We have had a bit of trouble with our puppy Axel and his crate the last few nights, but thought I would give some background first... We got Axel when he was 8 weeks old, and from about 10 weeks on he has slept in his crate every night, so it's been about 8 weeks or so. The crate is in our room at the end of the bed. We conditioned him to it slowly, and for about the first week we let him sleep in it with the door open. The first night we closed the door he cried for about 10 minutes, then settled. No problems since. When we say 'bed time' he runs into his crate and waits for the few treats he gets every night, and goes to sleep. Sleeping in the crate also made him stop getting up to go to the toilet during the night, and he now sleeps right through every night until about 6.30am. The only time he is in his crate is at nights, and he hasn't ever been left alone in it.

This was all great and we had been very pleased with how he was going with the crate... Up until three nights ago. At about 2am, he woke up screaming in his crate. Not just his usual crying or whinging, it was full on screams (similar to when he has a bath, which he HATES, or the noise we've heard him make a few times when he was hurt). We quickly pulled him out and my partner picked him up, trying to see what was wrong with him and he would just not stop screaming. In our panic, we put him on our bed to try figure out what was wrong with him and where he was hurting. This stopped the screaming immediately. I think we just distracted him because he is not usually allowed on the bed. We put him on the ground and he was limping on his front left foot, but not showing and signs of pain when we touched his whole leg/paw. Anyways, as it was late we decided to put him back to sleep as there wasn't much we could do at that point. Back in the crate, and he starts crying again, we figure it's because he wants to come back out/thinks it's time to get up. We ignore him for about 15 minutes, until we hear him PEEING in the crate!!! This has NEVER happened, not once since he's been in there! We figured it was our fault, he HAD been crying, but because we thought it was because he wanted out we just ignored him. Anyways, cleaned the crate and off to bed for the third time. In the morning he was no longer limping, so we just assume it must have been pins and needles or slept on funny...

The next night, it was his normal bed time and he went into his crate willingly. As soon as the door was shut and the lights were off though, the crying began again. We ignored him, then after about 20 minutes he peed AGAIN in the crate!! We couldn't believe it! Out he came, we cleaned it up again and back in the crate. Whinged for a bit then off to sleep. Last night the exact same thing happened again!! Both nights by the way, he has gone to the toilet right before bed. It honestly feels like he is pushing it out because he has realised it gets him out of the crate  

Today I cleaned the crate with hot water & white vinegar. I also tried to start reconditioning him to the crate, throwing treats in there for him to go get. I should also point out that he has a large crate, we never put a divider in there because he was doing so well. The divider is now in there as of last night after the accident, which he was pawing at and seemed to make him even more unhappy.

I'm sorry to have rambled on so much, just wanted to make sure I gave all the information. Basically, we are at a lost!! How could he go from sleeping right through every night in his crate, to crying, whinging and peeing in it three nights in a row?! Any advice would be much appreciated... Thank you

Has he been to the vet recently?? If he is crying right before he pees, he could be in pain from an infection. Infections in males aren't as common as females, but they could happen.

He was at the vet's a few weeks ago for his last vaccinations... I don't think it's an infection, only because he has no issues going to the toilet any other time. He's crying because he wants out of the crate, and has realised peeing gets him out... Or so that's what it seems. Thanks for your response though

katty_89 wrote:

He's crying because he wants out of the crate, and has realized peeing gets him out... Or so that's what it seems.

I wouldn't be surprised if this were true, Jasper loves to be outside constantly and while we were house training he would pee on the floor so that we would put him outside. Once we realized his plan and stopped putting him out after an accident he was house trained within two days haha. They're much smarter than we give them credit for.

Anyways, back on topic, maybe he nipped his paw between the bars or the door? And now he could possibly associate the kennel with pain and gets nervous/afraid when you put him in so he pees. Jasper got his jaw locked on the bars when he was about 3 months and afterwards it was torture trying to get him to be calm while he's in there. I'd suggest starting over from scratch with crate training and teaching him that the kennel isn't a scary place and he won't get hurt again

nichole.1990 wrote:

They're much smarter than we give them credit for.

Isn't that the truth!!  haha

Yes I was thinking maybe he now associated the crate with pain and that's why he's been scared to go back in... We have started from the beginning again, he hasn't slept in there yet with the door closed but he will go in there. We'll get there slowly! Thanks for your response and advice

Make sure when you take him out of the crate you do not cuddle him, just clean the crate and pop him back in, nothing fun should be taking place. Be sure to use the white vinegar each time he pees in there. You may also want to pop him back outside to be sure he has peed all he has.