Hi
I've had some very similar experience of this. It looks to me as if your pup thinks the crate is the toilet and he is appalled that you are making him sleep there or eat there. He keeps trying to remind you that this is the toilet by saving some pee to sprinkle in there - and with the peeing on his food bowl he is saying "look what happens to my food bowl if you try and feed me in the toilet!"

The answer is to remove his indoor toilet. You have already said that he is clean in the house so with his indoor toilet gone he will only use the outside one!

Seriously, I had the same problem with one of my male pups. The minute the indoor toilet was removed it was the end of the problem. I agree with the ideas above to give him a gated off area for now to allow him more freedom but not have access to the whole appartment unless you are directly supervising him.

Don't worry, it's not you or your pup being stupid that has caused this. It is just something that he has got into his head from the very start and there has been nothing to teach him otherwise - the only solution is to remove it!

Good luck

Sarah Ryan
http://www.bmk.org.uk

Baby gates are a possibility, if they're tall. He is not a jumper at this stage, but I am guessing he'd climb pretty good and I am afraid he might hang up on a gate. He has no trouble climbing into the wet tub or into the car. He is a good reacher with his front paws, he puts 'em right on my chest and belly all day long.
The ONLY place I could do this would be the kitchen...I foresee some issues-what should I cover/alter? I have horrible visions of him learning how to open my frig-they know it's where all the good stuff is.
Sheesh. Durn boy dogs! My bitch puppy was soooo good.

Gary,
His crate resistance varies from day to day. He NEVER will go in on his own, and ALWAYS runs from me when he knows it's crate time. I try to act very calm and nonchalant about capturing him, so he doesn't think it's a game, and once I have the collar I give praise and pets, then we lead over to the crate and I lead his head into it.
At this point, usually he will walk in on his own, but some days he wheels around fast when I let go and escapes. Other days, we are wrestling the whole way to the crate. He used to bite me and scream-so there has been improvement.
For the biting, I'd yell and shake him. For the escaping, I just kinda shrug it off and recapture him. For wrestling, I talk conversationally the whole time while taking him over, and he always gets a snack once he's in and the door is closed.

Alex,why are you so insistant on that stupid crate???

If you want the greatest success you must learn to be flexible and creative, and go with the flow!!! ( no pun intended!!!)

Work with what you have and stop trying to force the issue , you can see that you aren't getting anywhere with the crate, so give something else a try. You have had many great suggestions given to you.

And BTW, my dogs can jump, yet all I have to do is lean a gate against the wall and they respect it as a barrier. So, you don't know if your pup will be a climber unless you try and see what happens. You can't go anywhere from here but up!!( and I don't mean the gate!!LOL)

Good Luck!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

This thread is getting silly. Topic closed.