I have a 8 month old german shepard, she has a great life bt everyime she
is crated (or nearly every time)she poops in her crate. we have tried
exercise, have regular feeding times, are seeing a dog trainer. You name
and we have tried it- It does not matter whether 30 minutes or 5 hours she
goes in her kennel please help figure out my wonderful dogs bad habit

"clvargo" wrote in message
lkaboutpets.com...
I have a 8 month old german shepard, she has a great life bt everyime she
is crated (or nearly every time)she poops in her crate. we have tried
exercise, have regular feeding times, are seeing a dog trainer. You name
and we have tried it- It does not matter whether 30 minutes or 5 hours she
goes in her kennel please help figure out my wonderful dogs bad habit

Are you keeping her in the crate when you are home? Or was she crated for
long periods of time when she was younger, longer than she could physically
"hold it"?

Because this is strictly a guess, but I think she learned that if she poops
in her crate, she gets let out of it and gets to be around her people.

If you are keeping her crated when you're home, try doing something else to
maintain control and keep her within your sight. Put a leash on her, say.

More exercise probably wouldn't hurt, either.

When she poops where you want her to, be sure and PRAISE her. "Good Girl,
you had to GO OUT!"

flick 100785

Dakota is never in her crate when we are home- or at night only when we
work. She had a period when we first had her that she quit going in her
crate. now she continues. we have worked with the trainer who feels the
problem lies in seperation anxiety and have moved her crate upstairs but
this has not worked she always get praised when she goes ouside or has a
good day- we have tried kong treats that she only gets when she goes in
her kennel which she absolutely loves and covering the crate because the
trainer thought it would cut down on stimuli- Dakota can always hold it
and tells us when she has to go when we are home- almost think we need to
be home 24/7 the longest she is ever in her crate is 7 hours and that is
only one day a week the rest are only 5 hours or so- but even if i leave
for 30 minutes she sometines reacs by going - thank u for trying to help
if you come up with any other ideas let me know=)

"clvargo" wrote in message
lkaboutpets.com...
Dakota is never in her crate when we are home- or at night only when we
work. She had a period when we first had her that she quit going in her
crate. now she continues. we have worked with the trainer who feels the
problem lies in seperation anxiety and have moved her crate upstairs but
this has not worked she always get praised when she goes ouside or has a
good day- we have tried kong treats that she only gets when she goes in
her kennel which she absolutely loves and covering the crate because the
trainer thought it would cut down on stimuli- Dakota can always hold it
and tells us when she has to go when we are home- almost think we need to
be home 24/7 the longest she is ever in her crate is 7 hours and that is
only one day a week the rest are only 5 hours or so- but even if i leave
for 30 minutes she sometines reacs by going - thank u for trying to help
if you come up with any other ideas let me know=)

It is possible that the problem is separation anxiety, also.

We live in a situation where I can have as many dogs as I want to and take
care of. My solution to separation anxiety was to get another dog to keep
the first, anxious one company. I understand that isn't always possible, or
desirable.

I wonder if it would work to re-condition her to not going in her crate in
this way:

Crate her. Leave for about 15 minutes, come home and let her out. Take her
outside on the leash until she goes to the bathroom, and praise her. The
next day, make it a little longer that she's crated. Etc. Oh, and when you
come back inside to let her out of the crate, don't make a fuss over her.
Make a big, happy, good-girl fuss over her AFTER she goes to the bathroom.

You wrote: "She had a period when we first had her that she quit going in
her
crate." Do you mean that she went in her crate at first, then shortly after
that, she quit? Or do you mean, you know the situation where she came from,
and in that former home she went in her crate? I think there are some dogs
that are crated longer than they can hold it, as puppies, and they just grow
up not minding going to the bathroom in their crate. In that case, it might
work to plant firmly in her mind that she's a good girl when she goes to the
bathroom OUTSIDE, as in the sort of reconditioning I suggested, above.

flick 100785