I have a 10 week old Lab. I have had her for 2 weeks now and have been following a pretty tight schedule. There are a couple of issues I am having that I really don't know what to do. First, she hates her crate. I introduced her slowly but she never warmed up to the idea. She screams in her crate, gets frantic and starts digging. She calms down for awhile but then starts back up. This has been going on for 14 days. I have to shove her in it (even with treats) The next issue is peeing in the crate. It is every single time I put her in the crate. Sometimes it's five minutes after she goes in , sometmes an hour, sometimes fifteen minutes. Yesterday I took her outside and she did her business, I brought her in, put her in the crate turned around for 2 seconds and she had gone in her crate while she was screaming. I did notice that she sometimes pees while she is whining. I thought maybe this could be stress related. I take her out to do her business and she does it but she also does it in the crate. At first I put a nice fluffy blanket in the crate, then we went to nice towels, then hand towels, then nothing. I stopped putting anything in there for her to lay on but she would lay in the urine and mop it up with her fur and be soaking wet when I brought her out. YUK! So I'm back to towels. At least they absorb some of this. I have a load of "puppy laundry" every day. I change the towel whenever I see it wet because I don't want her getting comfortable laying in urine, which she already seems to be. It seems that this pup cannot have any kind of barrier between her and the family. I have her tethered on a blanket next to my bed at night and she holds her pee a minimum of 7 hours and does not whine at all. So I know she can hold it.

Any help with these issues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

~Tammy

She has no accidents anywhere but the crate?

Thanks Connie. Yes, she does have accidents out of the crate as well.
~Tammy

That's a hard post to answer, and here's why: You have two issues, not one (I believe).

One is the aversion to the crate and the other is potty training.

So, the crate: What's her favorite treat? I'd start giving it to her in the crate. JMO. You're not using it as punishment or anything, right? Also, is it located so she's in the family flow?

As for the potty training, I started typing and then realized how many hundreds of times the subject has been covered on the board....
http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=16
and
http://www.leerburg.com/housetraining.htm

If you read these links, and have questions, I know we will help.

Oh, and one small thing to start: I would take her out for potty immediately before every single time she goes into the crate.

In addition to what Connie post, just an additional thought - does she get plenty of time out of the crate to play and interact with you? Being as young as she is, she still needs a lot of sleep during the day, but if she's not getting enough puppy play type exercise, she won't enjoy her crate and will just feel frustrated.

How does she do when outside the crate, in the house?

Do you have her in a puppy-size crate? If the crate is too large, puppy's will relieve inside. The crate should be big enough for her to stand up, turn around and stretch out while lying down. You can make a large crate smaller and cozier, more like a "den" by blocking part of it off until the puppy is bigger. Good luck with your baby.

I was just reading about crates and the size is what came to my mind too...babies need those close quarters.

Also, another question, did this pup come from a private breeder, pet store, rescue?

Thank you thank you Ruth, for pointing out that a larger crate can be "downsized". I have been putting some thought into (and somewhat dreading) the issue of small, bigger, bigger, biggest crate to accomodate a puppy growing up, having to essentially start up a purchase and sell crate business! I have a large crate, but now believe (thanks to you and with the help of my contractor hubbie ) we will be able to readily accomodate the pup! Maybe I could write the next one: CRATES FOR DUMMIES!

Connie: This crate is in a very high traffic area. It is a wire crate so she can see all around. When I put her in it I throw a treat or two in there with her. She grabs the treat and quickly tries to wedge her nose in the door. Smart little thing. I will take your suggestion and try to take her potty before crating each time. Thanks.

Sandy: Everytime we take her out of the crate, which is roughly every 1 1/2 hrs. we let her run around for at least 15 minutes. The kids take her out several times to the yard and let her run around or she is playing with us inside. I will not let her play in the house if she hasn't gone potty outside but there are times it doesn't matter because she will pee outside where she should and in the house as well.

Ruth: I do have her in a large crate blocked off with a divider, just big enough to stand up, turn around and lay down in.

Michele: I purchase this pup from a breeder. She seemed very clean but I imagine that when a lazy or shady breeder has a prospective buyer coming over things get cleaned up. KWIM? Maybe this was the case but......

Thats funny Michele about the crate size thing. I had the same issue but my contactor husband modified the first crate we had the pup in by cutting a piece of wood and screwing it through the sides to make a divider, it worked well. We since then switched to a wire crate that included a divider because I thought that maybe the pup wouldn't scream so much if she could see around more. Gee, that worked great.

Okay, how do I do those cute little faces on my post?

Thank you all for helping me out. I am really grateful.