Our bitch on day 59 into her whelp and safely housed in her whelping area, has taken to pooping and peeing in her whelping box. We use indoor outdoor carpet for the flooring in the box and power wash and dry in bright sun between uses. This carpet has been used for previous whelps and I assume she is picking up the scent of its previous use. I'm thinking the power washing is not enough to remove all the reminders of what has been there before. Is there a good solution to put on this carpet? Maybe I just need to use new for her. Anyone else have this issue.

Our whelping setup is in the garage where she has access in and out to a patio area. None of our other bitches have ever done this.

I'd try new carpet if you can.

I agree with CM.

Our litter boxes are always disinfected after every litter. If there are carpets, this is ripped out as well

It's like making you sleep in a dirty/previously slept in by a stranger bed. Where you are suppose to be as comfortable as anything :)

I think your girl is saying POOP ON YOU MA!

I had a bitch do this and it was a pain. She stopped the day she had the puppies

I thought I read in a book about whelping that this is a sign of them claiming the box as their own so no other bitches in the house will go in there. Just a thought.

In the garage?? What about chemicals and gas fumes? What about bugs and mosquitos? What about those little babies...whelping a a rug? Put down some newspapers and cover them with old blankets (washed in washing machine and dried in dryer) for whelping then use newspapers topped with towels and fleece after pups arrive. Better yet bring them inside

Yes, don't whelp the litter in the GARAGE!!! That's where BYB people whelp their litters. You need to have them in the house, at least until they are starting to be weaned, when you can move them into a nice safe area in your garage provided they have adequate room, plenty of attention, and proper heating/cooling.

Maybe your bitch is telling you something by peeing/pooping in the inadequate whelping area!

Maybe she thinks the garage and patio is her kennel area? Has she ever been completely house broken and carpet broken? I have had one girl that goes upstairs on rare occasion and will urinate on an area rug. It began in late stage of pregnancy when she carried a large litter. Downstairs without any rugs, she never has an accident in the house but all my dogs live within the home all the time.

There is a difference between house broken and carpet broken. Some dogs think carpet or a fabric is similar to grass, an area they can relieve themselves on.

You do need brand-new then washed & rinsed well, fresh, new bedding. She is prolley smelling something cleaned or not, it was used before and has odors attracting her to it.

You never said if she was a maiden bitch. Did she ever have an accident in the house or is she a kennel dog?

I agree about the garage, don't use it at all until the pups are 6 weeks or older. Make sure there is nothing of danger in there for Mum and pups.

She sounds confused and might have lots of pressure on the bladder from the litter.

I also whelp in the house, but puppies will and do survive in a garage and a lot worse and not only by BYB. GET REAL

Yep. BYB's whelp in their garage. They have multiple permanent whelping boxes lined up like a factory.
Really quite sick

Some peoples garages are a whole lot nicer than some other peoples houses.

I transformed the garage in an extra room in my house. It is insulated and has AC/heater. NO cars or chemical. Only dog stuff. It is also closer to the kitchen than my living room. Who can have a problem with that? Only closed minded people that stamp other people without getting all the facts.

I'm back (had a very long and trying day with the other dogs yesterday)and would like to assure you that my garage is simply a "spare room" as many of you have described your whelping areas. It is a fully finished and insulated area, cooled and heated as needed. There are no fumes or chemicals, as we do not use the garage except for my whelping area and storage of dog stuff. It is attached to the house and no further away from the living areas than a basement or spare bedroom. There is only ONE whelping box, thank you.

From some of the responders' assumptions I guess their garages would not be suitable for a whelping area. I suppose there are many homes that are not suitable as well.

I do offer other nesting materials on top of the carpet. Newspapers, small towels, etc. I no longer use blankets. Too easy to lose a pup.

This is my bitches 2rd litter. First with us. She is accident prone in the house - on the carpet.

But back to the original question on the whelping box carpets. No, they are not filthy. They are indoor/outdoor carpets and changed frequently, sometimes several times a day, pressure washed with a little detergent and dried in the sun. The pressure washer will tear your hide off if you point it in the wrong direction. It is not one of the little power sprayers - it is industrial strength, mounted on a trailer.

Thanks to you who so graciously offered advice and support. To you that suggested I am a BYB, well, maybe I should apologize that I didn't paint a nicer picture for you to view. I forgot, not everyone has a nice garage and the ability to set it aside for our love of the dogs.

I find this sub-thread amusing, as I, too, just raised a litter in the original back part of my garage, which I have enclosed into a room that houses the water heater and my workbench. If that makes me a backyard breeder in your mind, OK. I did it to give the mother, who lives with someone else, some privacy from my other dogs while she was adjusting to being a mother. To my mind, the important things are not where the liter was raised, but the health checks that are done to ensure they will be as free as possible from genetic problems, the care the parents and puppies receive (including the cleanliness of the whelping area and bedding), the ways in which the breeder tests the quality of the breeding stock (including working ability and temperament as house pets), and the socialization the puppies get. The rest of the house is a real mess, but the room the puppies were raised in was cleaned three times a day. Some people don't allow visitors at all; my pups have been handled by people of all ages and are as well socialized as they would have been if they had been raised in the kitchen. Adjustments can be made to ensure socialization and cleanliness. The OP had cleaned the bedding she was using thoroughly according to her description. Do you buy new bedding for every litter? I don't! But I don't use carpeting- everything is able to go into the washing machine- and does, many times/litter!

I guess the message I am trying to convey is to not take a single element of how a breeder raises a litter and use it to categorize them. I have seen lots of garages that never have a car parked in them, including my own when I lived in California. In fact, my car hasn't been in my garage here in Wisconsin since March or April. My puppies have been going through my garage to get outside for 25 years because it is the only ground level access in my house. It gets puppy proofed before they are let out - no problem.

This is the way it always goes on here.."I'm whelping and raising pups in a garage." Oh it's not *really* a garage...yeah. Same old same old. My basement or garage or kennel...etc is much nicer than most people's homes...well all we can go by is the words written...to most a garage is a place to keep your car, lawn mower and garden equipment tools, lawn chemicals etc...pardon us all if we thought that.

And my point is that some posters jumped to conclusions concerning something that was peripheral to the poster's question and castigated her/him for it instead of focusing on the question. And that IS the way it always goes on here.

Replace everything with new and fresh. If pooping in the box is your only problem, which will surely go away once the puppies are here, you've got it made. Best of luck for a healthy, happy litter.