could this be separation anxiety?

[bea'smum]

My almost four month old girl, Bea, has peed in her crate 3 times in the past week. She has NEVER done this before...even when we first brought her home. I spend a lot of time with her because I work from home but last week I had to attend conference out of town so she was solely in the care of my husband and had to be crated more than usual (though never for more than 3 or 4 hours at a time). This was when the first accident happened and the other two since then happend since I got back but also when she was left alone. We don't really know how to deal with the accidents because we obviously aren't catching her in the act...we've just been cleaning things up and washing her blankets over and over. Is there something else we should do? I used the search engine to look up info on separation anxiety and the advice seems to be to enlist the help of a behaviorist...but it also seemed like the cases I read about could more clearly be identified as separation anxiety and I'm just not even sure that's what's going on here.

 

[boxer]

At four months old, it is extremely unlikely that your pup has developed separation anxiety. It is very likely that it's a toilet training issue though. Dogs don't fully "get" the toilet training thing at 4 months old, even though you may be accident free by that time or even earlier. The main reason they don't pee in their crates isn't because they don't want to pee, it's because they don't want to sit in it. It sounds to me as though on one occassion she just had to go, and in doing so found that the blankets soak up the pee - so when she feels the need to go, she now knows that between holding on and wetting the crate, wetting the crate is the lesser evil. I'd try making sure she gets more frequent potty stops (because clearly she needs to go) along with removing the blankets for a while and/or reducing the amount of room she's got in the crate.

 

[bea'smum]

Thanks, you are probably right. I just find it odd that she makes it through the night for 6+ hours without wetting anything. I will try removing the blankets next time we leave the house..I hadn't thought that they might be contributing to the problem. Thanks again for your reply!

 

[boxer]

You're welcome
On the overnight thing though - everybody, human or canine, can last longer sleeping overnight without needing to go. Chances are, she's not asleep the whole time she's in her crate during the day - which is why she needs to relieve herself more frequently. Totally normal

 

[Alidog]

I agree..

I agree with boxer buddy..a 4month old puppy is not going to sleep through the day when it is in a crate & it cannot be expected to stop its little bladder from making mistakes every now and then. Here in New Zealand, 'kenneling' outdoors is very common and in these kennels there is normally (if done correctly) an area of grass for peeing and pooping. A lot of ppl object to this because it doesnt teach them to 'hold on' however, I do not let my girl indoors when im not home so ive taught her to simply come and get one of us at home to take her to the toilet outside when we are there. This may be something you can look at, of course a kennel would not be open to any harsh weather, all boxed in and warm for them