Adult Dog Defecating In Crate

Question
Hi there,
We have a 2 year old female staffy who for the past week, has be deficating in her crate each night. She has been crate trained since she was a pup & we have NEVER had this problem before. She always gets fed at 5pm & I we make sure we watch her go to the toilet at 10.30pm before putting her in her crate. She gets let out at 6am, so is in there for no longer than 7.5 hours. We have a 5 month old baby & i'm wondering if its an attention seeking problem? Any advise would be great.

Bree

Answer
Dogs can feel displaced when a baby arrives. It sees that the baby is receiving a lot of attention and thus similar to sibling rivalry in nature. Be sure to spend dedicated time with your dog, and spend time in play and affection periods so it does not feel "cheated" Do not make a fuss about the potty, if the dog is using this for attention  (there are no medical or diet reasons) then the dog is training you.  Put the dog where it cannot see you clean the crate/. Then when the dog returns, it did not see you as its servent, the crate is just magically clean.
When the dog wants attention it wants to see you react to it. By denying the dog that response, the dog eventually stops the behavior.

regards,

Henry Ruhwiedel
www.dogkennel.org