April 21, 2011
I am trying to my 12 week old puppy to a larger crate as he is outgrowing his old one. He urinates in his new crate. How do I stop him from doing this?
Full Question:
Dear Mr. Frawley,I have a 12 week old puppy that I I received two weeks ago from South Africa, and I live in Canada. I have been training him according to your method of house training, with lots of exercise and walking before and after meals. Until now his training has been flawless, with no accidents in or outside of the crate. He came in a wood crate, and I felt the crate was getting too small, because there is not enough room to put his water in without him knocking it over. I have tried different water dishes, ones that attach to the fencing part of the crate, and still he knocks it over. He is also biting at the wood of the crate. I decided to use a slightly larger crate, which was plastic (airline model). However, as soon as I did change the crate, he started to urinate in the new crate. I returned him to his old crate, and tried the transition again this morning. After his post breakfast morning walk, I put him in the new crate, and within 5 minutes he had urinated in it. Now I have returned him to his original crate again. The new crate is approximately 6 inches longer, 4 inches wider, and 2 inches taller. We are training this puppy for personal protection work, and as such, have not been giving any corrections to the puppy in fear of hurting his drive. I hope you can give me some insight into understanding the situation with myself and the pup.
Thank you,
Shawn
Ed's Answer:
Shawn,
Success in dog training means paying attention to details. When handlers miss details they often create problems for themselves.
There is nowhere in my writing that I tell you to put water in a dog crate. We don’t do it nor do we recommend it – for the same problems that you are running into.
Transitioning the dog to a new crate should not be much of an issue. If the dog pisses in the crate – then put the crate next to your TV or desk where you can keep your eyes on the dog while he's in the crate. If there is a 10 minute window that he will hold it for – take him out at 9 minutes. You need to think outside the box here. Then put him back in, then take him out etc, et,c etc.
Move the crates around so the dog is used to it being in different locations.
Here are three DVDS I think you need:
Your Puppy 8 Weeks to Months
Raising a Working Puppy (even if its not a working dog, this dvd is about socializing your dog correctly)
Basic Dog Obedience
Success in dog training means paying attention to details. When handlers miss details they often create problems for themselves.
There is nowhere in my writing that I tell you to put water in a dog crate. We don’t do it nor do we recommend it – for the same problems that you are running into.
Transitioning the dog to a new crate should not be much of an issue. If the dog pisses in the crate – then put the crate next to your TV or desk where you can keep your eyes on the dog while he's in the crate. If there is a 10 minute window that he will hold it for – take him out at 9 minutes. You need to think outside the box here. Then put him back in, then take him out etc, et,c etc.
Move the crates around so the dog is used to it being in different locations.
Here are three DVDS I think you need:
Your Puppy 8 Weeks to Months
Raising a Working Puppy (even if its not a working dog, this dvd is about socializing your dog correctly)
Basic Dog Obedience
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