Staffy puppy

Question
I have a 4 month old staffy dog who is crate trained.  He does not foul in the house anymore but is fouling in his crate during the day - he can hold himself all night - i feed him in the morning and let him out, he relieves himself numerous times i then put him in his crate and leave the house.  He can be alone for 2 hours or 4 hours not normally any longer and when i return he has wee'd on his bed, doesnt seem to matter what i do he still does it - have taken his bed out and he has wee'd in his crate - he also eats his poo if i am not watching him - please help i am at my wits end - i do clean with disinfectant so no smell is left is he doing it because he doesnt like being left alone?

Answer
Hi Annette,

At just 4 months old, your puppy is just now starting to get bowel and bladder control. It sounds like you are crating your puppy for too long, leaving him no choice but to soil in his crate. The rule of thumb for crate training is one hour for every month a puppy is old. So a 4 month old puppy should not be crated for longer than 4 hours.

It's counter-productive to crate training to allow a dog or puppy to soil in it's crate. Until your puppy is old enough to "hold it", don't crate your puppy if you know you're going to be leaving your him for more than 4 hours at a clip.  Instead, containing him to part of a room, with the help of a child gate or two, or using an indoor dog pen, is a better choice over the crate. Be sure to lay a thick layer of newspaper down over the entire area where your puppy is contained, so clean ups will be easier. It would also help to if you, a friend or family member could take your puppy outside at some point during the day.

You need to promptly clean up accidents, and not give your puppy the chance to eat them. Once it becomes a habit, stopping a dog or puppy from eating feces can be difficult.
Clean the area with an enzymatic cleaner, such as Nature's Miracle, so he'll be less likely to be attracted back to the area, and re-soil.

Feces eating can be a sign of boredom, or an attention getting device so you should give your puppy more daily exercise, and rotate what toys he has access to, so they seem exciting and new.

I hope I've been a help,

Patti