Separation Anxiety in Crate causing Nervous Pooping

[Hendrix O]

Hello everyone,

we are having some major crating issues w/ our 13 week old female boxer Pixie. We have had her for approximately 5 weeks and cannot leave her home without her pooping in her kennel/crate. I'm pretty sure it is due to being nervous and not because she cannot hold it. We have left her in for periods as short as 25 minutes and she still managed to completely "mess" her crate (max time left in the crate is 2.5 hours).

We have tried all sensible techniques found on Boxer World along with many other websites including: 1. slow introduction ( 10 seconds, 30 second's, 1 Minute and so on). 2. Feeding in the crate. 3. Making it seem like a happy and fun place. 4. Stuffed Kong. ETC....

Good News: She does sleep all night long in the crate, next to our bed with the gate closed.

Based on her night routine and the fact that most of the time before putting her in the crate she is successful in "doing her business", I have come to the conclusion that her pooping in her crate when we are gone is attributed to nerves and anxiety. On top of that the smell is much more sour and ripe than her normal "movements".

We have tried placing the crate in the kitchen as a change of venue, however we experienced the same results. We have blocked off the crate to make it more conducive to her size, but no luck. My close friend has Pixie's Mamma and a few of her remaining litter-mates and we had her stay with them for one week while we went on vacation, in which she was fine during the day in the crate w/ a sibling.

I can get pasted the whining and barking the whole time we are gone (sometimes 2 hours, per our neighbors), but cleaning the crate every time we get home is getting kind of old.

I have read as may posts as I could on this subject but so far nothing has worked. At one point I thought about finding a room or area in my home to close her off in (w/ the crate accessible), however I feel as though that will not make much of a difference, accept for the fact that the "Business" will be harder to clean.

Side note:

We have a 9 year old male boxer (Hendrix) who was Crate trained originally, but throughout time has earned the right to roam our home as he pleases during the day and when we are gone. I have tried keeping him out of Pixie's crate area so she wouldn't see him, as well as keeping him w/ in occasional range, but no dice.

I'm open to any suggestions... Sorry for the length of the post..

Hendrix O

[Roge]

I was just wondering how Hendrix and Pixie get along because if there are no issues it might work well to leave Hendrix in the same room as Pixie when your out ie; Pixie in the crate and Hendrix in the room, it just might help her feel that shes not alone as it does seem that it is nervous pooping.

[Sansal]

When sky was a puppy she completely freaked out in her crate whenever we had to leave her. She didn't poop but would be out of her mind shaking and barking and even when we got back it would take a while to calm her down. I decided to leave her out in the living room with my other dog Happy and she was fine. Only had an accident a couple of times and I was lucky she was never a big chewer. Maybe you could use a pen and put it in the same room with Hendrix. It might calm her down to not feel completely locked away from him. If you put newspaper down or puppy pads it might be easier to clean than the crate. Maybe use the same training you used for the crate to get her used to the pen. You can also place the crate inside the pen, doors open. Good luck!

[Hendrix O]

@Roge, thanks for your input!! Yes Pixie and Hendrix get along just fine, in fact Pixie would prefer to do whatever Hendrix does. They love to cuddle up on their dogie bed tangled like pretzels I think I did try and leave Hendrix in the same room as Pixie when she was in the crate, however I felt so bad for Hendrix's ears w/ the constant barking, not to mention sealing him off in a room w/ very bad poop stench ;( ..

I also like Sansal's idea of the pen in the kitchen or something, where she can see Hendrix. However I'm also trying to think ahead for when she has to stay over night at a friend's house where a crate would come in very handy... But as I have seen from many previous posts, some dogs are just not cratable ;(

All in all the potty training is going fairly well, the biggest problem is nervous pooping. As mentioned in my post, you can definitely tell by the odor that it is not just a normal movement.

[pairofboxerz]

I have to agree that not all dogs are meant to be crated; for some its a safe haven, but for others its sheer terror and I think you have to go by the individual dog. I think gating her in the kitchen so that your older dog has the option to come and go as he is able to tolerate the barking is a good idea. Has anyone ever tried white noise for dogs - cd's, tapes, white noise machine, etc? Just wondered if it would be soothing for them?