# Dog Pooping in crate.



## Mavalos (May 11, 2009)

Hello guys.

I have a problem with my dog and I just don't know how to fix it.
I have a 9 month old dog and the problem I'm having is that she is defecating in her own crate at night. It's weird because I always take her out before she goes to sleep and almost all of the time she'll poop just before she sleeps.

When I wake up though almost always I find that she poops (not a lot of it htough) during the night. I've tried leaving the crate open and she still poops inside her crate. 

I don't know how to correct this problem so that she at least does it outside of it. By the way I live in an appartment so no way of leaving the door to the garden open . 

Any suggestions?

Edit: This problem just started happening like 3 weeks ago by the way. Never happened before. Her eating habits didn't change either and her crate wasn't changed.


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## emily445455 (Apr 8, 2008)

That's interesting, usually dogs won't eliminate where they sleep....sometimes puppies, mine did. I have a few ideas:

- Stay outside with your dog until she poops. Even if it's an hour, then give her extra praise her for going outside.

- Move her dinner time up so she's more likely to poop before bed time.

- Make the crate smaller. Sometimes if the crate is too big, they will go in a corner and sleep in another corner.

- Take out any blankets, shirts, etc. This one's going to suck for the dog...but if there are blankets, shirts, etc in the crate, she can cover her poop up with them and not be as bothered by it.

Good luck.


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## Mavalos (May 11, 2009)

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.
Yeah she poops just before bedtime most of the time yet she still "holds" some of it for when she's in her crate. I don't think crate size is an issue because like I said, even when I let the crate open so she'd go outside of it if she had to, she still poops inside her crate . 
There's also nothing inside the crate like blankets, shirts ,etc, !


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

Sounds like her metabolism has changed. Change her feeding time(s) so that she eliminates earlier in the evening and perhaps again before bedtime.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

I am going to make a wild guess here but I am wondering if she is pooping in her sleep.. maybe when she sleeps she is relaxing a little too much... and out it comes. There have been posts here about dogs pooping in their sleep. 

You are saying it is not a lot of poop and not like a normal BM if I am getting this right. 

I would suggest getting up one time in the night.. maybe 4 hours after going to bed to "see" and if there is poop.. that MAY be your answer. Oh yeah.. and take her out if there is none and see if it helps at all. 

IF you think this is what it is, first try feeding her most of her food 1X a day in the morning and only a little at night (if you feed 2X a day). If it still happens, I would see a vet...

If she is at all over weight (not saying she is), cut her food by 1/3 and see how it goes. If she eats like most dogs she will inhale it anyway and 1/3 less won't matter. Really. 

Another thing.. no idea what you are feeding but some of the cheap supermarket dog foods can really make a lot of dog poop.. (of course, for all I know you are feeding her Merrick or something real high end so this is just being added in case).


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## Gingergal (May 5, 2009)

Are you cleaning up the area with a special cleaner, to get rid of the odor that only a dog can smell, like nature miracle? For whatever reason he began pooping if he can still smell it, it may encourage him to still go there.


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## Mavalos (May 11, 2009)

Thank you guys for all of your replies.
I haven't tried cleaning the kennel with a special cleaner, maybe that will help. I will check also to see if this is during her sleep and changing her feeding habits might work 2.

Thank you guys so much!!!


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