well-mannered new rescue dog going in crate

Question
QUESTION: Hi Kristen,

We have a recent rescue dog who is very well-behaved for the most part, and has learned that outside is the place to go potty, but still goes in her crate fairly frequently.  She's home alone for a maximum of 4 hours at any given time, and has even peed in front of me in her crate at one point.  She obviously understands she should go outside, but when she is left alone she is now peeing in the crate OFTEN.  Her water intake is normal and not excessive, and she will go overnight frequently.  Any suggestions?

ANSWER: 1. Does she have an infection? Was she recently spayed?
2. What do you do when you see her pee in the crate, AND when you come home and discover that she has done so while you have been gone?

I would suggest that you try the X-pen technique as described on my housetraining web page (http://housetraining.angelfire.com) and see if that helps.

It could be anxiety-related behavior, and I'm betting that when she did it in front of you it was submissive-related.

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

QUESTION: 1. She's healthy and was spayed probably 3 months ago now.  With her foster mom, she apparently only went in her crate one time (her first day), and never again.

2. When I *watched* her pee in the crate, I made a sharp noise (ah-ah) to get her attention, and immediately brought her out of the crate.  She stopped and did not resume.  When we return home and discover she's gone, we don't do anything except clean the crate out with bleach and thoroughly wash any bedding - no discipline there - she obviously wouldn't understand.

As for an x-pen, we probably don't have the room to have one in the house, and certainly can't do the potty area/crate area idea you suggest on your page.

Sorry I misspoke in my first message - I meant to say that frequently she will make it through the night while holding it.  She's stopped anxiety barking when we leave (or when we're in the next room overnight) - do you think the peeing could still be anxiety-driven, and if so, how do you think we should work to resolve that?  Thanks for your help so far.


ANSWER: Thanks for getting back to me, Adam. From your description, I was thinking she pee'd in the crate as you approached or whatever, which could have been submission, but since you explained, I'm not sure that's what it was. It's good that you do not discipline her upon returning home and finding that she's gone in the crate. That would not do anything to solve the problem.

Have you tried removing all the bedding from her crate? If not, I would.

Do you provide water in her crate for her? If so, I'd stop. Also, just in case it's being overlooked, she should be taken out to potty right before being put in the crate, and you should go out with her to ensure that she is, in fact, peeing while she's out there! ;^)

My house is small as well, 1200 sq ft, but I can easily fit an X-pen in any room. They aren't >>that<< big. If you cannot do the crate inside an X-pen, could you begin and end the pen on either side of the crate door, so that the crate itself is not actually inside the enclosed area? What if you eliminated the crate altogether and simply put her in a pen with a doggie bed against one side? You did not say what breed she is, or how old she is, but I'm assuming she isn't a large dog. Or is she?

It could still have something to do with stress/anxiety. If you could pinpoint exactly when she is doing it, that would be helpful, but without putting a video camera on her crate when you leave, it's next to impossible.

Is there a reason she must be crated when you aren't there?


Because this is a new behavior, I still think there could be an underlying health issue, like a UTI or bladder infection, perhaps. Or it could be spay incontinence.

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

QUESTION: What's the significance of removing the bedding from her crate?  I know a lot of dog training can seem 'cruel' at first, but we tried it and so far (2 or 3 sessions in the crate), she hasn't peed in it again.  Is the idea that she won't be inclined to lay in it?  She'd been OK with laying on top of soiled bedding before.

That said, she has resumed some whimpering and barking when we go to sleep in the next room and when we leave.  She'll also do it if we walk by in the morning without taking her out.

This is sort of strange since that behavior had subsided within a week of her arrival, but it's started up again.  Also she'd been crate-trained before and seemed to have no problem with it at first, but has progressively been disinclined to go in or stay in.  Our inclination is to have her sleep in the bedroom, or at least put her crate in the bedroom, but I fear this may be a step backward for her if it's true separation anxiety.  It also may make it worse when we actually have to be away from home.

I suspect it's not physiological because she's been relatively consistent with going outside, but she'll be checked at the vet next week.

I know this is a lot - thank you for all of your help.

Answer
I'm not exactly certain why removing bedding often helps with crate soilers, unless it's because the bedding would absorb the liquid, and/or allow them to 'bury' the solid waste so that they did not feel like they were laying in it. With most dogs, you can put bedding back in the crate after they are consistently NOT going potty in there anymore. I usually go at least a month before I try putting bedding back in the crate, and I start off with a single towel, because towels are easy to wash if the dog were to regress. If this happens, you know the dog isn't quite ready yet, so you continue leaving bedding out of the crate for another few weeks or whatever. I had to do this with my oldest dog when I adopted her from the shelter. Just as soon as I'd put any kind of bedding in her crate, she'd pee in it, so for the first year, she went without having any bedding in her crate (she had a dog bed >>outside<< of the crate and never once peed on >>it<<). Once she turned 2, I put bedding back in there and never had the problem again. With her, it was probably because of the shelter environment - she had gotten into the habit because she had no other choice.


I think it's very strange that your dog is regressing as far as the whining and separation anxiety type behavior. It could be, though, that now she is happy and comfortable living with you and is becoming worried that perhaps you aren't going to come back for her. I know this is anthropomorphizing a little bit, but I've had foster dogs that were fine for the first few weeks and then started exhibiting similar type behaviors, and I really think that it was because they wanted to believe they were in their forever home, but something was telling them that they weren't.


Will she occupy herself with a Kong with something yummy smeared inside it? If so, maybe you could try giving her that at bedtime to take her mind off of being left alone. I can't say whether moving her crate into your bedroom is a good or bad idea, because it depends on the dog.