using crate as a bathroom?
McGougan is 11 weeks old (with us for 8 days), and I feel we haven't done a good job getting him acclimated to the crate. Though he has been pretty good about going in at night and when we leave the house, I certainly wouldn't say he likes it. We have it in the kitchen, and during the day he has run of this room, and the crate is open for him to go in & out at his leisure. For the first 2 days, he actually explored it, but I think now he realizes that it symbolizes us leaving, and he no longer goes into it voluntarily (we periodiaclly throw treats in for him, fun toys for him to go get and bring back out, etc.). He pees in it every night without fail, even though we usually take him out once during the night. I assume he just isn't capable of holding it. The recent development that concerns us is that we've noticed him going into the crate to use it as a bathroom. When we're home, and he's in the kitchen, even with us right there, he is stepping two feet into the crate and assuming the position. When we're lucky, we can scoop him up just before or in the middle of the act and run him outside. I should mention that this is all happening amidst MANY opportunities to use the outdoor facilities! We are not neglecting to take him out frequently. This seems to go totally against the 'dogs don't pee in their den' theory. The crate doesn't seem too big- he has space to lay down and turn around, but not much extra room. Any advice? I posted a similar messsage under 'housebreaking', but this seems to also be a crate issue. Thanks- Lindsay & Jonathan |
|
|
lat41n wrote: This seems to go totally against the 'dogs don't pee in their den' theory. He must not see the crate as his den. The theory is, if you keep him confined in a small space for periods of time, he won't want to pee in that space. If you keep him too long, he will by necessity. Sounds like you might have the opposite problem -- he is not being confined in the crate. lat41n wrote: We have it in the kitchen, and during the day he has run of this room, and the crate is open for him to go in & out at his leisure.
Do you ever close the crate door while you are home with him or do you only close it when you leave him home and you go out? If you only close it when you are leaving him to go out, he will begin to associate it with that. |
 I just wrote a book for you and it didn't post . . .
Here's the REALLY short version: I agree that he's probably using the kitchen as den and the crate as potty area?! Have you sectioned of a portion of the crate to make sure he isn't sleeping in one area and peeing in another? How did you handle it when he peed in the crate? If I ever caught Bing peeing inside I immediately scooped him up - midpee - and brought him outside to finish. I also ended up bringing him outside as much as twice every half hour if I thought he was even thinking about it. The potty treats outside are a god idea! Make sure and clean the crate with some urine-remover cleaner!!! Good luck - I had more but unfortunately this is all I can recall before I lost the "book"!!  |
| Hi- THanks for all the advice. THe logical answer seems to be that he's not seeing the crate as his home, and no, we really haven't closed the door much when we're home. If he had to be crated for a few hours here or there when we weren't home, we felt guilty putting him in when we were home. Obviously that was unwise...sleep deprivation does strange things to the mind..........
When I caught him going or about to go, I yelled something unintelligible just to get his attention and ran outside with him. Most times, the damage was already done, but a couple of times I got him before he was all the way finished. We've been using a cleaner that supposedly removes all scent of the urine/poo each time he goes. We don't have the crate sectioned off bc it's already a smaller crate, and I didn't think we could make it any smaller and still humane, but maybe I'm just a sucker and need to toughen up. Should we put him in the crate for short periods throughout the day when we're home to get back on track? Also, is it bad to get in the habit of sleeping on the floor next to his crate? Will it help when we gradually wean him off, or will it make the problem worse? We originally had him sleeping in the bedroom in the crate to ease his transition from his littermates; then we moved the crate to the kitchen, but last night we moved it back to the BR, due to the obnoxiously long duration of the barking. Lindsay |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|