wire fox terrier pooping in crate

we have a wire fox terrier who is about 5 1/2 months old. He is crated during the day while we’re at work.

We feed him at night and take him out several times in the morning and once we’re home from work to make sure he gets exercise and uses the bathroom. He also gets to hang around the house while we’re home in the evenings.

Usually he uses the bathroom (pee and poop) when we take him outside. But sometimes even though he’s used the bathroom in the mornign, we will come home to poop in his crate. And sometimes even though he’s used the bathroom in the evening, we wake up to poop in his crate in the morning!

And to top things off Saturday, (which is a day where we dont crate him much) he pooped on the living room carpet. Out of nowhere!?! We had taken him out that morning to use the bathroom. So I’m like where is this poop coming from?

It’s all baffling and troubling. I feel like at this point he should be able to hold his poop longer.

I even bought a smaller crate to see if he would restrain himself, but he hasn’t.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

One, you may be overfeeding and two, two meals a day will be easier to maintain a poo schedule.

You also may have a crate that is too big or he may be experiencing some separation anxiety…though I would assume urine would be evident as well.

A five and a half month old puppy should be eating at least twice a day. Once a day is a heck of a lot of food in one sitting,it can take up to 8 hours for a full stomach like that to process through the GI tract.

Divide the meals in half. I wouldn’t want to go 24 hours til my next meal…

he also cannot be expected at his age to be fully housetrained. So be patient and “when in doubt, take him out”