Soooo, we knew it was coming, just didn't expect it at 13 weeks.

Here's some background;

Haku is 13 weeks today. We've had him since 10 weeks old. He's in puppy classes, doing great, and is actually the most focused puppy I've worked with personally. He has acclimated great to his crate overnight (goes right in happily, no fussing) although he still wakes us up around 2-3am and again 5:30-6:30am to pee. He goes back in with no fuss after peeing.

During the day, my husband and I are gone from 7am-11am (I come home for lunch to let him out and play and do some training with his lunch ((BECAUSE THIS PUP WORKS FOR KIBBLE!)).) And then again from 11am-2 or 3pm. Here's his current schedule..

Wake up and go for a morning walk (15-20 minutes), loose leash walking training/basic manners training with breakfast. Go out to potty after playing inside for about 5-10 minutes. My husband puts him in his pen when he leaves and I shower. I shower, come let him out to potty and play for a few minutes (about 10 minutes) and then I leave for work.

Lunchtime, I come home and either walk him with his lunch or we go out to potty and play (see: run).

That said, the time between when my husband penned him and I got out of the shower this morning apparently inspired Haku. This is what I walked out of the bedroom to:



A very happy free range puppy.

Now, we knew this would happen. I check the pen--no apparent escape route is evident except that he must've climbed out. Which wouldn't be a stretch--he can already get his toes over the top of the pen.

We have a giant sized crate (XXL) set up, so I transferred him in there and locked (clipped) the door shut at four points around the door. He absolutely has to be contained when we aren't there as we have three cats and a Chihuahua and furniture we really like, hahah.

My concern is that, although the crate is large enough to act as a pen for him, he will start peeing in it and then will be okay with peeing in crates long term. I'm not sure if it's different enough. He was still consistently having pee accidents in his pen (on tile) only in the morning stretch of being penned. He doesn't have pee accidents in the afternoon stretch, nor does he has accidents throughout the day if we're home. He tells us when he has to go pretty consistently. So I think the 4 hours is just too long for him in the morning, which isn't his fault.

We do leave him water and have limited it to a certain amount to try and make sure he isn't drinking excessively (as he likes to do. Vet checked, nothing wrong with him, he just loves water!).

There is not a room that he can be loose in as we are renters and he can't be given the opportunity to chew up walls/baseboards/cabinets. He hasn't shown an interest in that yet, as he's offered bully sticks, marrow bones, a Kong, and various other chewies, but I don't trust him yet.

Any advice for this situation?

Simplest solution to an oversized crate is to put a divider in it so that he almost (but not quite) cramped. Most crates come with a divider when you buy them.
Cutting down on the space in the crate normally help them hold it - they don't like lying in urine any more than we do - there are exceptions where the dog has had no choice for long periods of time and becomes used to the wet spot - I don't see that as a problem with you and yours.
From your schedule, I don't see a problem with taking him out as you do, before you leave and then leaving him with no water - you're really not gone that long. (( opinions may differ ))

aljones wrote:

Simplest solution to an oversized crate is to put a divider in it so that he almost (but not quite) cramped.  Most crates come with a divider when you buy them.  
Cutting down on the space in the crate normally help them hold it - they don't like lying in urine any more than we do - there are exceptions where the dog has had no choice for long periods of time and becomes used to the wet spot - I don't see that as a problem with you and yours.
From your schedule, I don't see a problem with taking him out as you do, before you leave and then leaving him with no water - you're really not gone that long.  (( opinions may differ ))

Ah, yes, we did the crate divider in his normal size crate for a few weeks until he seemed calm enough at night. We took that one out and he has yet to have an accident overnight (it's beem a week), despite the crate being big enough for him to move back and forth in. This crate is an XXL in the living room area--formerly used for my Chihuahua, Misty. She never uses it anymore, so it'll become Haku's.

I restricted water with my first puppy and she had no issues (people were home pretty frequently when I got her 10 years ago as well), but I keep seeing cautions that Huskies in particular NEED access to water. I honestly don't think 4 hours in an air conditioned house is a long time to go without, but I don't want to harm him. We may have to do this and see if that allows him to hold it. Like I said, he only has the accidents during the morning stretch.. Which may be because he tends to go straight for water after being crated all night. The stretch from lunch to when my husband gets home is almost just as long, if not as long as the morning. And he doesn't have accidents during this stretch.

I just know that he pees every morning stretch and don't wanna set him up for failure and peeing on himself in a smaller crate and having to lay in it. But maybe restricting the water would prevent that.

Thank you!

Dogs in general need access to water and I'm probably as bad as the next person to say that it should be available 24/7 ... however a few hours without water isn't going to hurt a dog. I live in the desert in south Texas and upon occasion I have a bowl go dry when I'm not home and other than having three heads in the water bowl when I get home, they're none the worse for wear.

Let me digress a bit. I think the 24/7 warning is really intended for the new dog owner who is apt to leave a dog waterless overnight ( read 6 PM - 6 AM ) because they don't want their puppy tinkling in their bed. 12 hours - in almost any environment - repeatedly is a problem. (BTW, your air conditioned house is probably as bad for your dogs as my desert with 5% humidity - a/c sucks the humidity out of the air which causes them to be more thirsty.)

I think you're right about the morning episode - long<? to him> waterless night makes for a thirsty puppy (or the two who I crate overnight) I'm kind of surprised that his potty break after you shower isn't enough to hold him until you get home at lunch - but you are pushing the "hour per month" (if a puppy is two months old, you can expect them to be able to hold it for two hours - and every puppy is different.) But I think a nocturnally sleeping puppy is going to be able to last longer than a diurnal puppy who's much more apt to be up and down as people come and go.

I had to laugh at a chihuahua in an extra-extra-large crate - as a puppy he must have been able to run around and do back flips in there!

aljones wrote:

Dogs in general need access to water and I'm probably as bad as the next person to say that it should be available 24/7 ... however a few hours without water isn't going to hurt a dog.  I live in the desert in south Texas and upon occasion I have a bowl go dry when I'm not home and other than having three heads in the water bowl when I get home, they're none the worse for wear.

Let me digress a bit.  I think the 24/7 warning is really intended for the new dog owner who is apt to leave a dog waterless overnight ( read 6 PM - 6 AM ) because they don't want their puppy tinkling in their bed.  12 hours - in almost any environment - repeatedly is a problem.  (BTW, your air conditioned house is probably as bad for your dogs as my desert with 5% humidity - a/c sucks the humidity out of the air which causes them to be more thirsty.)

I think you're right about the morning episode - long<? to him> waterless night makes for a thirsty puppy (or the two who I crate overnight)  I'm kind of surprised that his potty break after you shower isn't enough to hold him until you get home at lunch - but you are pushing the "hour per month" (if a puppy is two months old, you can expect them to be able to hold it for two hours - and every puppy is different.) But I think a nocturnally sleeping puppy is going to be able to last longer than a diurnal puppy who's much more apt to be up and down as people come and go.

I had to laugh at a chihuahua in an extra-extra-large crate - as a puppy he must have been able to run around and do back flips in there!

Misty started off in a small crate, then graduated a larger one when she was potty trained. And yes, it's been her mansion for years now, hahah! She's been completely trustworthy in the house for just as many years, though, so it's sat pretty much unused.

Oh, I'm in Houston. Humidity is always a thing--even with the A/C, if I run the dehumidifier, it's at 50%+ when it starts. Our entire living room/dining room/kitchen wall is windows, so good luck to us keeping the moisture out. Bleh. But I completely understand what you're saying and it's likely true that even with it being humid, it isn't necessarily enough.

Yeah, I think because he's only 13 weeks that I can't reasonably expect him to hold it 4 hours at a time. That said, I also had a suggestion from a trainer to offer ice cubes in the morning in his bowl we leave with him rather than water. The idea is that it'll slow down his consumption and prevent him binge drinking.

Although, now I'm wondering if I should just offer water in his crate overnight as well to prevent the morning binge? (His overnight is from 10:30pm - 6am, but we do allow him to drink when he wakes up to go out. Usually around 2-3am.)

I just want him set up to succeed.