Helli all. I’m new here. I have an 11 week old chocolate lady who came home with me at 8 weeks old. We are still of course working on potty training but I can’t seem to find much advice on what to do when your pup walks into the crate, squats and goes pee. She stays in there for 2-3 hours 3 days a week and I’m trying to create a positive association with her in there but she then she also randomly goes in to pee. Any tips appreciated!
First of all welcome to the site there will be some great advice coming your way. I would wash and remove ALL the bedding as the smell is on them now and is attracting her to the same spot. You need to watch her all the time after she has been fed woken up or drank put her out and tell her the word you will use. I did this with mine every hour I put her out to pee. But had pee pads by the door for any accidents. If you see her going into the crate to pee grab her quick and put her out and when she is done lots of praise and treats. Good luck she will get there very quick but you have to be consistent.
Also if you have her in a large crate maybe it's too big for her. Supposedly they don't generally like to potty in their bed. Try getting a smaller crate to use until she's potty trained.
When your pup has accidents do you use enzyme cleaners. if not, your dog will want to keep going in their. my dog did this to one spot for a little while until we cleaned it up.
I would not recommend using pee pads or newspaper. So - why is your puppy doing this? It may be that in the crate you have absorbent bedding and the pup has come from a breeder who has used pee pads or similar - something absorbent and cushioned - so the pup has learnt to toilet on that substrate. Pups are very substrate specific - which is one reason to get them outside from day 1! If your pup is out of the crate and playing and you are worried this may happen, it's pretty easy just to shut the crate so the pup can't go in there and wee. Meanwhile, a thorough clean using enzymatic cleaners is also a good idea, as @WillowA says above - because dogs will toilet in places that smell like toilet places... and they have sensitive noses...
