I don't know what to do....I have an 8 month old black lab that has been peeing and pooping in her kennel since almost day one. When she's not in her kennel, she goes to the door and knows where to go in the yard, but she seems to not care if she sits in her mess. I work full time, but it doesn't seem to matter if she's in there for a short time or a longer period of time. It's gotten worse now with the pooping. I just don't know what to do any more...
Hi and welcome Jean to the forum. What is her daily routine, re: training, exercise etc? It does seem a bit odd that she sits in her own poop. Has she got an area to toilet in away from her sleeping area?
I also have a chocolate lab. In the morning, they go outside to do their business, play for about 15-20 minutes, eat breakfast, go back outside and then in the kennel. They are both in their kennels during the day, then when I get home from work, we go to the dog park or for a walk. They are out of their kennels all evening with no accidents in the house, then during the night she will poop and/or pee. Also on the weekend if I am gone even for a little while, she will pee in the kennel even if she had gone out and peed outside right before I left....I'm so upset and don't know what to do....
She may have a medical condition unknown to you. Have you consulted your vet? Prob a good idea if not.
If her kennel is quite large this may have somehow hampered her training. Like puppies, when they have a large crate may toilet in one end of the crate, but if it a smaller area they learn not to? If that is an issue, you might need to confine her to a smaller area in her kennel to re-teach her toilet training?? I think? Asking the vet to assess her might be worthwhile. I guess if separation is an issue, you might get some clues if you could maybe film her behaviour when you are away?
I don't have an answer, just wanted to give my sympathy. My first Rottie loved his crate and also loved to poo in it then roll around in it. He was a good boy, house trained early, otherwise very clean, was only left for short periods, but still did this. I finally got tired of it and as he wasn't destructive at all, graduated him from his crate to my spare bedroom which had been dog-proofed. He still had the occasional accident, but didn't roll in it, and eventually (year old) finally grew out of it altogether.
She had a UTI when she was about 10 weeks old which kind of explained the constant peeing, but that cleared up. I am contacting the vet today to do a full work up to see if theres anything else. the separation anxiety may be the answer, but with working it will be difficult to make changes. She's with our chocolate lab all day (their kennels are right next to each other so she's not completely alone)....
Could you put her in with the Chocolate Lab so that they are together in one kennel to see if that might help?
