April 19, 2011

My 16 week old pup can only hold her bladder for 2 hours in the crate. She has been checked by a vet and there is no urinary infection. What can we do?

Full Question:
I read all the info on your site, but didn't see anything in regards to my particular problem.

I have a 16 week old Australian Shepherd, Lab mix who is completely house trained and crate trained. She now rings a bell on the door when she needs to go out. However, she needs to pee very frequently - about every 2 hours or so (but can hold it all night). So, when I have to leave her in the crate for over 2 hours, at a certain point she cries and cries. I believe because she simply cannot hold it any longer, and is forced to pee in the crate. Under two hours she is fine - no noise, no peeing. The vet has checked her for urinary infections, etc. and all is well. I have tried the crate with no bedding, but after 2 hours she will still pee, and in this scenario gets stressed out because she doesn't like to sit in it. Occasionally, I have meetings and need to be gone longer than 2 hours. What am I to do? Will she grow out of this and be able to hold it for longer periods? Should I leave the bedding in or out? Help!
Ed
Ed Ed's Answer:
Control the dog’s water on the days that you are going to be gone. Take the dog for longer walks. Exercise stimulates the dog to go and will help eliminate more on the walks. Put a grate material in the dog crate to keep the dog out of the pee when it goes. Bleach the crate after every episode of peeing in it.

The dog will grow out of this if you do not allow her to train you to let her out every 2 hours.

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