Was Puppy Caged or What?
by *** anonymous please ***
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
I just received my new puppy. She is almost 4 months old. I bought a vari-kennel to potty train her with. It was a bit too large so I placed a barrier in it to make it smaller. I've never been to the breeder's home but they breed champs and are considered very reputable. I was told that she was kept in a playpen in the house and that she was able to, and frequently did, get to play in the house.

I have had her home for 6 days now. She wants to stay in her crate 95% of the time; will not eat except in the crate dishes attached to the side of the crate; and has no qualms about pooping or peeing in her bed in the crate... it doesn't bother her at all. I even leave the door open all the time with papers outside and she still opts to poop & pee right there in the crate. She had a hard time getting used to being out of the crate for more than 2 or 3 minutes until just this morning.

I asked the breeder to send one of her favorite toys up with her to make her feel more comfortable. None were sent though she supposedly had toys where she was. I bought her a gazillion toys and she isn't interested in the most simple of them. I speculate she never had any before. I'm sure you know what I'm thinking about her pre-new home days (home privledges, toys, and playpen).

What is your opinion and if my fears (which I hinted at) are true, how do I retrain her to not like peeing and pooping and eating only in her crate? Am I paranoid? Putting her in the crate to crate train her just doesn't make sense since she seems to be used to pooping, peeing, and eating in it and doesn't mind. AAAHHHRRRRR!!!!! Please help!

DISCUSSION:

Hi Anonymous, Your puppy may likely have been in a playpen with a wire bottom. If no newspapers were in the pen she will not know what they are for. My suggestion to remedy this situation is to remove the crate, give her an open top bed may be by just removing the top of the varikennel. Better just to use another type of bed as yours sounds too big anyway. Confine her in an area large enough to play and cover the whole shebang with newspapers. Put water and food nontippable small bowls near her bed. Most breeders, me included, feed all their dogs in their own crates. This is to prevent having one elephant and one skeleton among them. The playpens with wire are very convenient and I have used them also on occasion when I was very busy but always wanted MY own personal dogs to be raised on paper so they would be paper trained. It is much more work to keep changing papers. She could have had a very good environment at the breeders and still take some time to adjust to the change. In her case I would do away with the crate except for transporting in the car for safety. How long is she alone during the day? She may not have bonded with anyone in her new home yet. Just a thought. Hope this helps.
Mary Lou