Crate Training - Help!!

jas · Crate Training - Help!!

Oscar is 15 weeks old and has been pretty good so far and is usually quite capable of holding himself throught the night and about 4 hours through the day. Yesterday he pee'd in his crate after about 3 hours which was unusual and then this morning i woke up and he had done it again!!! He didn't bark to let me know that he wanted to go!! I'm really frustrated as he was doing so well. what should i do next?
This is my first dog so any advice would be appreciated!

BenB

I would suggest that you do not give the dog anything to drink for a couple of hours before going to sleep - put Oscar out very last thing before he goes to bed.

Then in the crate fill as much of the space that he does not need with empty boxes so he has enough room to move but not so much he would be able to move away from a pee patch. They go off the idea of lying in their own pee pretty quickly.

Bear in mind that they can pee in their sleep (like humans) so he might not have known and so wouldn't have woofed to let you know!

At 15 weeks you are bound to have the odd accident so don't panic about it. One of our lurchers took forever to learn and even now at 9 months sometimes gets over excited and widdles when she sees the others first thing in the morning!

jas

Thanks for your advice BenB. I suppose i was panicking, it was just unususal for him to do it 2 days on the trot! Its all new to me and I was overjoyed that previous to this he had been a week without an accident!

josie

Make sure you clean the crate thoroughly with biological washing liquid - which will remove the enzymes in the wee. Don't use bleach or anything with ammonia in it, as this can smell like wee to a dog (wee has ammonia in it). If you don't clean it thoroughly or if you clean it with bleach, he will still be able to smell the wee and it can become a 'wee place'.

Although dogs will try not to mess in their sleeping places, if they are forced to (because they can't get away), they can become used to it and become 'dirty' - ie - not mind it.

I would take him out much more frequently - if he has peed after 3 hrs in there, don't leave him for longer than 2. If he has peed in the night, get up and take him out even if he doesn't seem to need it. Once you've re-established the 'right' habit after a few days of that, you can slowly ease back to less frequently.

Here is a useful link on crate training and toilet training - they work quite well in combination/together:

Crate training: http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/crate-train.pdf

Toilet training: http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/housetrain.htm