"Dirty" puppy won't stop messing in crate - Page 1

My almost 13 week old male GSD puppy won't stop messing his crate. He is spending just short amounts of positive time in there. Trying to reinforce the positive training for his crate. When I am not home or at night when I am sleeping he has puppy pads to go on. 75% of the time he makes it onto the pad. I feed him twice a day and I always put the food in his crate, trying to go with the whole "he won't mess where he eats"....but for some reason he goes into his open crate and messes it once a day. 

This really is his only issue at this time.

any advice to correct this or will he just stop doing it? 

Are you absolutely sure you are keeping a sufficient eye on
him, to notice when he looks as though he might want to 'go'
and to get him outside where you want him to eliminate ?

He obviously thinks the crate is a toilet area.  Make a false ceiling in the crate the height of his shoulder so when he goes in, he cannot stand with his head up and put a toilet pad next to it.  Obviously you remove the false ceiling if he is going to be shut in.  This should break the habit as he won't be able to get into a position to mess and will hopefully come out and use the pad instead..
 
Margaret N-J

Try a smaller crate.

My thought are that he has too much room in the crate, put a box or something else inside the crate so that he has less room and hoping he won't use the smaller area for a toilet.

he is 13 weeks...and he is a he.....boys take a little longer...give it more time..he will figure it out..

First off, stop putting pee pads down, only let him "go" outside.
Yes, if he goes and there's nothing to absorb it, it's going to be extra messy, but hey, he will notice.
No more open door to his crate, he can only sleep in his crate.
Feed him outside, chances are he needs to "go" right after he eats or drinks some water.
Also, don't get mad when he soils in his crate, just show him major disappointment by you acting very sad,
believe me he will feel like crap and want to make you happy;) 
 I had a pup doing the same thing and I did all these things and then I gave up and put her up for sale,
boy, I swear she knew how much I wanted a dog that would just go outside and stop soiling her crate,
somehow, she stopped, I really think it was the disappointment I showed to her, sounds bizzare>ya I know..
worked for me though, no more soiling her crate!

 

Yes i agree, stop giving him mixed signals by having potty pads in the house. Either he goes outside and potty's or he goes back in the crate.
And some dogs are pigs, they don't care about crapping all over the place. I see this problem mostly in European bred police dogs. They are the most disgusting dogs i've ever worked with. You can walk them for an hour and they come right back in the run and piss on the walls and crap in front of the gate so they stomp in it and splatter it every where. I have no idea how the cops in my city put up with these disgusting dogs in their cruizers.
If your not playing with him keep him "Teathered" to you by a leash. This vastly improves your chances of success, because he can't wonder away. If he makes a mess them it's clearly your fault because you were not watching him.
Less free time and more structured time.
Mirasmom had some great suggestions too.
 

I have never understood the use of "puppy pads" Sorry but to me this is just a lazy owner. Ive never used them and personally dont believe in them because your really giving the dog a mixed message. Its not ok to pee in the house, oh but its ok to pee in the house on a "pad". For my dogs it just isnt ok to pee in the house. period. I often hear that once the dog gets older, owners have a hard time completely breaking the dog. Really?

I would get a smaller crate, as was previously suggested. If the dog still wants to poop/pee in there, then I would leave the crate dirty for a day or so. This has worked for me. It seemed that as soon as I would clean the crate out, the dog thought "Thanks mom I think Ill just poop in here" NOT. Some have just eventually outgrown it - thank God.

Barb

I agree with blitzen, try a smaller crate. I have a puppy and she would just keeping going over and over. I put her in a small cat crate (she was 8-11 weeks old at the time) and she stopped. Then she just learned not to eventually. Good luck