Dog question: messing in crate

[DammitJanet]

What would cause a dog that had been doing very well with being put in her crate every night at about 9 at night and then getting let out at 4 am to suddenly start messing in her crate for the last two nights in a row. Before this she had only had one pee accident and we had attributed that to letting her have some water too close to bedtime.

We started letting her sleep in the house about a month and a half ago and she is in the house for hours at a time during the day. I let her out many times during the day and at night before its bedtime I put her out for about an hour so she can do all she needs to do. Then I bring her in and let her play a little bit, she gets her bone and will actually end up taking it and put herself into the crate at night.

And not to be gross or anything but her poo isnt firm. I havent changed her feed or anything like that. I wont let Tony give her table scraps unless he is doing it behind my back. I have told him her tummy isnt built like Buddy's or even her mother's was. She seems to need to stay on a firm track of food. I do give her treats but they are the same ones I have given her all along. Peanut Butter dog biscuits from Walmart.

I need to figure this out because if it doesnt get better Tony wont let her stay inside and I dont want that. Could it be worms and I need to worm her good? I think I am gonna try that today. I have a bottle of that here and can do it easily enough. I just dont know why she would revert to anything else. I want my baby in the house...sigh.

 

[hearts and roses]

Honestly, it sounds less like a behavioral thing and more like she has a little bug. You could give her some boiled chicken and rice, a little at a time and even some pepto-bismol (look on line for doses). Look for worms in her poop. If they aren't there, it's more likely she ate something when she was outdoors and it upset her digestive system.

Is she ever off the property where she could come in contact with other animals poop or germs? Could she have caught something? Puppies are prone to giardiasis (sp) which would cause diarrhea. If she has diarrhea, she likely has no control over holding it for too long. Poor little thing.

 

[DammitJanet]

I dont think she leaves the property. We do have her outside but she tends to stay right in the front yard and under my house. She plays in my front yard but we dont have a fence so I cant be sure. Her BM's were pretty firm up until the last week but I noticed the last couple of times I saw her go that they were not and then when she messed her pen they were this real messy. Her crate is getting very small for her so its not like she has room to go at one end and then move to the back to lay down. When this happens she ends up standing up and cowering until Tony gets up to let her out. He had to throw the whole crate out this morning. Im gonna have to hose it out today.

I do have some freezer burnt chicken I was going to throw away. I will boil that up and feed her that to settle her tummy.

 

[TerryJ2]

Sounds like worms.

 

[Jody]

Broady has only messed in his crate one time and he was sick. She could have caught a mouse outside trying to get in the house or anything else. Sounds like she doesn't feel well. I would deifnately lay off the food for a moment, and give her lots of water and definately chicken and rice boiled. That really helps their upset tummies. I hope she feels well soon. Does not sound like something she is doing intentionally, and I think she will get it under control when she feels better.

 

[Hound dog]

You need to worm a pup once a month regardless. So I would worm her and see if things improve.

Maggie only has loose stool when she gets hold of something she shouldn't.............like snitching trash or picking up something on the walk. Travis woke up to a surprise the morning after I caught her licking at something in the trash. Evidently I didn't catch her fast enough because it loosened her stool.

Could be table food. Some dogs as pups don't tolerate it well at all. Maggie can manage some things but not others. Meat/broth is good........some veggies seem to be ok.......others better not try it. lol

Maggie will not mess in her crate. Only time is with diarrhea and oh my did she bark and cry up a storm every time! She was so ashamed after. lol poor baby. She whizzed in it once as a little baby, discovered quick she did NOT like it and never repeated it. Any house accidents are easy to find, they're right in front of the door. Those only happen if someone misses her signal, and have thankfully become rare.

 

[DammitJanet]

Abby's house accidents are in the bathroom...lol. I guess she has figured out that is where we go so that is where she should go if we dont catch her signals. And I mean she will do it right in front of the potty. My potty too.

We have only had her inside for about five weeks now I think and we do put her out very early in the morning. She is not expected to be in the crate long. She puts herself to bed about 9:30 or so and gets up at 4 am. Normally I dont let her back in the house until about noonish. I just gave her some wormer in a tiny bit of food like it says on the bottle. I will give her some water for the rest of the day and leave her outside for the next 24 hours to hopefully give her time to get all the worms out. One thing I dont want is a bunch of worms in the house!

 

[donna723]

There are many different kinds of worms and not all of them are visible in their poop. It does sound more like some kind of tummy upset rather than a behavioral thing. Most dogs will avoid messing in their crate if at all possible. I would worm her too and try the boiled chicken and rice. Also you might look at what you're feeding them. Food with corn it in can cause problems like this if the dog is allergic to it, and many of them are.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Janet - if she's that consistent about using the literal bathroom... you could probably train her for litter box (I've known about a few dogs that did that). Might make your life a lot easier in the long run!