We got our gorgeous black lab puppy Elsa at 8 weeks old, 10 days ago. The first 5 days we had no accidents in the crate and actually very few in the house even. Felt like it was going really well. Then after we had had her 6 days and she started getting more confident she started peeing more including going inside often. Some times this was a tiny wee, just a spot. At the same time she started squatting for much longer to wee. Also drinking more. I worried about a UTI due to the change in habit but spoke to the vet several times and they don’t seem worried. Also my dad is a retired vet and he said things sound fine and not to worry. fast forward a few days and Elsa has started peeing in her crate often. In the first week she cried at night and I came down to let her out. Now she cries in her crate and when I come down she has already been in the crate. We have gone from using a nice comfy bed to towels for bedding which have to be changed every time. She has also peed on one occasion when just been left for 15 mins and not settling (despite having just gone out). in the back of my mind I still worry a little about a UTI but expect this is more behavioural and clearly we have got something wrong in our training so far. So any advice? Our crate is big enough for an adult lab so is too big for a puppy. Should I get a smaller one or one with a divider or can we still get through this with what we have? It seems strange that she does not seem to care about peeing where she sleeps and eats as she doesn’t even move to one side. I also thought about getting a crate cover. the breeder did not have the dogs inside so everything is new to her. Maybe this is par for the course and we will get through it but any advice appreciated.
Hi there, this can be a really difficult problem so are right in thinking you need to take action now. there are three main reasons that a puppy might pee in a crate A UTI The crate is too big The puppy is left in the crate too long The first is the least likely and it sounds as if your vet has ruled this out. As you probably know, 8 week old puppies will try very hard never to pee in their beds. So if they pee in their crate the first few times, it is either because they have been left longer than they can wait (and this could be only 15 minutes if they didn't empty themselves outside properly). Or its because they have made a sleeping area at one end of the crate and a toileting area at the other. It sounds like the latter may be your problem. What many people don't realize is that the instinct to keep their bed clean is quite fragile. And once they have peed in their own bed a few times, it can be very difficult to get them to stop. So you really need to fix this now The solution is to start by getting yourself a smaller crate or a crate divider and put a different kind of bedding in there. A piece of vet bed can work. Don't leave the puppy in there for very long at all during the day (10 or 15 minutes) for the next few days, to re-establish being clean. At night time, either get up two or three times the next few nights (don't wait for her to cry - it may be too late) OR, put a playpen around the crate, leave the crate door open and put puppy pads down in the playpen for her too pee on. If both those fail, you may need too remove the bedding altogether to break the habit. Hopefully it won't come to that.
Many thanks for the detailed reply. Yesterday she had a 3 hour sleep in her crate in the morning and I sat in the room working so I could watch what she does. When she woke I put her out for a wee and all was fine. I had worried she is peeing in her sleep but looks more likely that she wakes and goes then whines for me rather than whining to be let out first. So in the night I guess I could preempt the wake up by getting up before her to let her out. do you think we could get the larger crate to work or should we definitely be moving to a smaller one? We have ordered a crate cover coming today to try and make it more den like but if we need to be buying a different crate to get this to work then we should do so and move back to this one in the future.
To make the larger crate work, it's likely you'll need a divider. This is such a difficult problem to overcome if not nipped in the bud right now, that I would pull out all the stops
We made a divider from some old mesh and cable ties. Didn't need it for long, was really worth it. She trained easily.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Last night she peed on the towel we put in for her bed as bedding. Just a small wee. And was stood on the towel when I came to her. She didn’t move to the other side of the crate to do her business to get away from her bed. So I wonder if even in a smaller crate she would still go? Maybe I’m obsessing a bit too much about this (probably am) and we should just accept that she is still young and learning and keep the existing crate for now and see if we can improve things in the coming days.
If she is peeing in the crate you really need to nip this in the bud now or she will continue doing it. Try setting your alarm to get up and let her out every couple of hours during the night, this will help her learn that she doesn't need to go in the crate as she will get out. Also you will be able to start pushing the times of the alarms back a few minutes each day until you are able to reduce the number of alarms. If she has an accident in the crate then go back for a couple of days and start pushing forward again. I think you should divide the crate somehow and make sure the bit she is in is comforting and cosy so she doesn't want to 'ruin' it.
Hi all, just thought I would update on this for anyone interested. Hope I’m not tempting fate by saying this but things are going pretty well now. For several weeks we are mostly accident free in the house and there is some evidence of her asking to go out at times. We are a week now of accident free in the crate too and to achieve this we did not change the crate nor put a divider in and just kept the original slightly too big one. I think things improved both due to her age and us being more on top of things. We went through a stage where she was peeing in the crate even during the day. So what I did was make sure I was in the room with the crate before she woke up. Then as soon as she started to wake I would put her out. This seemed to break the cycle of day time wee in the crate. Then we still had night time ones but that fairly quickly stopped too. She was quite varied about when she woke in the night so I often let her wake me but if I woke at a sensible time before her I would go down and wake her up for a wee and that seemed to help. we were still doing over night toilet breaks but the last 2 nights she has survived until morning which is brilliant (6am and 0530am so nice and early but better than getting up in the night!). So things are going well right now from that perspective as she approaches 12 weeks. she is however a bit crazy at attacking you for rough play but I am following the other threads for that! cheers
