Weeing IN the crate

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shadowboy

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We have a 14 week old Doberman puppy who has taken to weeing in her crate. No longer going in the house. Insted she likes to wee in the crate. This does not seem to have any pattern to it. We thought initially it was only happening when we took Nanook for a walk and she was being left alone and was scared however as we found this was not the case as last week she never went while I was walking Nanook. Last night she urinated during the night. She had previously never urinated in her crate at night. 2 days ago she had done it after her dinner despite having been out for a wee not long before- As you can see we cant figure out the trigger. She will go whatever the surface material is- vet bed, pillow, duvet etc.

We are worried the problem has become that the bedding so far has all allowed the urine to trickle down through so the top surface is dry and it is the bottom of the crate that is wet so it doesnt mean she sits in her wee. We have tried removing water from the crate but this does not seem to make a difference.
She is happy to go in her crate. We have made the crate as small as we think we can safely do it. It is a 90cm x 45cm crate and we have halved the length so it is now 45cm x 45cm- to be honest i dont think this is making a difference as the wee puddle is in the middle- it is as though she doesnt care?!

She hasnt (touch wood) been in the house since my last post in AAD about 2 weeks ago.

Any ideas how to break the habit?
 
Have you thoroughly (by her standards, not yours, their sense of smell is several hundred times as acute as ours) removed any trace of the smell of her urine from it? Biological washing powder for bedding and/or bacterial remover for hard surfaces?
If you have and she is still doing it, try giving her something with a comforting smell - an old item of your clothing (unwashed) or similar so she isn't stressing and trying to lay her scent in the absence of a known one?
 
To be honest I have no idea whech washing powder I used- all I can remember is that it was one for getting my whites whiter! ha ha! The bottom of the crate was washed with a specialist pet product to emilinate the smell and prevent future soiling. We tried the clothing - my husband put an old gilet in that he wore to dog walk in but she urinated on it so he binned it. We could try it again. Ill try and find an old T shirt :)
 
Maybe if you tied the tee shirt onto the sides of the crate so she can smell them and not mark on them? Check you have really eliminated (biologically) the smell from her bedding too. Are there any other animals in the house, other than the other dog you are walking (just wondering whether she feels her crate is being invaded so needs to territory mark it ). It will almost certainly be something to do with scent.
 
I always recommend that puppy buyers have a fenced area (puppy panels) around the crate for when the pup isn't allowed free access to the home ie at night or when alone for a short period. With a young pup never shut them in the crate for very long but allow access to the puppy pen area which will have newspaper on the floor where they can learn to toilet. Shutting a young pup in a crate for any length of time will force it into learning to toilet in the crate as their bladders are not very big, they will not want to do this but will be forced to if they can't get out to toilet. Newspaper can also be used close to doors to encourage the pup in giving the owner the right signals re toileting (going to the door).
 
If she is weeing in the crate of a night then perhaps she cant hold it and she needs to be taken out for a wee break, also she could be getting cold and again this would wake her up. I would pm Cayla and ask for her crate/puppy training guide, its invaluable and has helped countless people to train their dogs.
 
Are you still consistent with her toilet training? she is still only a baby and sometimes after a really good start you can be lulled into a false sense of security and get lax when the training hasnt been imbedded properly.

Also given the recent weather are you sure she is actually going for a wee when you put her out and not just going out for a snarf then back in? Do you have a command for toilet when you were training her? My boy is 7 now and 'right, busy busys!' still has him full tilt to the back door at bed times :) I still hang out by the backdoor and make sure he goes and doesnt just turn round and come straight back in! (he nevers wets in the house but if its cold and wet he would rather cross his legs!) Busy busy's! helps him focus on the task in hand instead of just mincing about.

I would absolutely revert back to square one on the toilet training front. Do you chuck both her and nanook out at the same time to do their thing? She may suffer from performance anxiety :) especially if nanook likes to check out her bum (perhaps why she feels safe to do it in her crate?)
 
Last night we boil washed everything with the correct detergent AND the dog pee deterant. She was dry last night and also all day today. I also put in one of my PJ tops that I'd slept in so she could smell me. We bathed her to make sure she didn't smell of wee either. So far touch wood she's ok. Regards her toilet training we always let her out as soon as crate door opens in the morning 6am and then again after breakfast at 7am and again when I leave for work at 8.15 and dog walker lets her out at 12.30pm and then another wee when I get home at 4.30pm and then again after her dinner and again just before bed at 11pm and obviously any other time she requests it. She does go as we stand outside with her and say 'go wee wee's' untill I see her squat.
 
Takes me back 7years :) can you believe I got mithered by my fella as he wanted him to only go in a specific part of the garden? As long as it was outside was enough for me at 2am! :)

To be fair the boy will still come in at stupid o'clock and wake me up if he's 'bursting' aka not tired and has heard something in the garden!!

Good job he is my very breath ****swoon**** :)
 
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