Help Needed! Peeing in crate

[ModernFemme]

Augh! Remi was doing so well - until recently. He is 14 weeks old. He can hold it at least 6+ hours at night, and I know he can hold it for 4 hours during the day. He NEVER pees at night in his crate. I had to go on a 5 hour appointment, and he peed in his crate. I was mad at myself, because I didn't think he could hold it, but being so young, I knew the crate was the safest place for him until I returned. Regardless, he still didn't want to pee in his crate.

Then another day when I had a 5 hour appointment, I thought perhaps I should have his bed on one side of the crate, and his pee pad on the other. That was a horrible idea. He peed all over his bed; he peed at least 3 times in 4 hours. Now I KNOW he can do better than that. He wasn't trying to hold it at all.

So, we've added the divider back so he just has enough room to lay down/turn around. The issue? He is peeing in his crate all the time, even for short periods (less than 2 hours). I take him outside constantly and he is refusing to go. We'll be out there for 20 minutes. HELP! How can I get him back on track?>! We're going backwards here!!

 

[Izzy's Mom]

Maybe limiting his water can help?

Does Remi has full access to water all day? Does he drink a lot of water?

 

[Baconator]

Bacon went through the same regression around that age, and we did just what you are doing. Limit the space in his crate to just what he needs to turn around and if he still continues to pee in it remove the bedding. It seems really mean but that is how we got him back on track. He is now at the point that during the day in his day setup he has access to the outside to go if he wants but he's too lazy to walk through the doggy door to pee while we are at work so he just holds it until we get home.

 

[Bizzymammabee]

Might I suggest removing the bedding. I swear no matter how well we wash them I feel like there is some small iota of a smell left behind. Sorry your having a tough time. I really takes quite a while for them to be totally house broken. Raven just turned a year old last weekend and she will still have an accident or two a week in the house if no one is paying attention to her needs. The difference might also be that during the night he knows everyone is asleep and knows it's sleepy time.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Could he have a bladder infection? Peeing a lot is sometimes a sign of a bladder infection

 

[Lauren31287]

I agree with others on removing the bedding! We had the same issue with Winston. So we tried to take the bedding out for a week and he did not pee in his crate once! We thought ok lets put the bedding back. As soon as we put the bedding back he peed on it!! I have to agree that no matter what you do I don't think the smell ever comes out. Once we took it out he didn't have any more accidents in there!! Good luck!!

 

[Baconator]

We left his bedding out for a month or so and slowly reintroduced bedding to his crate, first a small towel, then larger, then a thin bed etc............

 

[ModernFemme]

You guys might be on to this whole bedding thing. We use a towel, and then his bed on top of it. Sometimes we come back to find that he's peed on the bed, and gets down under it and lays on the towel! WILL DEFINITELY TRY THIS. Thanks everyone!

 

[Davidh]

It is a phase they go through, but I never withhold water from any of mine, they will learn as they get older.

 

[dalmatina38]

I took all of Ambers bedding out of her crate and that seemed to help. Everytime we put her bed (an absolutely beautiful bed) in her crate she would pee on it. Once the cat slept on the bed and she seen it; she chased the cat off the bed and destroyed the bed, I can only figure she was jealous and didn't like the smell of the cat on the bed. Anyway, when the bed disappeared it was easier to housebreak her. Good luck.

 

[ModernFemme]

Of course this morning Remi poops on the floor. I WILL PREVAIL.. AHHHHH.

 

[Gunny B]

Oh I feel you. Gunny has been on a poop everywhere BUT outside kick. About ready to cork that little corkscrew tail he has! *sigh*

 

[mabel lou]

I had a large cage for my girl and many yrs ago I learned that puppy litter (compacted paper) is outstanding to use. So in the large cage the puppy litter contained dog poop of his or hers depending on who it was and also contained the urine smell of the puppies urine (when the puppy urinated in house I simply took the puppy litter and laid on top of it so it was absorbed up and then swept it up and placed it back in puppy litter pan. Now this is a process of making sure it has the dogs poo and pee in it so they have their own scent in it. At first they laid in it as though it was a bed and played in it as well but while in the house I would always open cage up and instead of immediately taking them outside I began placing them in the puppy litter pan and would say "go potty" and it worked but we would always go outside afterwards. The point is that I was not always here to make sure they had access to go potty so the puppy litter became their way of being able to relieve themselves without having to have a messy cage. I had a bed and puppy litter in it and a water bottle and a bowl of food so it was like a little apt to them. Now to this day I swear by it but once learned I would place litter pans throughout my house so they would not have any accidents and you slowly work your way to the door with the pans by moving them closer until they have learned how to hold bladder and bowels. My girl Mabel didn't have to have it this time because she learned from using a doggy door so that helped me out greatly. But it is a suggestion and if you should decide to use puppy litter the guy at the store told me that the cat litter same kind different name just smaller pellets is like 8 dollars cheaper so I went with that. It last a very long time as well and it breaks down into a wet dust but so worth checking into.

 

[mabel lou]

This is the puppy litter and pan I would use and this is just compacted paper broke down into pellets, I love it and it was perfect for potty training and you just scoop it out as needed but it sure saved me a lot of time and was great for allowing my dogs to have run of the home but I always always made sure they had a pan in their cage. Just my way of doing it and in the winter months when you have a puppy it is a way of not having to continuously take them outside on freezing cold days as well as in the middle of the night.

 

[ModernFemme]

Remi has been excellent in potty training via the crate. Since we removed all bedding, he hasn't peed a single time in about 2 weeks. My question now is, when did you guys start re-adding the bedding back to the crate? Never? Ever? Thanks!!