Pooping in Crate

Comments

• KFontaine04

  January 2009 edited January 2009

  Have you cleaned the blanket properly? He may still smell it and is tempted to do more. You need to use a natures miracle type cleaner/detergent to get rid of all the scents they pick up.
  
  Or maybe he is just requesting a new blanket...
• Sangmort

  January 2009 edited November -1

  I second everything Kristin said...
  
  
  He's probably smelling something on the blanket to make defecate. ~
• ILuvMy2Shibas

  January 2009 edited January 2009

  I have washed the blanket many times, i guess i will need to try some natural cleaners as suggested.
  
  Its odd to me that he has had the blanket since he came home with me, which was almost 4 months ago, and this just started a week ago, and only at night!
• kojichan

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Seems like he's still too young for one. The breeder that sold me Koji told me to keep nothing other than the plastic liner in his crate until he was at least 5 months old. She said they will pee on something absorbent. Sounds like they'll also use it to hide poop as well! Leave the blanket out for now.
  
  Having no blanket bothers you more than your dog. In the beginning it was driving my wife crazy that our Koji didn't have something soft to sleep on. So as soon as we hit that 5 month mark, she made me get a pad for his crate. All he did was treat it as a toy, and chew on it. So we pulled it out and waited another month. Guess what? Same reaction. So we pulled it out again. I think he was about 7-8 months before we were able to let him sleep on it. In all that time, he never once told me he needed a soft blanket or pad to sleep on. ; )
• Calia

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Try putting an old towel in his crate instead and see what he does with it. This can help you to determine whether it's the blanket or just something in the crate
• lindsayt

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Kojichan: the benefit of introducing bedding at a young age is you can teach the pup from the get go not to destroy the "good bed". The other benefits of having bedding are arguable maybe but I prefer to use it at all ages. Some owners here use it in crates and some don't and the dogs are probably fine but I think it's kinder on growing joints to have a little padding, especially true for larger or older dogs and even more so if your dog spends a great deal of time in a crate (overnight or if you're at work).
  What about a foam pad instead of a blanket-something he couldn't wad up and hide poos under? I guess that's better than him eating the evidence. What about letting him have an expen with his crate so he could have an area outside the crate to go if he had to overnight-maybe that would allow you to hear him moving around a little better? Reduce the interior size of his crate a little for overnight-restart crate training?
• ILuvMy2Shibas

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Ok last night there was no probelm....his crate is smalled to instill the training, he has never been in an open crate!
  
  He is very vocal so if he wanted to go out he knows he can vocalize that at night, he has done before!!!
  
  He also tried eating the pad i used to have for him, so i removed till he he's older, he doesn't eat his blanket, he does however chew on it like a baby would.
  
  I'm not really worried there is a problem i was more wondering why all of a sudden this has started!!!
• JaYi

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Maybe he's hungry and saving it for a snack?
• CrimsonO2

  January 2009 edited November -1

  How old is Guinness again? He isn't at that rebellious/regressive adolescent stage is he?
  
  Jesse
• Sangmort

  January 2009 edited November -1

  OR maybe he's doing it just to mess with your mind? Shibas are known to do this ~