1 yr. old Boxer peeing in crate

Question
QUESTION: We have 2 boxers....Precious which is 3 and Barney which is 1yr. old. With in the last couple months, Barney has been peeing in his crate during the day. We are not sure WHY:( Can you please give us some advice/guidance on how we can break that habit. They are only in the crate while we are at work during the day, other than that they are full time family dogs. Precious doesn't have this problem. If it was a bladder infection, we would probably have other symptoms right?

Look forward to hearing from you!

ANSWER: Hi Michelle,

No, you'd not necessarily see other symptoms.  If this is something new, I would suggest you take him to the vet to be sure it's not a physical problem.  Once you do that, and if he gets the all clear, please get back with me and we'll discuss the possible behavioral aspects.  :)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: ok, Thanks so much for your very quick response Nicole.
He is a white boxer....does that make a difference :)

ANSWER: lol No.  :)  Even if he was deaf, it would have nothing to do with urinating in his crate.

Get him to the vet sooner rather than later.  If he keeps this up, his natural instinct to keep his 'den' clean is going to be damaged beyond repair.

You want a urinalysis.  Let the vet know that he's house trained and has recently been unable to hold himself during the day.  They'll check for infection, stones, etc.

As soon as he gets an all clear (which hopefully he will), get back to me and we'll try to figure out what his problem is.  :)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Nicole....
Ok, we took your advice and had his doc  look at him.
He is creating crystals that are turning into stones...so Barney is now on a special food diet.
He was doing great and not peeing in the crate, but now it has started up again? We clean it out each time, and wash his blankets.
What do you recommend that we do?

Michelle Crawford


Answer
Hi again :)

Sorry to hear this...it can be quite painful.

As far as the crystals go...there are a couple more things you can do in addition to the rx diet your vet has put him on.

1.  Distilled water: the water is 99.9% pure and doesn't contain fluoride.  The only problem is that some dogs won't drink it because it tastes bad.  To curb this, you can mix it with his dry food (to make it moist) or half/half it with tap water.  Making sure he has plenty of liquid going in means his system is flushing out.

2.  Don't give him any extras (bones, chews, etc.) as the extra calcium isn't good for him right now.  Make ice cubes out of the distilled water, see if they hold any interest.  If not, do a bit of research and find a crunchy fruit or veg with very low levels of calcium.

3.  Senior dog food formulas often contain less minerals.  You may want to consider this after they've cleared up if he continues to get them (recurring episodes).  

I'm curious if he's really urinating or if he's leaking.  Many dogs with crystals/stones can leak when they lie down.  If he is urinating, he may be feeling so much pressure from the crystals/stones that he may have a very strong urge to urinate and relieve himself.  In either case, this isn't really his 'fault' and should stop as the stones pass and/or clear.

If there is any way you can hire a dog walker (if you google 'dog walker (your area)' you should come up with quite a few) to give him a break during the day, that would be ideal.  I'm sure you've heard how uncomfortable kidney stones are for humans...imagine if you had them and had no access to a toilet for 8 hours.  OUCH!!

If it's a behavioral issue (I don't think it is), removing his blankets may help.  They soak up urine which takes away the unpleasantness.  If a dog doesn't have to be near his urine, it's not really a big deal to toilet in the enclosed area.

If you cannot hire a dog walker or pet sitter (typically about $11-16/per walk) you may want to consider confining him in a larger space and using puppy pads.  I detest them for the purposes of house training but in this case they're better than nothing.  If you can shut him in the kitchen, or another room with easy to clean flooring, put his bed/toys in one area and the pads in another, this may help.