Crate Training Problems

[cefire]

The problem that I am having with crate training is that the crate is the ONLY place that my little guy has accidents. He has gone almost a week without any accidents in the house or in his exercise pen we leave him in while we are at work.

At night is when we leave him in the crate. He has never been in his crate for longer than 3 hours at a time and we set alarms during the night to try to give him a schedule for potty breaks. However, it seems that he randomly wakes and decides to pee in the crate usually around 30-40 minutes after we put him in. The other big problem is that he shoots and asks the questions later, so we don't wake up until he is crying in a peed in crate. Because he has been having these problems, we have been letting him sleep in the bed with us, which is not a problem in itself. However, I want to know if this is going to set him back on potty training. The nice thing is, now, he can go 6-7 hours on the bed before he needs to go out.

[Linnysmommy]

I am no expert, but it seems that he is not happy in the crate. If it were me, I would do whatever works for your family. I am big on crate training, but if your little one does better in the exercise pen during the day and bed with you at night, that is what I would do.

[cefire]

He doesn't seem to mind his crate one bit actually. He will go in there on his own to grab a toy or when we feed him in there. He doesn't whine either when we put him in at night. The whole situation is just very confusing to me...

[gmacleod]

Try taking the bedding out.

It sounds a little nasty, but it isn't really. The problem with lots of nice soft bedding in a crate is that it's an attractive place to pee - because it soaks it up nicely and nobody has to get their feet wet. Some pups will never think of that - but for those that do, the only answer is taking bedding away until they learn to potty outside instead.

[cefire]

Yup, after reading the forums that was the first thing we did after night #1. We've taken out all bedding and also made sure to make his area small enough so he can only turn around and yet it doesnt seem to work. He has been without bedding for about 4 weeks...

[marycas]

I'd lose the crate for now-he has somehow made the association between that and doing business-who knows what is in his tiny head? Smell?

Id go with the pen or whatever is working for you and put the crate away for a good 6-8 weeks-its not like he'll be so old he cant be trained to go in and, in theory, he will have forgotten whatever that association was

Another thing to try quickly would be moving the crate to a different room and see if its the location or the crate.

[Bouji]

Sounds like Bouji!!

When we first got Bouji we tried crate training and she just didn't get it! She too peed/pooped in there, in fact she thought of it like a litter box!! But when she slept in our bed she could hold it through the night. We took the bedding out of her crate and put her food and water bowl in there since we read that dogs won't potty where they eat. That worked but still she just didn't take to the crate. She won't complain too much if we put her in there and she will go in and get her toys etc. but it's not her favorite place like it is for other dogs. The exercise pen worked great for us too-- that's her "room" (although we've moved recently and now baracade the kitchen with baby gates instead).

I think the crate is supposed to teach dogs to hold their pee but I found that as Bouji got older and her bladder grew she just didn't have to go as much. Your pup seems to do great in your bed...looks like you might have a new sleeping partner ;) :lol: