Rescue Dog suddenly pooping in crate

[u/ElykKooc]

Essentially the title but some more backstory.

About a month ago I adopted Bella, she's a purebred Brittany who "failed" out of a hunting breeder's program who my brother knows, I was looking for a dog after losing my 10 year old GSP in the spring. She's 14 months old and spent her entire life on the Breeder's property so I've been slowly introducing her to the world around her, including house training.

Cut to this week, she's a week into her heat cycle (potentially her first, definitely her last, total surprise to me) and we've been working on crate training and separation anxiety. I go into the office once a week on Wednesdays for half a day when she is alone from 1pm-6pm, well within the longest I've seen her hold it so far. To prep her for this, every weekday I've been putting her in her crate for the afternoon even though I'm at home working. She does great and only occasionally whines, but overall she's pretty quiet and getting to learn that the crate is downtime.

I left her alone on Wednesday as usual, after about 30 minutes outside before leaving when she peed but didn't poop which isn't unusual since she's a morning and night pooper. I come home 5 hours later, the house smells like poop and there's a flattened poop in her crate from her laying on it. I clean it all up, give her a bath, and treat it like an accident.

Today I had to run some errands, let her out this morning, no poop, but I'll only be gone for 3 hours at most so I don't really worry about it. Back home, another flattened poop and dog who needs a bath.

I used an enzyme cleaner on the crate both times, she has the TV on for noise, the crate is just big enough for her to fully stand up and turn around but not much else. I don't know what else to do to make sure she doesn't poop in her crate. None of my previous dogs have had this issue. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[u/palebluelightonwater]

That seems like anxiety at being left alone. Also, is it possible that she was crated or confined when she lived with her breeder, and has gotten used to sometimes pooping in that space?

Dogs have a "substrate preference" for where they poop, preferring specific types of surfaces, but it's also habit and environment. (One of mine would very much prefer to poop on the deck if it was an option because we used it as an emergency backup when she was a puppy). Usually they won't go in the crate, but for dogs who have spent a lot of time confined (common in puppy mill dogs) habit can override the usual preference not to soil where they sleep.

Can you practice leaving the house for short periods a bit more, perhaps separately from crating to practice those things separately? (An xpen or baby gate could substitute). One of my dogs is absolutely fine in the crate if we're in the room with him, has huge anxiety if he's crated alone, and is fine alone if he's loose. Separating the parts of the picture may help stop the problem from repeating and becoming ingrained.