hello, my malinois pup is 5 months old and we got her about a month ago. At first she seemed ok in her crate, went in happily, didn't cry etc. Now she doesn't want to go in, and cries the entire time we are gone, we know coz we have a bsmt suite and the people above can hear it. When we get home, she goes crazy ripping around, jumping, nipping etc, like just panting and so stressed out it seems. We ignore this and let her outside. She also has pooped twice now in her crate and smeared it everywhere, despite being let out and not being gone long. We ignore coming and goings, not making a big deal of it. We give her a treat for going in, leave music on, drape a blanket over it and give her a toy. What can we do?? Not only is she stressing herself out the barking has to stop! Please help!

I forgot to mention she will sleep soundly all night in her crate if im sleeping in the same room

JMO, and they'll be lining up behind to correct me, but it sounds to like you have more of a separation anxiety issue than a crate problem. She may be acting up about going into the crate because she knows she's going to be left behind. You may have the same issues even if she wasn't crated.

Hi,

Sounds like more than crate to me too.

How long is she alone?





PS

Do you have a pretty good poop schedule by now? That is, I'm thinking you have a pretty good idea of when she has to go, in relation to her eating schedule. Have you noted/observed this?

This is only one small factor here, but I know how frustrating it can be for owners when they come home home to a poop-smeared crate, despite the fact that it's no fault of the dog's. And that owner-frustration just adds to the dog's stress. That's one thing that can be pretty much fixed.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (10/10/2013 07:41 PM)
Edit reason: PS

You let us know about how long she's left alone, and we'll go through some helpful steps, OK? There ARE things to do.


I think there are several people on this board who have dealt successfully with S/A in an adopted dog.

I know I sure have. I did lots of work with one tough case.

Now he's my oldest pack member .... a happy 14-year-old.

To chime in, my dog had a similar issue when she was about the same age, she was housebroken, but not quite fully in control of her bowels and if she unexpectedly had another poop, she would bark non stop. My neighbors let me know about it, it may be that your pup is not barking so much from being bad, it may be that she's barking for help, and now she associates the crate with the stress of having to go, not being able to, and soiling herself. I don't know if this is what's going on with your pup.

hi, thanks for the replies. She is usually just left alone maybe an hr while we go to the store but sometimes and this is rare she is left maybe 5-6 hrs at night if both me and my fiancée go out. The one time she pooped was such time and last time she pooped it was only a short trip to the grocery store. She is pretty much housebroken. She is let out and knows the go potty command. Her poops have been gooey and runny though so maybe she isn't feeling well and that's not helping. We just de-wormed her as her previous owners said she needed one more dose. We have her final dose of panacur today.

 Quote: Cat Richter

hi, thanks for the replies. She is usually just left alone maybe an hr while we go to the store but sometimes and this is rare she is left maybe 5-6 hrs at night if both me and my fiancée go out. The one time she pooped was such time and last time she pooped it was only a short trip to the grocery store. She is pretty much housebroken. She is let out and knows the go potty command. Her poops have been gooey and runny though so maybe she isn't feeling well and that's not helping. We just de-wormed her as her previous owners said she needed one more dose. We have her final dose of panacur today.

Based on this post, regardless of the cause , I would not crate and leave this dog at all, not even to the corner store, without a potty first. You can't say if it's because she can't hold it, or whether deworming or something else is causing diarrhea. Even my dog, who is alone all day, can't hold it if she has the runs.

Sometimes it seems like they just kinda 'Wake up' at 5mos and they aren't satisfied with just the amount of training and exercise they were ok with last week.

Its an age I always notice a lot of those light bulb moments for them where the play and foundation things come together and they're like a little kid with new toys. They want more.

I agree that the pooping is a timing thing and some dogs just aren't as inhibited about where they go when they have to. Take some time concentrating on a routine of short periods of crate time between training and exercise where you only bring her out when she's quiet.

I agree that this dog needs a potty run before every owner absence. A good one, with lots of time for emptying in more than one "squat."

Also, the diarrhea has to be addressed. As Duane says, that complicates all this.

Steve said: "Take some time concentrating on a routine of short periods of crate time between training and exercise where you only bring her out when she's quiet."

Yes .... the dog needs to have crate time that is not associated with your absence. Upbeat, just-exercised, varying-length-of-time crate time. I'd start that immediately.


Also, what I think was probably the most "lightbulb moment" thing for the dog was when I started calmly leaving for extremely brief moments. I came back before he even had a chance to react. I walked away far enough from the door so he couldn't smell me, but that's all ... then came back and came in, calmly. No hello, no nothing. (No excited returns, ever, just like no real goodbyes.)

Then I would do this for five minutes, lurking outside, being major entertainment for the neighbors, I am sure, and returning just as I heard him gearing up. Again, no excitement. No greeting. Calm, casual. Then an hour later I might leave for just thirty seconds. And so on.

You get the idea. My departures slowly became untied from long periods of being left alone.


I would sure like the diarrhea to be resolved. I would probably start a new thread about it. (One thing is, as Duane said, "Even my dog, who is alone all day, can't hold it if she has the runs." And this is a puppy. A "pretty much housebroken" puppy.)

Actually, 5 hours is a long time anyway, bordering on too long, I'm thinking. Even a new adult dog, for me, would have someone come by and take her out in the middle of such a long absence in the dog's first weeks of being here.