# 12 week old won’t stop peeing in crate



## Femfa (May 29, 2016)

And it’s driving me mad. Ryka came crate trained and never once peed in her crate. Didn’t matter if it was way bigger than her, it was her sleeping area so she just never did it. 

This puppy, however, is just so frustrating for this. He would be so amazingly perfect if not for this issue. He thinks it’s okay to pee in his crate, and we’ve been doing everything we can to not let it happen because we don’t want him to think it is. He won’t cry to go out, so we take him out multiple times through the night. If he freaks out if you leave he’ll pee, so we always make sure to take him out first and cater to him. 

But last night just makes me want to turn him into a rug. We had company over, so we crated him. Made sure to take him out periodically. He had a nap, and when we woke from it we got up to go take him out. But before we even got there, he just stood up and starting peeing without crying, whining, anything. Just stood up and peed. 

Then just now I had to clean his crate for the millionth time because he peed, didn’t whine, nothing. Not until after because he had to poop and was in his pee. I have bathed this dog once a day it feels for about 4 weeks. 

The annoying thing is he doesn’t potty in the house. He can make it through the night, but chooses not to. He’s learned that it’s okay to pee in his crate and I don’t know how to stop that anymore. He doesn’t have a UTI. His crate is the appropriate size. 

The solution I was given was to just keep the crate open and let him go out and pee on a potty pad. But I hate pee pads, and our room is carpet. I’d rather clean a small crate than a carpeted room. My other alternative is let him sleep on the bed, but Ryka does already and I’m worried she’ll hurt him.

I’m at my wits end with this. Someone tell me it gets better please, lol.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

I call it reverse crate training. Same principle but backwards. Put him in the crate, wait 20 minutes, take him out. High praise for clean crate, no praise for dirty one. Extend the time as you go. 
Vet check first to check for any issues. 
I know it's frustrating. Nothing worse then crate messes.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

I was home all day with both my dogs as pups. I set a timer and took them out if they asked for it or not (with the exception of nap times). I started with every 15 minutes and then 30 then 45 then a hour. Yes it was a bother but it really set the tone that pottying is for outdoors, clean is for indoors. My gal-pup, at one point, peed in her crate so that I would take her outside. So I removed her from the crate but kept her tethered to me in the room. I cleaned the crate and put her right back in. That is when I started the timer routine for her. So like Sabis Mom suggested, a clean crate was rewarded, not the dirty one.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

Have you tried feeding him in his crate? How about putting him in there with a long lasting chew treat? 

One thing I would do is to give him more outside time. Is your yard fenced? If not, can you tether him? By having him outside longer, not just more often, he would have to do his business outside. This would be creating an alternative behavior to messing in his crate.


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## Femfa (May 29, 2016)

So he only does these messes at night or in the morning where it’s necessary to crate him. He isn’t crated all day, he’s tethered to me or in the x-pen, and he has a specific potty area outside. The crate is the size where he can just barely get up and move around. 

He’s on a timer already and he can hold it for the entire night but chooses not to so we take him out every 3 hours until 2 AM because he has shown basically every night that he can hold it from then until morning. If he sleeps on my bed, he won’t once get up and ask to go potty and he’ll sleep through the night. But Ryka sleeps on our bed, and I don’t want to wake up to a dog fight. Last night was the first time he peed in his crate at 5 AM, but it wasn’t fun to wake up to. Any time he’s shown us he doesn’t want to hold it for that long we have reduced our time. But he’s prone to at least one crate accident a day during the night or morning, even if we’ve just taken him out. 

During the day he never pees in the house. Heck, even if we’re in the backyard the potty area is so ingrained he’ll run over to it and wait at the gate to get in and pee or poop. 

He’s been vet checked and doesn’t have a UTI. 

He doesn’t want to poop in his crate, he doesn’t like dirty crates, but he doesn’t care about peeing at the time of. Praise means little to him when the crate is clean because he likes his crate already. It’s where he eats, gets bully sticks, Kongs, etc. He runs to it if I have his food ready or any treats. I did lots of crate games in the beginning to make it a good place. He still struggles with separation anxiety, but he loves his crate. 

Honestly it just feels like stupid puppy antics, where he’s like “ah I gotta pee”, then realizes he just peed where he sleeps and then cries about it. I’m doing everything you guys have suggested, but he *still* pees in the crate when he’s half asleep or over excited, and it makes me want to just smack my head against the wall. 

It’s like karma for having one puppy who was and still is perfect in the crate, lol.


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## Shane'sDad (Jul 22, 2010)

I'm guessing he gets a verbal correction like a NOOO !!....does he even look like he's aware he screwed up or not ?


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## Pawsed (May 24, 2014)

This may be a totally insane idea, but what about putting a diaper on him at night? You could cut a hole for his tail and it would be easy to take it on and off. If he peed on himself, maybe he would figure out he didn't want to do that anymore. 

He might need a blow-up collar to keep him from ripping it off, but it might be worth a try. Or, as I said, it's just insane.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

Why do you feel that if you let him sleep with you, that there might be a dog fight? Have you considered crating the adult at night for a week or two until you get bladder control?


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

I'm just wondering, reading your posts is it possible he is not sleeping soundly in his crate because he's nervous? Nervous would explain a lot, would explain why he clearly can hold it but isn't and would explain why snuggled next to you he no longer needs to pee at night.
I have let lots of puppies sleep with me and have yet to have one pee on the bed, but Sabi and Shadow got into a brawl in the middle of the night. Breaking up a dogfight in the dark with no clothes on and half asleep is not cool, so I get where you are on that.


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

How about restricting water? Take the water away at 8pm. They say it takes 2 hours for a drink of water to go through a puppy's system. So take him out at 10p, and then at 12am. He should be "empty" until the early morning. Also, maybe pick him up and carry him to the outside spot. Don't give him a chance to go. My pup stopped pooping in the house 3 days after I brought him home. Peeing took a lot longer. And I certainly was as frustrated as you are. When he finally stopped peeing in the house, another problem developed...he didn't know how to pee and poop away from "the spot" outside.

I feel for ya having to wash him after every time. I had to do that with my previous dog in his last 2 months of his life when he pooped in his sleep or when he was eating or other times. Trying to wash poop out of his long hair on his tail, around his rear, on his legs, etc. at 3am in freezing temperatures every night wasn't fun. (I also had to clean up vomit every night too.) Anyway, hang in there. We've all felt that level of frustration with one thing or another, so we empathize with ya. It will get better.


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## Femfa (May 29, 2016)

Yep, water is restricted. No water after 9 PM because we normally go to bed around 11.

He gets a verbal correction if caught in the act, but we rarely catch him in the act because it’s when we’re sleeping. 

He’s always carried outside. 

I worry about my adult dog because she has the right to sleep on our bed and while she’s warmed up to him tremendously, she generally doesn’t like other dogs in her space. She won’t let the Golden even lay in her dog bed, but there’s the possibility of her being okay with him because she lets him on her bed just fine. Either way I don’t want her to accidentally hurt him. She’s 70lbs, he’s 25lbs. It’s a losing battle for him. I might let him sleep on the bed and see, but I’m still undecided. 

He isn’t unsettled in the crate, he isn’t anxious in it or bothered by it unless we’re not nearby. He sleeps like a log and often right on his back with his belly exposed happily, haha. 

Honestly it feels like my only options are make the crate so small when he sleeps he just can’t get the space to go and lets us know, or he sleeps on the bed. I’ll have to ask my partner what he thinks he can tolerate, lol.


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## crittersitter (Mar 31, 2011)

12 weeks is still a baby. https://www.rover.com/blog/long-can-leave-puppy-alone/


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## Shane'sDad (Jul 22, 2010)

Years ago we had a male come to us with no house training--as I remember was 5-6 months old--would pee in the crate-sometimes right after we brought him and the other dogs back inside...his crate was large so I did what the OP here mentioned "make it small".... I made a barrier or wall from wood-used tie wraps to attach it to the sides of the crate making the area he was in very small...also started feeding him in the crate...his area was so small he could barely turn around...that worked pretty quickly to "fix" his issue...between seeing what the adult dogs did when they went outside and not wanting to lay in his own pee ....didn't take him long to learn and I was able to remove the "wall"....


I should add that being in a tiny area also made him vocal when he needed to pee.....a good thing IMO.... I initially carried him outside because I didn't want him peeing two steps out of the crate...


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## Femfa (May 29, 2016)

Well, last night I made the crate area even smaller than it was originally and it forced him to be vocal when he had to pee! Right on the money at 3 AM, too. No crate accidents prior to bed, during the night, or in the morning. 

Fingers crossed this works! Especially because my partner doesn’t want him sleeping on the bed until he’s older. 

On the bright side, the two of them have randomly become best friends now. So no crate accidents last night, and now the dog I was worried about hurting my new dog is the gentlest, happiest pup around him. I literally cried when she initiated play and was so gentle with him.


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## Colorado (Nov 25, 2007)

Just a thought but I went through something similar with my GSD pup (now 8 months). I thought it was a training issue. When I took him to the vet for a round of vaccinations they tested a stool sample and it came back positive for Giardia. A round of antibiotics later and all peeing and pooping in the crate stopped. (Actually it stopped just a couple days into the treatment.)

I still feel guilty I put him through that stress but live and learn. Anyway, if it continues, maybe a vet visit would be a good idea.


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