Sorry, I see to be posting something on here every day at the moment. But it's been one of those weeks and it's definitely one of those days today where nothing is going right! Weeing in the crate happened yesterday and I thought it was a one off, but it's happened a few times since. Luna seems to be choosing to wee in her crate in the afternoon/evening. Even when she has just been taken outdoors to do a wee, she will come in, wander into her crate and pee. It's so frustrating especially as all the guidance and all the books says that a dog with never wee in its den! She loves her crate. She takes herself off to sleep there at about 9.30pm. At night she has a soft cushion to sleep on in there, and a towel next to her for a harder surface to sleep on (she seems to like hard floors), but normally at around 10am or 11am the next day she'll pull all of this out so it's completely empty and either lie on the towel in her pen (we've got her penned at the moment because she's injured her paw and can't have run of the room) or she'll lie on the cold floor of the empty crate. Toilet training has taken a massive step back since her accident because the carpeted area we have to keep her on in the pen to stop her slipping around has been peed on a few times now and it must stink of puppy wee. She is having at least 5 accidents a day - she doesn't even warn us any more when she's going to wee so we have to be really vigilant and just keep taking her out after every wee or sleep or every hour. It's a shame because we were doing so well with this in the first week. The crate thing has been happening for just a few days though. I'm not sure whether it's because it's the coolest place for her to go. Our garden has no shade and is sweltering hot in the afternoon. The kitchen is also really hot despite all the doors open and the fan on. If I take her out for a wee, she'll just lie on the grass and eat it - she has no interest in walking anywhere. She will whinge to go out - but it tends to be just to chew grass, not to walk around. Then as soon as I bring her in, she wanders into her crate and wees. She's not wanting to drink much today, and I'm having to syringe water into her as it's so hot. I don't know whether this is contributing to the random weeing, but it almost seems counter intuitive that she's weeing it out but not drinking it in.
Hi there, it is very frustrating when housetraining seems to go backwards, but this kind of problem is pretty common. That's true, but only if the den is small enough to restrict the puppy to it's bed. Puppies won't normally wee where they sleep. There are exceptions, including puppies that have bladder infections. But usually, if a puppy is peeing in a crate it's because the crate is too big to be used for house training purposes, or because the puppy has been left in there too long. It could be, a healthy puppy doesn't need to have liquid syringed into them if water is freely available. Did your vet recommend that you need to rehydrate her?
Unfortunately I can't leave the water down all the time because her foot is bandaged and we're not able to get it wet. She has a habit of dunking it in the water bowl, so I'm putting it down for her every half hour. If she's not showing any interest for a few hours then I'm trying to get some water into her with a syringe. It might be overkill, but in this hot weather I was just a bit concerned.
That's understandable! . It might be better to offer her regular drinks from a bowl that you hold out to her, rather than actually putting it into her mouth.
Reassuring to hear that backtracking on progress is common. She doesn't wee in the crate if her bedding is in there - only if she's emptied it out. It's a 36" crate, and we've taken her plastic bed out because she kept getting her cone stuck trying to get into it. When it was in there, it would take up the bulk of the space. Not sure if this helps give a bit of info on the set up.
Okay, that is reassuring. The main thing is that she wants to keep her bed clean. If you can figure out a way to keep her bed in the crate that would help. Or borrow a smaller crate for a couple of weeks (depending on how big she is) Or prevent her going in the crate when it is empty. I appreciate that it is difficult to manage a puppy wearing a cone. It's also difficult in hot weather because she may be too hot in her bed. Taking her out and staying out with her until she has wee'd will also help. However long that takes (a chair and a book can help you) And if it is too hot to be outdoors for any length of time you might even be better off training her to pee on puppy pads in a cool place indoors. A lot of puppy parents are struggling in the heat at the moment, so don't be too hard on yourself More tips and ideas here 15 puppy potty training problems solved
Thank you for all the advice - I'll monitor how she gets on over the next few days. If she empties out all her bedding again then I'll restrict her access at the hottest part of the day for now. This site and all the help from everyone is wonderful - exactly what an Olympic Worrier like me needs! I never thought I'd say this, but roll on some cooler, British weather. Maybe a bit of rain?! And roll on 10 days time when the cone and bandage can come off!
Thank you for this advice. As suggested, I've been keeping the door of the crate shut during the hottest part of the day (because she's still dragging all of her bedding out of it in the morning leaving it temptingly empty). It seems to be working and it also seems likely that it was because it was much cooler in there that she was relaxing there and weeing. She's been hating going in the garden in the afternoon for the loo unless she's desperate, and if she does, she's just flopping down in the shade and forgetting about her bladder. We've watched her like a hawk this weekend though and thankfully no accidents for 3 days.
