Has Started Peeing In His Crate.

[Lindyx]

My 12 week pup has started peeing in his crate.

He has been crated since the day we brang him home.

Has never toileted in there before.

He doesnt love his crate but knows he has to stay there. Would rather be out with his mum

who sleeps where ever she wants.

The last 3 times I have left him in there to go to work(I only work 4hr shifts) and over night he has pee'd.

How can I stop this before he thinks its OK to do this?

Also I have to put him in the crate physically as he doesnt want to go in there.

His a Golden Retriever so I dont know how much longer I will be able to carry him.

I tell him Bed, and his a good boy. But I cant get him to go in himself.

Some helpful suggestions would be great

[Kelpie_Pup]

ok i'm no expert, but i'll give it a go.. this is what we learnt with our puppy

how big is the crate? quite often, if the crate is too big for their size, they will use one end for sleeping and one end for toileting.. this can be fixed by using a smaller crate, or putting in a partition to make it smaller for now until the puppy gets bigger and then you can remove the partition so they fit better. I was going to suggest that maybe he is being left in there for a bit too long but I wouldn't think so .. our puppy was sleeping through 7 hours each night without needing to toilet when she was 8.5 weeks old. Are you making sure he wees straight before you put him in his crate? Every time? It has to be every time. Puppies could go every hour at that age if you let them.. crating teaches them to hold it a bit I guess, but we need to be reasonable.

Our puppy often goes into her crate on her own alot of the time, but never when we need her to (which is only at bedtime at night). She has been crated since day 1 and is now 7 months old. I generally get a treat of hers-piece of chicken- and put it in her crate with a rope toy that she can chew on ( not a squeaky one that will keep her awake and not a chew that she can eat ). she will always go in on her own and i just shut the door behind her and tell her she's a good girl. she is always very happy to be in there.

is that any help at all?? hehe

[kyliegirl]

you cant expect a 13 week puppy to hold on for 4 hours, also by the sounds of it your not treating his crate as a good thing, instead a bad thing which in turn means he wont respect it and treat it like his safe place or den, so again he will pee in it as it doesnt provide the comfort to respect it.

the best way to fix this is do EVERYTHING involving the crate, throw toys in it, play games around it, play the dont move when the door opens game where you treat at the back of the crate and if he stays he gets a better treat. throw treats in the crate, throw his favourite toys in there, when he falls asleep place him in there with the door open, place the crate where you sleep at night, you cant expect that putting a puppy in a crate with some toys will create a positive thing. You have to interact with the crate and the puppy to make him know the crate isnt a bad place, its a safe place, a bedroom and a fun place to be. dont shove him in there, instead place a treat closer and closer inside, making the treats better as he gets closer and then when he goes inside SHOWER him with sausages, cheese and many many yummy things he loves to eat which he doesnt often get.

[Kelpie_Pup]

Since your dog is a bigger breed, i would expect them to be able to hold it for 4 hours at 12 or 13 weeks old. Our puppy did it through the night at 8 wks old without a noise from her. and its not like we locked her in there and ignored her. she was next to our bed for 7 nights and only woke mid-night for the first 3 nights.

Lindyx I think you are being reasonable to expect four hours at this stage. Perhaps not the entire night, but 4 is reasonable.

[Lindyx]

Thanx Guys,

We have a partition so his crate isnt to big.

He has been sleeping through since 9wks and holding on. The first week I was up 4 times a night and he slowly streched it out till all night.

We have stopped playing and feeding him in his crate so we will have to start that again.

Has only started peeing in his crate the last 2 days.

[cavNrott]

You mentioned you do 4 hour shifts. So how long is the puppy confined to the crate if you include your travel time to and from work?

I would not expect a 12 week old puppy to hold on for more than 4 hours irrespective of the breed or size of the puppy. He is still only a baby puppy.

Do you have anyone who can take him out for a toilet break while you are gone?

[kyliegirl]

Since your dog is a bigger breed, i would expect them to be able to hold it for 4 hours at 12 or 13 weeks old. Our puppy did it through the night at 8 wks old without a noise from her. and its not like we locked her in there and ignored her. she was next to our bed for 7 nights and only woke mid-night for the first 3 nights.

Lindyx I think you are being reasonable to expect four hours at this stage. Perhaps not the entire night, but 4 is reasonable.

just because your puppy did doesnt mean someone elses can, it all depends on the puppy, its personality, how much it was fed, how much it drank, if it went to the toilet before hand, if it had been to the toilet more than once in a 24 hr period, it its sick, could have a urinary infection, if it is lonely or scared, maybe it cant hold it as easy, maybe it was asleep when it did it. You simply cannot expect a puppy to beable to always hold it in. They are of course babies and will have accidents all the time.

You can have children at 12 years old still wetting the bed and another child who never wet the bed in their life. It all depends on the child and the situation. Even now we may wake up one day and may not need to go to the toilet for 48 hrs, then suddenly a few weeks later we are tearing through the house to reach the toilet before our bladder explodes even though you had just been 3 hrs before. Some foods and drinks also go through your digestive track faster than other things, for all you know they could be feeding a different dog food which isnt as beneficial and is full of fluid so it passes through faster.

Edited June 17, 2008 by kyliegirl

[Kelpie_Pup]

Since your dog is a bigger breed, i would expect them to be able to hold it for 4 hours at 12 or 13 weeks old. Our puppy did it through the night at 8 wks old without a noise from her. and its not like we locked her in there and ignored her. she was next to our bed for 7 nights and only woke mid-night for the first 3 nights.

Lindyx I think you are being reasonable to expect four hours at this stage. Perhaps not the entire night, but 4 is reasonable.

just because your puppy did doesnt mean someone elses can, it all depends on the puppy, its personality, how much it was fed, how much it drank, if it went to the toilet before hand, if it had been to the toilet more than once in a 24 hr period, it its sick, could have a urinary infection, if it is lonely or scared, maybe it cant hold it as easy, maybe it was asleep when it did it. You simply cannot expect a puppy to beable to always hold it in. They are of course babies and will have accidents all the time.

You can have children at 12 years old still wetting the bed and another child who never wet the bed in their life. It all depends on the child and the situation. Even now we may wake up one day and may not need to go to the toilet for 48 hrs, then suddenly a few weeks later we are tearing through the house to reach the toilet before our bladder explodes even though you had just been 3 hrs before. Some foods and drinks also go through your digestive track faster than other things, for all you know they could be feeding a different dog food which isnt as beneficial and is full of fluid so it passes through faster.

my point is that if he has been sleeping through the night, which Lindyx says he has for 3 weeks now, which i would assume to be about 7-8 hours, i would have thought that 4-5 hours in the crate would hav been doable as well, based on what she has said.

i also stated in my first message that i am by NO means an expert, but from my experience, this was what i could offer her. However, I am not an idiot and realise there are many factors to be considered. A 12 week old retriever has a significantly larger bladder than, for example, a 12 week old pug puppy.

Not all baby puppies have accidents all the time. We haven't had an inside accident since 9 weeks of age, hence my 'personal opinion'.

[Lindyx]

[could have a urinary infection,]

Was wondering that myself.

HAve vet app on thurs for needles will ask then.

Im gone for a total off 4hrs.

Im concerned as there hasnt been a problem since getting him 4 weeks ago and now all of a sudden his started peeing in his crate.

WE have started playing and feeding in the crate again to see if it helps.

He cried out at 3am and I ran to his crate to let him out and he had started to wee in his crate the rest was outside.

[Bailey9]

Hi Lindyx, I dont yet have my Golden Retriever puppy, and never crate trained before, but have done lots of reading on crate training the past couple of months.

my first thought was that if this has only recently developed that perhaps the pup has a urinary infection (as already mentioned)

[Bailey9]

One of the tips I picked up was that it is important that the pup see the crate as a happy place to be and should be wanting to go in the crate even when you don't ask them to. One suggestion was to while sitting in front of the crate get the pup excited about their favourite chew toy and then throw it in the crate and shut the door. The pup will probably be keen to get to the chew toy, and after about 30 seconds you can open the door again and the pup will probably happily run straight in.

Another tip was to make sure there is not too much routine with putting the pup in the crate and then leaving them, otherwise they may begin to associate time in the crate with you leaving - not something they like!! So by having the pup in the crate near you while watching tv, chatting on DOL (hehe) can help.

Do let us know what what the vets say.

[Lindyx]

Thanx B9 very good suggestions.

I have to admit I have stopped making a crate time fun and we only go near the crate on our way out. Bad me

When do you get your pup.

[Bailey9]

Thanx B9 very good suggestions.

I have to admit I have stopped making a crate time fun and we only go near the crate on our way out. Bad me

When do you get your pup.

Hi Lindyx, my puppy is ready to go on the 15th July, so getting very excited.

[Lindyx]

Yep pee'd in his crate again today, aarrgh.

I was gone a total of 4hrs.

[Bailey9]

Yep pee'd in his crate again today, aarrgh.

I was gone a total of 4hrs.

I'm guessing you've already tried using different bedding....

hmm... wonder why he's doing this?

[Jigsaw]

Could be an infection, could be anxiety. He may have realised that when he goes in the crate you go out. Does he have access to water in the crate?

Definitely try to make the crate a safe place, a happy place! lol Leave the odd treat in there during the day for him to discover. I found that even sticking my head in the crate and pretending I had found something interesting encouraged my pup to come and have a look! Things we do!

[Lindyx]

LOL Jigsaw, know what you mean my OH has a great laugh when it bed time for Maverick(pup).

No, no water in crate.

[stormie]

Do you take puppy outside to toilet before going in the crate? Maybe a bit of play outside and make sure he has done a wee before he goes back in, that way he may be more inclined to sleep and hopefully his bladder won't fill up enough to need to go within that time.

[Lindyx]

I was everytime, then It had all been so easy I had started to relax.

Think Im forgetting his only 12kws.

Im going back to the basics I did when we first brang him home.

[Kelpie_Pup]

Im going back to the basics I did when we first brang him home.

I think that is the perfect answer