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apollodog · May 9, 2009, 07:56 AM

Ok, so we have a 6mth old retriever border collie cross whom we got from shelter. We got him started on housetraining and everything was going very well. He would go outside and go pee on the deck or go poop around the side of the house in the yard and we have gotten to the point where there were not more accidents in the house.

Then we noticed that he had been peeing in his crate sometimes and so we took away the water a couple hours before he went to bed and before he had to go into his crate while we went to work but that still does not seem to be working.

Im not sure if he is going in there because he is suffering from separation anxiety or if it is something more. We took him to the vet and he was on anti-biotics for 10 days to make sure he didn't have a bladder or urinary tract infection but he is still doing it! We don't know what to do now, because I know that dogs do NOT like to be in their own waste and I want to help him so that this doesn't stay the case.

In his crate (which is sized to fit him properly) we have a soft bed mat which seems to be soaking up the urine so Im not sure he realizes that he's essentially lying in his own pee. In the last two days though, when I go to leave the house, I put him out for a couple minutes in case he has to "do his buisness" but he never does, and so I put him in his crate and just as I'm about to walk out the door he goes pee. I don't want to yell at him or discipline him in his crate though, so does anyone have any suggestions for what we can do with him to get this resolved?

Thanks.

Oh, and he will NEVER go pee or poo when we take him for a walk. He ONLY goes when he is alone in the yard. We have gone for hour long walks and still he waits until the yard to go pee when he gets home.

shazamataz · May 9, 2009, 08:01 AM

How long is he in the crate for while you are at work?

apollodog · May 9, 2009, 08:52 AM

He is usually in his crate for a maximum of 5-6hrs between me leaving at 9:30am and my boyfriend getting home at 2:30-3:30pm

shazamataz · May 9, 2009, 09:08 AM

A 6 month old puppy would be lucky to hold his wee in for a few hours.
He needs to have some sort of access to toilet facilities in this time...
Maybe you could block of your kitchen and put paper down instead of crating him.
Make sure you leave him lots of toys too as dogs (especially puppies) can get bored very easily.
:)

apollodog · May 9, 2009, 10:26 AM

I'm just more concerned with the fact that I think he is going pee when he sees us leaving. If it was only while he was in a crate it wouldn't be quite so bad. Don't get me wrong, Its not that I don't care that he's peeing in the crate, its more that he's doing it right when we are leaving now too.

shazamataz · May 9, 2009, 10:29 AM

Ahh OK... you could try doing this:

Instead of only leaving when you go to work, leave at all sorts of times...

Some dogs know that people leaving at a certain time of day or even in certain clothes means they aren't coming back for a while.
Try going out your front door wearing different clothes, a bathrobe or something, don't take your keys or anything.
Come back in a few minutes so he knows that you aren't going for a long time.
Repeat this gradually adding more of your work clothes and keys etc.
Always come back after a short period.

It might take a while but it can be successful.

Catsmine · May 9, 2009, 11:25 AM

If you have to leave him alone that long, do you have a fence? Can he have the back yard while you're at work? Optimum would be a kennel building with access to an exercise yard 24/7. How close can you get?

apollodog · May 9, 2009, 12:29 PM

Lol I have a fenced yard but it was discovered last weekend that he can clear a 4.5 foot fence so we are pricing out building a higher fence as well and I really don't like the idea of staking him on a chain to the yard either. I'll definitely work on the "leaving at different times" idea. Thanks for all the suggestions so far :)

shazamataz · May 9, 2009, 12:38 PM

No worries apollodog :)

I think this is what Catsmine is suggesting (correct me if I'm worng)
Dog runs are great if they can jump fences.. this pic is a 'deluxe' model but you can build one fairly cheap :)

Catsmine · May 9, 2009, 02:48 PM

Actually I hadn't considered jumping and was talking about the yard, but a "run" is a good idea, too. A little longer, say 30 feet, will let him get some real exercise.

apollodog · May 12, 2009, 07:21 AM

Thanks, I had never thought of using a run. We also tried some other suggestions like leaving at different times over the weekedn and it sort of worked, and another suggestion was to remove his blanket if we were only going to be gone for a few mintues, but that idea didn't work... he just peed on the bottom of his crate. I will show the boyfriend the dog-run idea too. Thanks again

shazamataz · May 12, 2009, 07:27 AM

No worries, I hope you can sort something out for him :)

Doesn't hurt to try.

The leaving at different times method can take weeks for it to work, if you are willing to persevere it's usually pretty effective...

I'm a huge fan of runs as long as they have somewhere for them to get out of the weather and a bed inside.
I need to build one here as we are in not the best of areas and I ave purebred poodles. I never leave them outside when I go out as I'm worried someone will see them at the gate and steal them.
But... if we go out for a long time and leave them inside I am greeted with a puddle of wee at the back door. My own fault for leaving them for so long so a lockable run would be great!