape the poop from inbetween her paw pads...

Yesterday my sister came home and Lexie had made her biggest mess yet and my sister left her in her cage for 2 hours while she was upstairs walking around. Lexie was so upset that she was shaking when I came home and let her out...and now she won't even go in the room where her kennel is.

I don't know what to do...I have the weekend to figure it out though. My plan for monday is to lift up her food for an hour before I leave and I'm going to get her a SMALLER kennel because I think it may be too big still...

Do you think it will help if I make her sleep in her kennel at night?

I really can't offer anymore help then you've been given which has been great advice, but I did notice that you said a few time that you can't get bigger x-pen. When people suggested the x-pen they were not talking about bigger, just taller so she can't jump out of it. Just thought I'd point that out. Good luck, I feel for you expecially will your family giving you a hard time over it.

This sounds crazy but...
 

When my son was young...(almost 3) He had just about out grown his diapers. Back then they didn't have all the sizes they have now.

I told him he had to start going on the potty because the diapers were getting to small, and he flat out told me NO! Well I stuck him in training pants (Cloth ones) I told him go in those all you want no more diapers.... I never got mad. I never yelled. I just let him decide he wanted to be potty trained. it didn't tale long before he wanted dry pants.

I know this is way different from a dog. But maybe you need to get those doggie diapers to keep the mess from being to big a mess.... And no more being upset with the dog. Maybe your family shouldn't be cleaning your puppy up if they are being mad and making him fell bad. Yelling and being upset will not help this. If you lived alone, there would be no one to clean up till you got home. Try the diapers and tell your family to not clean him up unless they can be good to your dog in the process... I'm sure this will get better.... Your baby is confused.

The other thing you could do is just potty out side. Potty needs to be potty and that is the only place they go! I read this and it seems to make sense. Sadie holds it in when she is in her expen even though she doesn't have to. She is 18 weeks. I guess once they know to hold it they can! :confused: She still goes on my floor if I'm not watching but not in the expen.

puppy
 

I have one puppy who kept having poop breath. I thought she was eating it. Then I kept seeing poop outside the x pen and wasn't sure how it was getting there. Well, the other day I saw her pick up her poop off the piddle pad and fling it outside the xpen before I could pick it up! It was gross, but really amusing!