Have We Made A Permanent Mistake?

[charlies_mum]

hi our 10 week old chi molly and her 1 year old chi brother and hubby and i were driving back from their grandparents house on saturday night and molly started crying hysterically from when we first got in the car (which she normally does for about 2 minutes then she is quiet) but she cried for most of the 20 minute trip home and we ignored her as we didnt want her thinking we were giving her attention for crying as this has worked really well and she no longer cries at night. when we got home and i was settling her into her play pen i noticed she had done a poo in her crate!!! i know now that this was why she was crying because she was telling me she wanted the loo... :D i felt terrible. has this now wrecked all the work we had done with her with crate training? will she do it in there all the time now? i soaked the blanket and washed it in the washing machine and hung it in the sun yesterday to get rid of all the smell and cleaned out the crate to eliminate any smell. im feeling very guilty. thanks for reading

[Erny]

Hey .... don't beat yourself up over this. It was a mistake and we're only human. Mostly, dogs don't like to soil their own sleeping and eating areas so it is likely that only one error is not going to result in your pup now doing so for the rest of all time. Just be vigilant in your house training and knowing when puppy has poo'd last (so you know whether to expect another or not) and take her out to give her opportunity to not poop in the crate. This will help avoid pooping in the crate becoming habitual. :D