[lindz]

your puppy is still very young so holding it will sometimes be dificult for him however it seems that he has developed a habit which is what puppies do try not putting any kind of towel in with him. He is connecting potty with towel in the crate.

[eclipse]

Rather than start a new thread i thought it best to post my question in this one.

My pup is 12 weeks old this and he has his "cage" in a small utility room. I now only need to paper half the room in case of night time accidents.

hes a King Charles spaniel and Im wondering after how many months should i expect him to not do his business at night? Since I have taken him home at 9 weeks he has only not done his business in his room once. Fortunately he never goes inside his cage.

[somnio]

wow everyone is so passionate which is good, but i think we forget that we all right in some way and we shouldn't loose track of the issue at hand. i would have the pup checked by the vet first to make sure nothing is medically wrong. because if this was something that has happened all of a sudden i would rule that out first. then i would look back to when the pup started to soil in his crate, was their any event or change in the pups life or yours to cause an up set in the routine? even the smallest change could up set a young pup who strives on routine. what was your inital reaction, did you make a big deal, did you get up set? or did you just clean it up? where is the crate located did that location move? i would for now not use the crate i would put the pup in a safe area, either in a ex pen or baby gate off the kitchen, front enterance or bathroom with a puppy pad ( not newspaper) for night time and when you are away, and for when you are home you can keep the pup teathered close to you so you can supervise what the pup is doing. the reason being the more times the pup is allowed to soil in the crate, he/she will just continue with out truly knowing what he/she is doing wrong.i would put the pup on a schedualed feed (morning, afternoon, evening meals)with approval with a vet, i would also go back to taking the pup out every 2 hours (15 -30min after eating, after naps, play time and of course morning and night and by taking out i mean on leash so you can reward the pup right after its gone outside. once the pup has proven that he/she can hold for 2 hours slowly increase it by half hour increments. once the pup can prove it can "hold it" for 4 hours for 2 weeks without any accidents i would start introducing the crate again, slowly building the time.(so start with 15min, then adding 15min each week). i hope this helps as well as sorry for the sp

[Kim201]

don't worry corgan my 5 month old thinks the crate IS the bathroom. He actually walks over to the crate and pees in it and walks out. Good boy!!!! lol

[Malakaiii]

Once a pup pees in the crate once, they will smell the urine in there for a long, long time unless you clean it up with an enzyme cleaner like Nature's Miracle.

So even if the first time was an accident, they may start peeing in there regularly if they can still smell the urine. (same goes for anywhere else the pup has peed!)

Here's what's worked for us, if anyone else wants to try it:

- pup gets out of the crate in the morning, and we take her out right away (don't put her down in the house on the way to the lawn!)
- out again after meals, naps, or a couple hours of supervised play
- bathroom break before bed
- the crate is in our room, when she wakes up and scratches at the bars, I take her out for a midnight pee, then put her back in the crate (this will go away as she gets older, but is necessary now!)

Bonus points...

- Clean up any messes with Nature's Miracle, and don't punish for errors - it's your fault for missing her bathroom cues! Keep her tethered to you if you aren't watching her every move.
- Praise and give a treat when the pup goes outside
- Give a cue word when the pup goes, such as "hurry, hurry" and she'll eventually learn to go on cue and save you time!
- Keep a schedule of bathroom breaks (and errors), and feeding times, track so you'll know when she usually goes

[joyfulsoul50]

I feel your pain! And appreciate everyone's dialogue. Is making me rethink my dog's crate--may look for an exercise pen option. She is older now and generally trained--but having issues with crystals in her urine--which is common for bichons. I have read a lot about all kinds of infections/issues with accidents and definitely believe it is right to get a urinalysis to r/o infections/crystals. I was trying to treat her problems behaviorally and with her pee breaks during the day and it was really right and good to find there was a physical problem for at least some of her accidents. Also--my brother has the brother of my dog and he peed in his crate often for awhile. They were advised to take the blanket/towel out and not given him anything to soak it up. It seemed to solve the problem then. Best of luck!

[Diamond]

I got a Maltese puppy from a pet store 10 weeks ago. She pees in her crate as well. I work from home so she isn't in the crate much except for when I run errands and at night. The amount of time doesnt seem to be the problem, but as soon as I come in the door, she gets excited and pees before I can get her out. She also pees many times as soon as I put her in the crate even if she has just been taken outside. Any suggestions? She also has peed on guests' feet when they arrive and start patting her. Excited I think. But how do I stop it? Also, do I leave her to lay in the pee or clean it out right away? I don't want her to learn that if she pees in the crate she gets added attention. Help! I love my new puppy but she is driving me crazy!

[luvudogs]

There are some problems that people run into when they buy a dog from a pet store instead of a good home breader. One is potty training. It is difficult to crate train the puppy when he has been confined to a small kennel. He has learned to poop where he sleeps- there is no place else to pee and poop. Get him out of the crate. Since all housebreaking is based on the instinct to keep clean, the instinct must be built back up before crating again. Set him up in an exercise pen or small easy to clean room. Keep the door of the crate open and at the front of the small area and place pappers in the rear. You may want to get a cat litter box and put a piece of grass sod in it which may help him to get used to going in the grass outside. If he still messes in the crate with the door open ,then you know that the crate has become his toilet. Take the crate out of his confinement area. Feed him by dumping kibble on the bottom of a clean crate.This will help turn his bathroom to his kitchen. Feed a high quality food which he does not have to eat a lot to get his nutrition. A young puppy can not hold his bladder for very long. When you walk him, take him to his disigated potty place and tell him "busy" of "potty" so that he can start to learn to poop on comand. When you come in you want to keep him close to you on lead. Keep a treat in your pocket. You may want to tether him to your waste and watch for any sign thats that he is going to potty. Then scoop him up and take him outside to potty place. Do not play now stay serious and unfun. If he pottys treat him immediately and Praise enthusatically. He needs to know what you want of him. Take pup out first thing in A.M. - last thing before bed. If he whines during the night take him out. This is a pain in the neck I know ,but it should not take too long for him to do this once he understands. After 2 weeks of being clean, try him in the crate with the door shut for no more that two hours just after he has pottied outside. If you want to continue with the crate ,if his hair is long, get it cut short. He will feel being wet more with short fur. Remove most or all bedding from crate.Stick to a rutine. If the pup goes out at 7:00 during the week, he will not make it to eleven o'clock if you sleep in. You can try moving his mealtimes. If he is pooping in the middle of the night, try moving mealtime to 9:30 with her last walk about 1/2 hour later. Try feeding 2/3 of her daily amount in A.M. and 1/3 at night. If she makes it through the night but does not poop in A.M. move her dinnertime earlier by thirty minutes or so , or feed her 2/3 of her daily ration at night and 1/3 in A.M. Puppy may have some sort of physical reason why she is having trouble with housebreaking. See a vet to determine this. Above all, do not get angry, scold, or punish the pup. This will only make things worse. She may think that you have some sort of problem with her pooping and hold it until you are not around to avoid getting in trouble. Hope some of this helps. Theee are good books and web sites with videos on easy housebreaking tips and instructions. It's best to not make a mistake with your pup's training at first. It's harder and takes longer to correct something taught incorrectly than it is to have a good idea of how to start of with a sucessfull plan. I sincerely hope something here may help. House training can be tedious and frustrating , but it is for the life of the dog.

[amsr83]

1. make sure that the crate isn't too big so that he can't get away from it
2. don't let him drink too much water at night
3. positive reinforce when he does pee outside

[Tandiey]

Hey there, like so many of you I'm also having crate training issues.

I have a 14 week old Boxer/American bulldog mix. The first week we had her, we got her at 9 weeks, she did fairly well with crate training... she even held it through the night a couple times.
Since then it has gotten increasingly worse. She started peeing in her crate whenever she felt like it regardless of if she had just been outside for 2 hours and she peed 5 times or not. I was only letting her stay in the crate for 4 hours at the longest except at night, but she was holding it through. Now she has started peeing in the house randomly as well as in the crate. She also poops in it if she has to, but she also doesn't try to get away from it. She will just walk through it and lay in her pee until it's splashed and shot everywhere. She doesn't care at all. You'll be playing with her in the house and she will just stare at you and squat and start peeing so we yell NO and take her outside to finish, but after 3 weeks of this, it has only gotten worse. She pees so frequently that it's impossible to get her out in time. She even will pee numerous times in a 20 minute period of being in the crate or house.
We have a 3 year old dog that has NO accidents so she knows where she is supposed to go and we praise both of them when they go outside, especially to reinforce the fact that this is correct behavior for both dogs.
We even went so far as putting her in the other dog's crate with him and she peed all over it and pooped in it 2 times in a 6 hour period during the night. He woke me up whining because she had messed up his cage.
We are at our wits end. On top of this she barks non-stop for hours if she knows you are in the house with her and she is in her crate. I have to keep her covered with a sheet anytime we are inside with her and we can't watch her.
-How do I fix this peeing issue?
-How do I stop her excessive barking?

[Justin123]

Hmm, looks like I'm having a similar problem to you guys.

I've had my 10-week old puppy for 5 days now and I think she is more or less house broken, but she has the world's smallest bladder. She has to pee so often it's ridiculous, and as a result she pees in her crate if I leave for too long. I'm a little worried, after reading this, that her problem might get worse.

I have to go to school on M/W from 8:10 (time I leave) to 4:30, although I get back for lunch at 12:30 an stay until 1:15 (she'll usually pee outside at the very beginning and the very end, and in between I give her a light lunch with a little water).

She definitely dislikes it when she pees in her crate. When she does, she cries a lot. It's blocked off so there's nowhere for her to go. She's also great about peeing outside. All signs are great except that she just physically can't hold it sometimes.

I think water intake is definitely an issue...but the timing is just so bad for me. I cut off her water 2 hours before bed (bedtime is 11ish), and therefore she can make it through the night without accidents as long as I wake up twice. I wake up usually around 7:00 and give her a little food/water after taking her out (I take her out again after I eat breakfast). But, then I don't know whether to give her a little more food/water before I leave (in which case she'll probably pee) or not (in which case she'll have only received a few sips in 15 hours, and 2 servings of a few sips in 19 hours).

So, 2 questions:
(a) Any advice on the water problem?
(b) She is apparently newspaper trained -- should I leave her in the bathroom with newspaper instead of putting her in the crate?

I feel like she should be right on the verge of making it through, and I want her to understand how to control her bladder. I really don't want to do the newspaper training thing, but I will if it's faster for her. I want her to be able to last 4-5 hours in the crate during the day as soon as possible, even if it means a little short-term hardship for us (i.e. my goal is not simply make things easier for us over the next 3 weeks).

(And yeah when she pees, it's on her bed, and I use Nature's Miracle to spray the cage to death and then wash her bed in the W/D).