why is he doing this?

[brandi576]

my question is why all the sudden is my dog going potty in his cage? he use to do real good in his crate other than an occasional accident which is completely normal! But for the past couple months every morning when i get home from work he has pottied in his crate...i use to think the kids werent taking him out for his potty before bed but even on the nights that i know for fact hes been out because i dont go to work early and i take him to go at 10 before i leave and put him to bed in it before i leave, it never fails i come home to a mess to clean up!! Any help or ideas why he is doing this would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[GatorRay]

Do you have bedding in there? This is VERY common and some find that if they remove the bedding it will stop. I know it seems mean, but actually, one of mine likes sleeping in the crate with no bedding and will sometimes even push out any blankets or towels that are in there. I would take everything out of the crate at night and see what happens. If it is just urine, you could also try limiting water intake after about 7 or 8 pm since you put him to bed at 10.

 

[gracoliv]

How many hours a day & night is he in a crate ? My dogs are 2 & 3 years old. Both dogs go out many nights of the week, in the middle of the night to have a bowel movement (like 3am). Not sure if thats just there schedule or if its habit; Whatever the reason, I get up and take them out cus when you gotta go, you gotta go. I feel bad for them as dogs are the only species in the world not allowed to go to go to the bathroom when they want, and get punished for it if the "make a mistake" anyway... I take my dogs out to go potty at around 10pm as well, but they don't always have to go at that time, so then I know they will likely need to go in the wee hours of the night. Good luck, finding a schedule that works is difficult.

 

[redhed]

I agree with all of the above. Another thing to consider if that doesn't work is that he may have a UTI or something that is causing him to need to go more often.

Also, your puppy looks almost exactly like my Sancho. What a cutie

 

[Baconator]

How old is your bully? I also agree with [MENTION=1906]GatorRay[/MENTION] try removing the bedding and see if that helps. Bacon went through a regression at about 6-7 months where he started going inside again and eventually grew out of it.

 

[jortiz9758]

How Long is he staying in the crate for?? Bruno went through an episode of that when he was a pup. I would Take the water from him at about 7 pm and put him in his crate at 9pm and take off to work. He would hold it for hours without a problem till I got back at 8am. There was a time where I got held up at work for 2 days in a row and came home an hour late. He had an accident and continued to do so for about a month, even though I was coming home at my regular time.I guess I messed up his schedule.
So my second question is , you take him out at night.Who takes him out in the morning or does he wait for you?

 

[Davidh]

Some will go through this phase and will grow out of it. I would do as [MENTION=1906]GatorRay[/MENTION] said and take the bedding out until it stops. But I do not restrict water from mine, they get it 24/7.

 

[brandi576]

thank you all for your input..i actually have taken his bedding out and it seemed at first he wasnt going in it then, but then he started doing it again even without his blankets in there. he is in it approx 8 hrs and my oldest son usually takes him out when he gets home because he is there about 20 mins earlier than i am. i may have to try the limiting his water intake to 8 pm and see if that hel

 

[gobronco]

You can also try decreasing the size of his crate with a divider. Give him enough room to turn around and lay down. It worked for Rudy, you didn't mention his age so I am assuming he is old enough to hold it for 8 hours. If he is old enough, water is limited maybe, what the others said, take him to the vet. Mila @ 18 weeks is finally holding it through the night. Unfortunately she is so excited to see me in the morning she sometimes lets a little out before she can get out to go potty. Imagine a little bulldog with her tail wagging and her legs flying in all directions just looking for hugs and pets. I think she is trying to do the polka but her legs fly sideways instead.

 

[brandi576]

chance will be 18 months on sept 8th

 

[mabel lou]

I recently went through the same thing with my girl and so I decided that instead of her pottying in the cage even though it had a divider in it I would just put a depend on her and attach suspenders to it which was attached to her collar (easy on and easy of by undoing the collar and just pulling off of her)so if she were going to have an accident for whatever reason it would at least be in the depend. Now she absolutely did not like wearing that either make no mistake about it lol. But I had her wear it for one night and she did a great job and now she is not even in her cage other than to play with no door on it because of how well she did and continues to do. I do leave the depend hanging so she does see it at all times lol. But she is so sweet it is just a reminder for her.

 

[linwhite]

First, what time at night do you feed your dog? The later you feed him the more likely he won't have time to take care of business before bed. I feed my dogs right when I get home from work, normally between 4 and 5 PM (early shift). I feed my adults once a day and my puppy gets a small meal in the morning (6:30am ish)as well. Zam, the puppy is now 13.5 weeks old. All my dogs go to bed naturally at sunset. I lock him in his crate about 8:30 or 9 PM and leave him there until about 6:30 am. He rarely has to poop during that long night but is hot to trot when we get up. I'm going to put up a seperate post on how I deal with my dog's potty needs and training as it's unconventional but seems to have worked pretty well for most of the dogs that have passed through my home in the last 5 years or so.