Need Help With Crate Training!!

[Harley's_Mom]

I need some help with Tova. Just a recap, she is our 14 week old Newf. The housebreaking is going great except for when she is in her crate. When we first started crate training her, she would bark and whine like crazy when she needed out. Everytime, without fail that she started carrying on we would immediately let her outside. Now we are having all kinds of issues when she's in her crate. It doesn't seem to bother her at all to pee in it. When she's loose in the house and needs to go, she heads right for the back door and if we're not paying attention she'll start barking at us. I'm not sure why she stopped barking in the crate when she needs out. We've never discouraged her from barking when she's in the crate so it's not that. She is in a small crate, just enough room to stand in and turn around. Anybody have any suggestions? Please!

[Harley's_Mom]

Suggestions anyone?

[Melhusking]

Hi there, I'm not familiar with crate training but I've heard about it a lot since doing research on my breed which is Bullmastiff x Great Dane. For what purpose are you using the crate? If she is doing with right things with out the crate why are you using it? Couldn't you just give her a bed in a quiet area to give her that rest she needs whilst growing. I have 3 year old twins and they know that when Bonnie is on her bed she is to be left alone to rest... Perhaps rethink the crate if it is causing grief because it should be a positive experience for her not a negative!

[Harley's_Mom]

She is being crate trained because my husband and I both work full time so there are stretches of a few hours that the dogs are unsupervised so they must be in their "rooms".

[Melhusking]

So are they in their "rooms" during the day and during the night? Have you checked to see whether that particular breed is suitable for a crate? It seems very isolating and lonely especially if she only has enough room to stand and turn around in. I understand that Dogs aren't humans and need to have boundaries but... I clearly don't understand the method of crate training so I will do some research to see how it works and benefits of it. To me it sounds like solitary confinement in a goal. Perhaps that's why she is rebelling.

[Harley's_Mom]

Tova will only be in the smaller crate until she is housebroken. Once that is done, she will be moved into a much larger crate which is waiting in my basement for her. I should clarify that she will not be in the basement, the crate is being stored down there until I need it at which time it will be moved upstairs. My current house does not allow for my dogs to be loose when no one is home. They would literally have free run of the entire house and that would be a disaster.

[breeze]

We had the same problem with Bree.. she would not care if she peed in the crate when she was small.. she did not even whine when she needed to go out at night.. wake up in the morning there was pee in her crate.. during the day was fine but at night was a different story..

we then limited her water after 7;00pm and let her out at 11;00pm for the fianal pee.. we would also set our alarm for the middle of the nightabout 3-4 in the morning..then when my hubby got up at 6;00am he wouls let her out again.... once she relized that she was going to get woken up in the middle of the night even though she did not want to go.about 2-3 weeks. she stopped peeing in the crate...

[Harley's_Mom]

It's funny you mention waking them in the night to go pee cause something woke me up about 4 this morning so I came down thinking it was the dogs and let Tova out for a pee. Yea, she sure wasn't happy about it but she went and when my hubby got up at 6 for work, no messes in the crate! We limit the water in the evening as well but Tova gets her last drink around 8 or 830. What we found was that if we cut her off too early, we couldn't get her to pee at bedtime but an hour later she was whining to go out. I think part of her problem in the morning too is that she's really dopey when she first wakes up. Yesterday afternoon she was napping in the kitchen and as soon as she stood up, I started walking towards the door to let her out, well she got there before me, squatted and peed right in front of the door. Started to anyways, as soon as she realized what she was doing, she ran outside and finished.

[tenderfoot]

She is still a kid and is learning how to hold her bladder.

As she is growing she might also be drinking more and more at each sitting so her bladder gets overloaded and she can't recognize the need to go until she is suddenly bursting. Keep on the path you are on and I am sure it will all be fine.

Do you have a blanket int he crate? Sometimes a pup will pee on the blanket and then not care about it because the blanket absorbed the pee and all is well. Remove the blanket and clean the crate really well - it should only take a week or so for her to get the idea and stop making an uncomfortable mess.

Good luck - there will be a day when you practically forget about all of these little headaches because Tova will be awesome and make up for it all.