Ok, I have a 2 year old Belgian Malinois and all of a sudden she has started peeing in her bed in her crate. She is perfectly house trained and has not had an accident in the house since she was 6 months old. I know her crate is not too big, because that is the first question I researched. We take her out before we leave the house or put her to bed for the night and she only does it when we are gone. She is normally not locked up for more than a few short hours. Any advice??

Is she a fairly clingy dog? Follows you when you leave the room, cries if you leave her alone?

It could be separation anxiety, give me a sec and I'll dig through my files for an article I wrote about it ;)

Here you go :)

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Does your dog cry when you leave the room? Urinate only when you leave the house?
These are a few signs that your dog may be suffering from Separation Anxiety.

Some dogs do not like being left alone and some will think you are leaving them permanently and not coming back. Here are a few tips to help fix this problem.

When you leave, no matter how long for always have fresh water available. Toys are also a wonderful training tool as it will keep the dog distracted, I use kong toys stuffed with yummy food as a cure for boredom, having special toys or treats that the dog gets only when you go out are also a wonderful idea.

When training my own dogs for separation anxiety I first distract my dogs with their favourite toy and then exit my house through the front door.
I only leave for a minute or two, just long enough so that the dog does not bark or cry.
I then re-enter the house and give them praise for not crying.

Next time I go out I leave for a few more minutes, again only entering the house if the dog is not crying and giving praise.

Increase the amount of time you leave for and always come back before the dog starts crying (you will learn how long that threshold is pretty quickly)

This teaches the dog that you are going to come back and they are not being left alone forever.


Another technique is to not "baby" the dog.
Some dogs become overly attached to their owner and don't even like their owner being out of their line of sight, in this case the training needs to begin before you start going out

Start paying less attention to the dog, when he pushes for attention, don't give it to him
If he wants to be petted, make him wait.
As harsh as it sounds it is the only way to get the dog to start becoming less dependent on you.

After you have trained the dog to be less clingy you can move onto things like leaving the dog in the living room while you have a shower, or leaving him inside while you are out hanging up washing on the clothesline.

Thank you so much! I will definitely try all the things you said. I really appreciate the help!

Come back and let us know how it goes - It's always good to get some feedback ;)
Those methods have worked for quite a few people so hopefully you will have success as well! :)

Clean bill of health from the Vet? Could possibly be an UTI or bladder infection. Does she urinate frequently when you guys are home? Or does she seem to be drinking more water than normal?