My 3.5 yr old dog started soiling in his crate. Help!

Question
I have a 3.5 year old dog who I adopted when he was 5 months
old and I was in college. We started out in a house with a
backyard and another adult dog who belonged to a roommate. I
worked on house training my dog, and after a few weeks, he
knew to ask to go outside to relieve himself when people
were home. However, he has never quite gotten to a point of
holding his bladder when people are not home, and will
relieve himself on any carpet he can find.

I then moved to an apartment by myself for grad school, and
when I would leave, would place my dog, then 2.5 years old,
on a leash in a wood floor area where he had access to a
pillow and his food/water any time I was gone to class. He
was incredible well behaved during the fall semester, but
during the spring semester he started having accidents on
the wood floor while I was gone.

This September we moved one more time, into a new apartment
after I got married. My husband and I work full time, so we
first tried the leash thing again. We pinned his leash to
the foot of the dryer, giving him access to the laundry
room/kitchen, his pillow and food/water. He then proceeded
to become the dog from hell. He tore the sheetrock away from
the way all the way to the metal stud. He pulled the oven
drawer out and chewed the metal all the way across it. He
wiped the blood from his mouth all over the cabinets. He
pooped and smeared it all over the kitchen floor. He knocked
over this food and water and pulled all the chemical bottles
out from under the sink (but did not open any of them). He
even pulled all my hand towels off the oven door, but did
not rip any of them.

This proceeded for about two weeks, before we gave in and
started trying to crate train him. We took it in steps,
rewarding him and encouraging him in it and not making him
spend too long in it at first. He seemed to be progressing
so we started leaving him in the crate during the day, and
we took turns returning for the lunch hour to let him out.

In late October, I was walking out the door on my way to
work, and forgot something, so I turned back around, and
realized my dog was going nuts. He was hyperventilating, and
yelping, foaming at the mouth and nawing at the carabeener
we use to lock the crate (he figured out how to unlock the
latch the first week of crate training). I tried to talking
to him to calm him down, but he wouldn't have it. I started
wondering if he did this every day, so I tried a few days to
act like I was leaving, shutting the front door, locking it,
and standing stock still, and he behaved the same every
time. He has now chewed almost all the way through the steel
carabeener.

Finally, within the last week, he has started soiling in his
crate. When he was a puppy, he never had excitement issues,
but he started excitement soiling at about 1.5 years old.
But now, he is full-on emptying his bladder on his
towel/pillow in his crate every day. We take him outside
every morning before we leave, where he poops, and pees
multiple times, and have done this ever since we moved in,
so nothing about his routine has changed, except that he has
stopped all efforts to hold his bladder. I know negative
reaction does nothing effective but I'm at a breaking point,
and I've started losing my temper. What did I do wrong??

Answer
Hello Chelsey,

I can understand your distress. Perhaps what you've been doing wrong is trying to treat the symptoms rather than the cause.

Although I cannot make a completely accurate diagnosis without extensive Q & A, it would be my best guess that your dog is presenting separation anxiety. You do not have a potty training problem or a problem of your dog simply not "holding his bladder". It does not matter whether you tether your dog or use a crate. These issues are merely symptoms of a very serious underlying separation anxiety problem.

Separation anxiety is a difficult and challenging problem to treat. Normally it stems from not having a balanced relationship with your dog. Common causes are giving the dog too much affection and not enough work (training) and/or exercise.

I'd suggest you visit my website where you will find an article I have written on this problem. Follow the tips I provide and if the problem doesn't quickly begin to show improvement, you should seek the help of a competent dog trainer in your area.

Good Luck!

Sandy

Perfect Manners Dog Training

http://perfectdogtraining.com