Sammy my dog

Question
My dog is a purebred Boxer and he has a pretty big underbite so he pretty much swallows his food whole...anyway the question is how do I get him to stop peeing and pooping in his crate? I'm a stay at home mom and I let him out about every 2 hours if not sooner..but he still does it(more now since he can't take the cold..so I cant put him on the run)I know hes not doing it to make me mad,but I am getting tired of getting on my hands and knees and cleaning it out of his crate.Please help me..help him.

Answer
  Hi Jennifer,


Sure thing, help's arrived. =0)


Eating:
There are a couple of things you can do to slow him down while he's eating.
Find two or three small to medium sized river rocks, round, and place them in his dish, then pour the food in. If he's a fast eater it's also smart to pour a small amount of water over the dry food and let it sit for 5 minutes. Often dogs inhale the dry food without chewing it first, then the dog drinks water and the kibbles go "Poof" in his tummy, which can cause gas, tummy ache and even for him to poop more since more gas is developed.

However, you may want to look into the type of food you bought him. What brand is it? What are the ingredients? You may want to try a grain free kibble diet like Natural Balance, EVO, Solid Gold, I believe Nature's Recipe also offers a grain free diet now. If you own a COSTCO card, Kirkland just came out with a grain free diet, aprox. $30/25 pound bag which is a steal!
Usually your dog will only consume a fraction of the usual diets like Iams, Science Diet, etc which aren't good in the first place and are full with fillers.
Grain free diets are highly digestible, there's little waste (Poop) later on.


I don't know how old your Boxer is, therefore I can only suggest that you assure the crate's not to large so he won't have room to use the "Bathroom" in there. When was his last vet check?
Are you feeding him Rawhide bones, Pig Ears, Eatable Nylabones or Greenies which could also cause his blow outs?

Pooping/Peeing in the crate is often related to above ideas but can be behavioral if:
The dog's from a breeder who had little interest helping the mommy dog keeping the "Nest" clean.
Is from a PetStore where the dog learned it's alright to soil into a confinement.

May you please let me know how old he is, how long you've had him and where he's from?


DogNanny 911


PS: Make sure you don't scolt him for this and that he's in the yard/away from you so he won't witness you cleaning out his crate so the possibility of him doing this to get attention is singled out.