I'm getting a little frustrated with my 10 week old GSD. He seems to be regressing in his potty habits. I know he's still young to go long periods of time in his crate without urinating, but he has gone 7-8 hours all night without, so I know he can do at least that much. He will urinate almost every time we take him outside, and is praised for that, but he still urinates in his kennel on a regular basis, even if he's just gone outside. We clean his kennel every time with a solution of Nature's Miracle cleaner, and I've told him no on the occaisions I've caught him in the act, then took him outside and praised for finishing there, but most of the time we don't catch him urinating, so we take him outside and clean his kennel and then he goes right back in. I'm just afraid he's beginning to see urinating in his kennel as a way to get out of his kennel. Any advice?

What is his crate schedule? Average time in there?

At 10 weeks Kameron I doubt he has control over it yet, the 7-8hrs overnite may just be good luck. How big is the crate? I know if you give them too much room they can get the Idea to use part of it for potty. If thats the case block off part of the crate to just enough room for him to lay comfortably.

By kennel do you mean an actual kennel run or a crate?

7-8 hours is alot even for a 4 month old pup, at night it's nice and dark, quiet, pups will sleep all night and if they don't have alot of water in their system, often they will make it thru a whole night without peeing in the kennel. During the day there's light, noises, people, things to play with and get excited about and he'll be more likely to pee more frequently.

A rule-of-thumb that I was told states puppies should be able to last their age in months (converted to hours) +/- 1. So a three month old puppy is good for 2 - 4 hours between potty events.

He seemed to be doing well, though and seems to have deteriorated. His crate is divided, so he only has enough room to lay down - and he does seemed distressed when he pees in it. However, I have to go to work during the day. I do come home at lunch, but - today for instance - it's often too late. I'm trying to be patient, because I know he's young, but it's getting a bit frustrating coming home to a dog that is pee saturated. I did give him a towel in the beginning, but am not sure if that will encourage him to pee more. We pull his water at night, and there is no activity in the house during the day (we both work) until I come home at lunchtime. He's also not defecating on a regular shedule (we feed raw) and will only defecate if I wait him out in the backyard (sometimes close to an hour) or take him on a walk around the block. I don't want this to be the only time he defecates as an adult - I'd like him to be like our adult and be able to be turned out in the yard to do his business - not have to go on a walk to get it all moving. I know he's young, and I need to be patient, but I was just wondering if there might be anything else I can do! I'm simply afraid that bad habits will be formed now - and won't go away with age.

Kameron

How about an X-pen instead of the crate while you are at work. if he really can't hold it at least it wont be in the crate.

I am in the same boat as you are. My boy will be 12 weeks tomorrow and still pees in his crate a couple of times a day even though he goes out every 2-3 hours a day around the clock. I have seen him just walk into his crate or one of my other dogs' crate and pee so I know he's to the point where he thinks it's ok to pee in there. I had him on a raised floor just so he wouldn't get wet and now I'm thinking that was a mistake. I removed it yesterday and have had to clean up him and his crate twice since. I'm hoping that he will get the point now that he's going to get soaked. It may be more work for me in the short term having to clean him up, but I'm hoping that this will stop soon.

This is my 5th puppy over the years and is hands down the most difficult to crate train.

I have neighbor girls coming in to potty my boy while I'm at work, but if you don't have this option, I think Steve had it right in maybe just using an x-pen. A friend of mine does this and it works for her. As the puppy gets older, she just makes the pen smaller and smaller until she just crates the puppy.

 Quote: kameron bean

... I do come home at lunch, but - today for instance - it's often too late. .... He's also not defecating on a regular shedule (we feed raw) and will only defecate if I wait him out in the backyard (sometimes close to an hour) or take him on a walk around the block. I don't want this to be the only time he defecates as an adult -

One thing I've learned is that when the dog understands that relief is coming, and that it's reliable, he will be *much* more likely to hold it.

I have an adopted dog (a senior who was chained outside for his first 8 years) who took months to hold it in the daytime. I truly believe that once he "got" two things, that was the breakthrough.

One was that outside potty was good.

Two was that he was going to get that outside chance before it was too late, reliably, and so he could hold it knowing that relief was coming.

And the poop part -- a lot, maybe most, dogs need exercise to get the peristaltic action going. I'd accept that he's that dog and that he needs that walk (which he needs anyway) to keep his plumbing going.

I had my female on a crate liner till she was about 15 weeks old or so, it'd let the pee drain so I wouldn't have to clean her everytime she had an accident. I had the same concerns as you that she wouldn't hold it because she wasn't suffering from her accidents. Well she understood the concept but if I didn't hurry up she would go in the crate. One day I took out the liner and it all kind of fell into place, she peed in her crate once, realized it sucked and remembered all the work I had done with her to let her out regularly and praise when she went into the grass. Maybe I was just lucky with her, but IMO it's just an age thing, there is a balance between the point when they CANT hold it and when they find it too convenient not to hold it. To me it definately sounds like your pup is not ready to be alone for lengths of time without a break, I don't think finding a way to raise the pup off the urine would be a bad thing at this point.