Peeing in the Crate
- Thread starter jen929rr
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Weeell, we need a bit more information than that to be able to give any suggestions 
Like: How old are they? How long and how often are they crated? When did this behaviour start? Does it happen every time you crate them, when you're home, overnight, etc? Plus any other useful info you can think of
Like: How old are they? How long and how often are they crated? When did this behaviour start? Does it happen every time you crate them, when you're home, overnight, etc? Plus any other useful info you can think of
jen929rr
Boxer Buddy
gmacleod said:Weeell, we need a bit more information than that to be able to give any suggestions
Like: How old are they? How long and how often are they crated? When did this behaviour start? Does it happen every time you crate them, when you're home, overnight, etc? Plus any other useful info you can think of
My female is 3 yrs and male is suspected to be around 4-5 yrs (found him). They are crated for about 7 hours a day when I am at work. This doesnt happen every time but more often than not. I think they do it cause they want to make me mad for locking them up.(attitude) I let them out a good 3 times and walk around with them to make sure they do what they need to. The male likes to poop in the basement if we leave him out, even if he goes before I leave.
Ok - well that's still not really a lot of information, so not sure how much use any suggestions are going to be. I did a search for other posts you've made, and found that your male is a very recent addition. So I wonder again how long your dogs have been peeing in their crates - is it just since you brought the male home, or did your female do this before?
Quite possibly both animals are somewhat stressed at being crated all day - especially if that's a new arrangement (you said the male will poop in the basement if left out - so I have to guess that you haven't been using the crate long?). They may even be each marking territory if they haven't yet sorted their heirarchy out. The one thing I can guarantee is that it has nothing to do with being mad at you or trying to make you mad over leaving them. Dogs simply don't have minds that work that way.
*IF* this has happened only since you added the male to your household (and seeing as he was a stray, we don't know anything about his background, crate training, etc) then one would have to guess that he hasn't had proper crate training, and your female is following his lead or marking.
*IF* your female has done this before you added the male to your household - well the answer lies in the effectiveness of her crate training (or conceivably a UTI if she started doing it suddenly). With the male - his background is still unknown and you need to treat him as you would a puppy until he is properly trained.
In both cases my suggestion for a solution would be to (a) ensure they're both 'empty' before going into their crates, (b) not to give them much room inside the crates and to remove bedding, and (c) to ensure they're not crated without a potty stop for more than about 4 hours (meaning someone needs to come and let them out to pee at lunch time) which is a time frame you can increase gradually. If you find they're fine for 4 hours, you can increase that to 5 and so on. It is quite possible that you may find 7 hours is just too long for one or both of your particular dogs to hold it, in which case you need someone (even a dog walker) to come and give them a break during the day.
The information you have found relating to crate training puppies is not irrelevant - it's the same method used to crate/housetrain all dogs irrespective of age, so don't write that off as irrelevant.
Quite possibly both animals are somewhat stressed at being crated all day - especially if that's a new arrangement (you said the male will poop in the basement if left out - so I have to guess that you haven't been using the crate long?). They may even be each marking territory if they haven't yet sorted their heirarchy out. The one thing I can guarantee is that it has nothing to do with being mad at you or trying to make you mad over leaving them. Dogs simply don't have minds that work that way.
*IF* this has happened only since you added the male to your household (and seeing as he was a stray, we don't know anything about his background, crate training, etc) then one would have to guess that he hasn't had proper crate training, and your female is following his lead or marking.
*IF* your female has done this before you added the male to your household - well the answer lies in the effectiveness of her crate training (or conceivably a UTI if she started doing it suddenly). With the male - his background is still unknown and you need to treat him as you would a puppy until he is properly trained.
In both cases my suggestion for a solution would be to (a) ensure they're both 'empty' before going into their crates, (b) not to give them much room inside the crates and to remove bedding, and (c) to ensure they're not crated without a potty stop for more than about 4 hours (meaning someone needs to come and let them out to pee at lunch time) which is a time frame you can increase gradually. If you find they're fine for 4 hours, you can increase that to 5 and so on. It is quite possible that you may find 7 hours is just too long for one or both of your particular dogs to hold it, in which case you need someone (even a dog walker) to come and give them a break during the day.
The information you have found relating to crate training puppies is not irrelevant - it's the same method used to crate/housetrain all dogs irrespective of age, so don't write that off as irrelevant.
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