October 13, 2014
My puppy pees in the crate when we leave for errands even though he knows to sit by the door when he needs to go potty.
Full Question:
I have a puppy that is 15 weeks old. I got him a month ago, and was able to housebreak him in about 3 weeks...at least I think so because he now sits by the outside door when he needs to go potty. I can even leave him outside of his crate during the night. He sleeps in the bathroom, and has never pottied there. He waits until the morning when I go outside with him.When my wife and I leave the house to do typical errands, we put him in his crate because we still don't trust him to be unsupervised. However, when we return we see that he has urinated in his crate. This has happened nearly every time we leave. We don't leave the house for hours, and before we leave we take him out to potty which he does. I find this strange because he can go the whole night without urinating in his space in the bathroom. Any ideas why this is happening? His crate is not too large for him.
By the way, I should mention that we also have a 3-year-old dog that is completely trustworthy and can be left in the house without any supervision. This 3 year dog has never caused any damage in the house when he is alone.
Cindy's Answer:
A couple of thoughts here:
What your 3-year-old dog does counts for nothing. Dogs are complete individuals. The fact that the older dog can be left alone doesn't mean anything.
Trying to compare the older dog to the younger dog doesn't really mean anything.
We would never allow a young puppy like yours to be loose at night. Yes, you have been lucky, but it's luck.
We would be crating this dog at night. Every night. In fact I would now crate this dog a lot, even when I am home. It needs to learn that the crate is HIS SPOT. Feed him in it. Put the crate in the living area. Let him learn to settle in it. Give him a bone in the crate. Give him a bone when you leave. Get some of the toys that can have cream cheese and peanut butter that you freeze and leave with the dog when you leave.
More than likely, the dog pees in the crate when you leave because it's stressed. Get him used to the crate.
My gut feeling is this will solve your problem.
What your 3-year-old dog does counts for nothing. Dogs are complete individuals. The fact that the older dog can be left alone doesn't mean anything.
Trying to compare the older dog to the younger dog doesn't really mean anything.
We would never allow a young puppy like yours to be loose at night. Yes, you have been lucky, but it's luck.
We would be crating this dog at night. Every night. In fact I would now crate this dog a lot, even when I am home. It needs to learn that the crate is HIS SPOT. Feed him in it. Put the crate in the living area. Let him learn to settle in it. Give him a bone in the crate. Give him a bone when you leave. Get some of the toys that can have cream cheese and peanut butter that you freeze and leave with the dog when you leave.
More than likely, the dog pees in the crate when you leave because it's stressed. Get him used to the crate.
My gut feeling is this will solve your problem.
91% (10 out of 11)
respondents found this answer helpful
Can't find what you're looking for?
91% (10 out of 11)
respondents found this answer helpful
