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Why is my dog pooping in her crate?

My puppy is 9 weeks old so I get that she’s very young, however I have read over and over again that the best way to potty train a dachshund is by crate training. The idea is that dogs don’t like to go in the places they sleep so they hold it. That is not even remotely happening with our pup.

Here is the schedule: Boyfriend goes to bed at 11pm. He takes her out before lights out. I get up at 1am and take her out. He gets up at 3 am to take her out. Finally at 5am I get up for the day and take her out.

She is very young so we were recommended to take her out every two hours or more. However, almost immediately after putting her in her crate throughout the night, she pees or poops in the crate. Like immediately after we put her in there. We’re still locking the crate and she’s doing her business in there while we watch in horror! And we will have JUST taken her out. We are starting to think she is doing it on purpose because she wants to be with us and hates the crate.

During the day if we leave the crate open she will go in and out of it and even lay down in it and take a quick nap, and we have tried feeding her in there as well as putting toys in there, though we have stopped putting her toys in there because she is pooping on them!

We know this is the hardest part and we just need to get through it, but this is happening multiple times a night and she’s so small... how can she have so much poop to do this much damage! We’re hoping someone who has been through similar can give us a nugget of wisdom to get us through. Does it just take consistency and time or are we doing something wrong?? Help!!

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It may be that your dogs needs a slightly longer walk untill it has done a poo. Also when jut starting walk , if the dogs stops to pee,say ' Good potty or good pee and reward with a pet or a small treat. After awhile, reduce treats but continue verbal reinforcement, with a treat at the end.

First off I disagree with crate training and potty training going together. She is associating the crate with going potty and thinks that's what she's suppose to do. Why only crate at night? And how did you start it out? Did you slowly go up to 2 hours or expect her to be ok with it from the start?

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They also tend to do this if the crate is too large for their size - tough when they’re puppies and you know they’re going to grow, so you want to accommodate they’re adult size. However, they’ll designate “areas” of the crate to food, sleep, poop if adequate space allows! Along with what the other commenters said!

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A dog that young will usually poop about 20 min after eating. I would take the poop out of the crate and set it in a spot in your yard where you want them to go, then praise your pup for going. I would also stay out longer with them so they have a chance to go pee and poop.

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Reasons why your dog may be pooping in his crate relate to behavioral issues, physical limitations, or medical reasons that can cause your dog to be unable to hold it until he is let out of his crate. Often, conditions that cause diarrhea or a loss of bowel control can result in crate soiling.

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Totally agree this could be a concern, but probably after other likely causes have been ruled out or if it was diarrhea, which doesn’t sound like the case. If she’s doing it upon entering the kennel, it’s like an association or just being a pup, thing ☺️

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