Can you tell me if this is right? i need help?

Question

I have been asking many questions about my 5 month labrador puppy who urinates in his crate at night time.

Im getting some hints that it may be the size of the crate? could it all be down to this?

He outgrew his little first crate and then someone gave me a really big crate meant for an adult grate dane, i thought this was good becaue he has space in it.

I cant divide it so does that mean i need to spend more money on a medium sized crate?

Thing is im confused............

His big crate takes up most my kitchen and he wees in it as too big

i cant afford to buy another crate

should i just rid of the crate with my trainers help and he have his dog bed which he never wees in etc but then if i do that .....surely he will get up to mischief if he has free roam of the kitchen, such as eating things he shouldnt or maybe toileting i dont know as he always been in a crate.

He is toilet trained and uses garden for wees and poos other then at night in big crate.

Please help me what should i do?? what would you do??

Thankyou

Answer 1

I would divide the crate for now. You can buy dividers for some crates. But you might have to get a little crafty and make one.

As he grows you can move/change the divider and eventually remove it.

Answer 2

Dogs are clean by nature and try not to soil their living quarters if possible. You may need to be vigilant about taking your pup out more frequently during the night and I do recommend dividing the crate to make the area he sleeps in smaller. You can divide it with wood, plastic or you can purchase pre-made crate dividers. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Answer 3

Crate size doesn't matter, your puppy is only 5-months-old, the bladder isn't grown until 6-months-old, and they are not fully potty trained untl 1-year-old.  You still have a way to go.

I use a crate* to potty train with, but only for potty training and then I break it down and store it.  I put blankets and a small food and water dish in the crate.  Dogs don't potty where they eat and sleep.  When they are first little, I only expect them to hold their potty for 4 hours, and then 6 hours, then 8 hours and so on.  So when they are first little, I set a timer or alarm clock to wake myself up at night to take them *out.  I only allow my puppy in the bedroom* or the living room, only one room at a time.  They have to graduate to more space.  If I allow them to have full run of the house, it will overwhelm them.  I take them out the same door each time.  I tie a dinner bell to the door handle.  Do not use a jingle bell as they could get their toe caught in it.  So when they are little, I ring the bell for them, and then open the door to go *outside to potty.  When they get bigger, I take their paw and whack the bell and open the door to go potty.  Eventually getting to the place where the puppy will ring the bell and let me know when they need to go potty.  Dogs want to please you, so it is your job to let them know what behaviors please you and what doesn't.  So when my puppy goes potty, I give her a treat*, and clap, and make a fuss and praise her.  So she learns that going potty outside makes me happy.  If she has an accident, make a disgust sound like “tsst”  and take her out right away.  I never yell* or spank* my puppies.  Take them out when they first wake up, after they eat or drink, before nap, finish romping, when their activities change, or when they are sniffing around. Some puppies go pee right away, but may not go p**p until 10 minutes later, so wait for the p**p.  I have a little play time here, because sometimes I think they are done, and they are not.  Puppies train at their own pace.  While I may have a puppy that hasn't had an accident in several weeks, I don't let my guard down.  I don't expect my puppies to be "fully potty trained" until one-year-old.  If they have a setback, shake it off, and start over.  I only have my puppies in the crate when I am not watching them.  When I am sleeping, cooking, ironing, doing chores, basically when I am not watching her.  All other times, she is out of the crate practicing being a "big girl."  This is the time I train her how to behave in the house.  So we are practicing "no barking", 'no biting", "no jumping", and "don't eat the furniture."  I also have to practice "playing inside" so she doesn't knock over things.  You must keep the puppy in sight when they are little because they don’t know the difference between newspaper and carpet, and you don’t want them sneaking off and getting into trouble.   Some puppies can sleep through the night around 3-months-old, but their bladder is grown around 6-months-old.



REVISIONS:

*I use a crate to train with.  It is the method I prefer, compared to other methods I have tried.  I noticed that if they are in the crate, while I am doing chores, they are o.k., because the crate allows them to see me and be re-assured.  The crate can also be a comfort when stored in the basement for dogs who live in areas where thunderstorms and tornados are an issue. .  However, use the method that works best for you.....a laundry basket, a cardboard box, a woof-woof house, x-pen, child gates, whatever works for you.

*Outside, pee pad, litter box, whichever method you are using.   When the puppy is first little, keep the pee pad, litter box near the food and water dish, so the puppy can eat and drink, and then go potty.  You can move it away as they get older.  The pee pad has a scent that smells and initiates potty.  Sometimes a pee pad makes a sound that scares some puppies, so you might want to use a litter box if that happens.  The pee pad allows a puppy to walk around, but a litter box keeps the puppy in one place.

*Bedrooms, I use the bedroom and living room for training, because it works for me.  Choose rooms that work for you, but watch for rooms that are damp, or drafty.  While my puppies sleep in the bedroom during training, once they are trained, I let them sleep where they want to.  They don't have to sleep in the bedroom forever.

*Treats.  While I use treats for training, you don't have to.  I like Charlee Bears for training (a little cracker for a little mouth,) I use them for training, but once they are trained, I cut back on them.

*Some puppies will go potty in the same spot each time.  Some puppies have to be told to go potty.  A command like "go out" for pee, or "go finish" for p**p, might work for you, keep saying “go finish” until the puppy poops.  This is a good thing to train if you travel with your dogs.  By using commands, the puppy won't get confused when you are visiting someone, on vacation wi

Answer 4

Ok, this is a long shot as I don't know anything about crating dogs, I've never done it and I probably wouldn't coz our dogs have always been house-trained the traditional way...BUT, I was wondering, you said someone gave you this crate so I suppose it was used by another dog previously? Is it just possible that your dog can still smell this other dog somewhere in the crate and is peeing as a form of marking territory? Like I said, it's a wild guess, but worth considering perhaps? Would it be enough to thoroughly clean the crate down and see if that helps? I could be totally wrong, but... :)

Answer 5

A 5 month old puppy has the bladder control to not need to pee at night provided he's let out late at night and early in the morning.  Your puppy's showing you that he's clearly not ready to have the freedom that even a large crate gives him, you surely can't let him roam in your kitchen.  Besides peeing in the kitchen, at 5 months he's teething, so he's going to be chewing all kinds of things if he's left loose.

I'd be buying a crate that comes with a divider which will fit him when he's an adult.  This puppy isn't ready for any freedom yet.

Why not sell both crates that aren't of any use to you to help finance a new crate that you can use?

Answer 6

Although I'm no dog expert, I have also been told that a cage that's too big will cause problems in that they will view the cage a half sleeping room and half excess room and therefore use the restroom in the extra unnecessary area. When you said you can't divide the cage, that confused me. Is it a wire cage? If it is then Petsmart, for one, sells dividers separate. I've included the direct link below. It's a little expensive but far cheaper than buying a brand new cage. If you don't want to do this then perhaps buying a new cage would be better. You could always put the current cage for sell in the newspaper and get a little money from it so that you can buy a new smaller one. However, if possible, you should probably try to keep the larger cage or at least not try to downgrade too much because a lab puppy will get pretty big.

Other options may be just to buy some wood and have to cut to size to put in the cage so that it limits the size. Or maybe a cardboard box so long as your puppy won't eat it. lol. Other than all that ... maybe a midnight or 2am walk is in order ... which, believe me, I know is really annoying but you gotta do what you gotta do. Good luck with everything!!