I have inherited an Airedale Terrier from my mother in law and am trying to crate training him. He can go around 5-6 hours in his crate without any problems (as long as he can't hear us). Beyond that he will urinate in his crate.

He seems to be urinating for two different reasons. Sometimes I can smell it and see splatter marks on the tile but there is no puddle. In those instances, I believe he is urinating to drink it. The other instance is when there is a huge puddle of urine and it seems he just couldn't hold it any longer.

I work all day and my wife works on Tues. and Thurs. So he usually is fine when my wife is at home to let him out through out the day. But the days she works, he is in the crate for at least 7 or 8 hours.

He is also always thirsty. It doesn't matter how much water I give him, he drinks it all. To avoid accidents in the crate I try to limit him to one bowl at breakfast and dinner.

I take him for long walks after he eats and try to throw the ball or frisbee with him whenever I can.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to stop the urinating in the crate?

Thanks for your help.

Robb

Has he had a health check recently? "Always thirsty" can be a sign of diabetes, for one thing.

How old is he?

 Quote: Robb Schiefer

... He seems to be urinating for two different reasons. Sometimes I can smell it and see splatter marks on the tile but there is no puddle. In those instances, I believe he is urinating to drink it. The other instance is when there is a huge puddle of urine and it seems he just couldn't hold it any longer. ... He is also always thirsty. It doesn't matter how much water I give him, he drinks it all. To avoid accidents in the crate I try to limit him to one bowl at breakfast and dinner.

I am with Sarah 100%. More than one possible health issue springs to mind.

When you see no big puddle, for example, you may be seeing evidence of involuntary dribbling, which could have several causes, including sphincter incontinence (far more common in females, but my Border Terrier granddog, a senior male, has this), UTI, etc.

I too would be concerned about the thirst and possibility of diabetes.

Although several possibilities come to mind, I would immediately try to get him midday relief on the long days, because of the inadvisability of not flushing the urine through when there is an obvious urine issue. You don't want him to be forced to hold it for hours.

I would make a vet appointment and get a clean catch (preferably first of the day) on the morning of the visit to take with you.

Post back if you need clean-catch directions.

He's about a year old. We have taken him for his puppy check ups and the vet hasn't mentioned diabetes. He's due for his annual in the next month but I doubt its a health issue.

How much water should we give him?

Of course do all of things listed above. Also, make sure that his crate is the right size, if it`s too big he will pee in one end and lay down in the other.

Lee

Robb, have the dog checked for diabetes to rule that out. I googled 'dogs drinking their own urine', and apparently it's a mystery as to why, but it does happen. You've never actually observed this, right? Boredom was one possible reason listed...

Does he go all night long without an accident?

On those days your wife works, she needs to be sure to take the dog out to urinate just before she leaves (or you leave, whoever leaves later), and pick up the water bowl. If the dog is inside the house and crated, and the temperature is comfortable, he can go for 7 or 8 hours without water.

 Quote: Robb Schiefer

How much water should we give him?

I would allow free access, except on those days that your wife is working. What are you doing now?

What are you feeding the dog?

I've had one foster dog in my life who would drink to the point of throwing up, then continue drinking until the bucket was empty. No diabetes or kidney issues. With some dogs it's a nervous behavior along with guarding water like it's food.

That said like others have mentioned a vet check up is needed first because if it is medical it's usually very treatable and the annoying behavior will go away.
If it's not medical but rather like our dog was you can start to monitor is water intake a little more strictly. Odds are he's peeing like this because he's got to go. Is his pee water like with no pigmentation or is it very yellow? Have you tried feeding him his pm water earlier or in a reduced amount? With this old foster dog we gave him water 3x a day and in the pm a cup only before 6pm. Last trip outside to wee for him was at 9-10pm and first trip out and his morning couple cups with his soaked kibble was at 7am. What we found was when we got religous about a schedule and an amount we were able to manage this behavior.

As far as how much water. Well that depends from dog to dog. With our dog it was a matter of reducing the amount until the behavior we disliked went away which was 2 cups morning, 2 cups noon, 1 cup pm. We also monitored him like a hawk for signs of dehydration with gum checks every 4 hours until we got this routine down.

We are feeding him Blue Buffalo Puppy Food.

Thanks for the info everyone! We will make sure to talk to the vet about all this at our next visit. I think we will try the schedule as well.