Poo In Crate?!?!?

[PhoebesMom]

Phoebe has now decided to poo in her crate every night. This has been going on for a week and I'm at a loss for what to do about it. I even stayed up until after midnight for the last 2 nights so that I could take her outside just "one last time". There was poo in there again this morning.

Nothing has really changed - she's eating the same food at the same times every day. I still take her outside every couple of hours. We did adopt 2 chihuahuas but that was over a month ago. She's almost 6 months old and had been doing pretty well with housetraining up until this newest adventure.

Aside from being completely disgusting, it just can't be good for her to be laying in her own poo. I'm sure the daily baths aren't great for her skin either.

Anybody else dealt with this problem before?

[lashwish]

Oscar only had pee accidents when he was a pup in his crate.

How much 'extra' room does she have in the crate? You might try cutting down on extra space, just so she has enough to sleep in.

Where do the chihuahuas sleep?

[jwestoverpug]

This may seem like an odd connection, but has she been spayed? I know when Kittie is about to come into season she almost always starts to have accidents in her crate over night. I don't know why, but I know from talking to other breeders that it's fairly common.

Jesse

[PhoebesMom]

The crate is only big enough for her to comfortably stand and turn around in. I purposely bought it in that size to discourage accidents. If I put her in a smaller crate she wouldn't be able to move at all.

The Chihuahuas have their own crate and I keep it in another room so they don't hear each other moving around at night. The boys are kind of yappy and will wake us all up if they think they hear something.

[Lemon]

I don't have any advice, but I came here to empathize. Lemon pooped in her crate for our first month with her. It didn't matter that I was getting up to take her out twice a night. She always saved just enough to cover herself in.

After a while, we gave up on the crate. From that moment on, all was fine, and she was able to hold it all night. Your timing is different, though, since Phoebe was doing fine until recently. You've got lots of knowledge at your disposal here -- surely, someone else has dealt with the same issue.

[PhoebesMom]

You know - she IS about to be 6 months old. I have been planning to have her spayed later this month. She has also been licking herself an awful lot the past couple of days. No obvious signs of being in season yet - just the licking.

Thanks for the tip - I would have never made that connection. Good thing the chihuahuas are already neutered. We don't need any "Chugs" or "Pughuahuas" around here.

[Rosco34]

You know - she IS about to be 6 months old. I have been planning to have her spayed later this month. She has also been licking herself an awful lot the past couple of days. No obvious signs of being in season yet - just the licking.

Thanks for the tip - I would have never made that connection. Good thing the chihuahuas are already neutered. We don't need any "Chugs" or "Pughuahuas" around here.

I hope that is the connection...isn't pv wonderful and "chugs" or "pughuahuas" that is hysterical names...