Hi everyone,

Nike is doing great and is almost 4 months old!

She has an accident in the apt like once every 2 weeks now and is fully potty trained!

However we have been noticing the last few times we leave her in the crate she has been peeing in the crate when left alone.

She doesnt have enough room to escape the pee when she pees in the crate so she is essentially just peeing on herself.

Ive always heard dogs will hold it when being crate trained but she just doesnt seem to care?

The crate is next to our bed and she can last 10-12 hours every night without a drop of pee in the crate.
We also have taken her on long car rides(5 hrs +) and she hasnt whined at all she can hold it when she needs to.

The times are completely random when she pees in the crate, its been 20 mins sometimes we come back with pee and its been 4 hours with the same result.

Has anyone dealt with any issue like this? She doesnt even whine when she is crated and pees either because my roomate will be asleep sometimes and I will come back and there will be no pee but he said she was completely quiet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated I hope this is just something she will grow out of.

do you know if she's drinking water at all before her time in the crate? i had a similar issue with rocky and it mainly had to do with him not going to the bathroom before being put in there or him drinking water right before he went in there. through the night he was fine but we found it was cause we put him to bed around the same time every night so we let him out at the around teh same time to use the bathroom so he never had an issue through out the night just through out the day cause the crate times varied so i just had to make sure he used the bathroom and i would take his water away about 20-30 minutes before put him in the crate.

judalina wrote:

do you know if she's drinking water at all before her time in the crate? i had a similar issue with rocky and it mainly had to do with him not going to the bathroom before being put in there or him drinking water right before he went in there. through the night he was fine but we found it was cause we put him to bed around the same time every night so we let him out at the around teh same time to use the bathroom so he never had an issue through out the night just through out the day cause the crate times varied so i just had to make sure he used the bathroom and i would take his water away about 20-30 minutes before put him in the crate.

We first thought that this was the issue a week or 2 ago, but we take her out and she still pees. Its not a lot of pee barely a puddle but the plastic is sorta damp i guess i would describe it. I might have to get a webcam and video tape her for an hour or so and see what she does.

She was in the crate for 70 minutes today and peed a little again. :\

My Snow peed on her bed (outside of her crate) and then when we crated her she continued to pee. We just recently found out she has major separation anxiety when I am not with her. The vet said the pee is related to her being nervous.
Now before we leave I give her a kong stuffed with peanut butter and kibble to keep her occupied. It seems to help a lot with her peeing when left alone.

ShawnaAD wrote:

My Snow peed on her bed (outside of her crate) and then when we crated her she continued to pee. We just recently found out she has major separation anxiety when I am not with her. The vet said the pee is related to her being nervous.
Now before we leave I give her a kong stuffed with peanut butter and kibble to keep her occupied. It seems to help a lot with her peeing when left alone.

She has refused to eat any treat while being crated, she somehow flicks the treat out of the crate when i come back.

I have tried abunch of store bought treats , mabye ill goto the local pet bakery and grab some ones she cant resist. Did snow howl or whine at all? Nike is totally quiet while in the crate its only the pee that is an issue

She was quiet as well.
She is very food motivated though,so that is why it worked for her.
Maybe try running her and getting her worn out before putting her in the crate, that was a suggestion I got at first, but maybe it will work for Nike.

i baked these treats for rocky : http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2007/11/03/gone-to-the-dogs/
they're super easy and he LOVED them, i also made mini ones for my boyfriends chorkie mix and she loved them too. they don't taste like anything but they have a strong peanut butter smell and they're crunchy too, i used the natural crunchy peanut putter instead of natural smooth peanut butter for extra crunch.

It sounds like SA to me as well.

Ideally you don't want to leave your pup alone in a crate for more then an hour/month old they are. It sounds like your not over taxing Nike with staying in there too long so this probably isn't the issue here.

If it does indeed happen after you've been gone for just 20 minutes like you say then it's more then likely related to stressing too much over the separation from you and the loss of control of the bladder. This still happens to a lot of us from time to time when we over tax our dogs. Tika is a year old now, and if I leave her OUTSIDE of her crate while I leave the house for a couple of minutes she can become very stressed, and the first time we did it she even urinated by the front door.

Your best bet here is time and consistency. I don't know what you do for a living or how much time you will have to work on this but the more you put Nike through it the more she will become used to it and relax.

Like Shawna said, exercise exercise exercise. If you can tire Nike out before you crate her she'll go into fight mode for a bit but she will only be able to stay that way for so long. She'll soon pass out and sleep. Tika gets a 45 min walk in the morning before we leave and an hour walk/run at night. Nike is far too small for that amount of exercise just yet but even a 15 to 20 min walk before you crate would go a long way.

Next thing you need to work on is positively reinforcing the CRATE. It sounds like Nike like treats but won't eat them while in the crate?
If this is the case you can work up her food motivation to reinforce the crate. If she isn't food motivated you can find something she really really likes and use that instead but being food motivated is by far the most effective if you can find the right treat.

Hop into this great thread if you haven't already and it will give you some ideas you can work with https://www.itsahuskything.com/t918-crate-training.

Somethings you can do to help your pup relax in the crate are:

1) Start feeding her only in the crate, Make her relax and wait for her food before you release her and allow her to do so. Leave the door opened at first and close it when you see a noticeable improvement on anxiety.

2) After feeding with the door close let her bark and woo and whine to come out until she relaxes and then open the door... May seem like torture but just be in another room until she relaxes (Don't do this too early, many pups REALLY need to pee after eating so you would just be setting yourself back).

3) Use some time to slowly amp up the amount of time Nike is inside her little den. Start with 30 minutes while you go to the store or something and then slowly increase the time. Try doing it on weekends or if you can, start now if you have the spare time. Being able to hold your bladder 5+ hours in a car ride with your humans is different from doing it when your scared and alone. Put the crate somewhere you can see it from your balcony or deck and go out with your significant other and have a beer or glass of wine. The sooner Nike gets used to it the better in the long run.

4) Name the crate. Call it bed, Call it Crate, Call it Den. Something, anything. Nike is 4 months old you should be able to teach her that command. We use Tika BED. At first I would lead her in with the leash or by the collar, and reward / praise when she went in. When she learned that, we would reward when she went in all alone without the command and then only upon command. Now in the mornings she walks right in all by herself and waits for her Kong.

5) Get a KONG if you don't have one. If you have one get Two . http://www.kongcompany.com/products/dogs/kong-rubber-toys/classic/kong-classic. Pumpkin, Sugarless Peanut butter, Yogurt, or her favorite treat. Stuff the kong with it, Freeze it if possible and leave that in the crate with her. Your getting close to teething season as well so this will help with more then just SA.

6) Be proactive. Cut off the water supply 30 or 45 mins before it's crate time. Make Nike Pee right before getting into the crate. Spending that extra time limiting the possibility of mistakes will go a long way. And before long you won't have to cut off the water at all.

7) Lastly understanding, sympathy, and time. Don't overtax Nike, if you set a dog up to fail it will fail 90% of the time. dealing with SA is all about understanding that the only reason this is happening is because you, the sun and the stars in your pups eyes, are gone. Don't get mad of accidents, don't overreact, and take it slow. If you push too far and too fast the only thing your pup will learn is that peeing on myself, though unpleasant, is what I have to do when I'm in my crate. Gradually increase the amount of time Nike is crated if possible to avoid any set backs. We went from 1 hour, to 2 hours, to 4.5 hours, all the way to 9 hours. This spanned from 4 months old to 10 months old. And this is coming from a pup who defecated herself in 30 seconds when we tried to crate her the very first night.


Others can give you some other ideas on how to positively reinforce the crate, but try and keep how ever you do it with RELAXATION in mind. you want your pup to sleep and be comfortable inside the crate, not amped and ready to play with a toy.

Love, time, and commitment. All things you guys already have considering you got a Puppy Just take it slow and enjoy the baby step I'm sure with your guidance and help Nike will be a little pro in no time.

If you guys are already doing any or all of this your going in the right direction. She keep at it and tell yourself "One day it will be over" .
Hope it helps in someway shape or form.
~Chris~

Wow, very well said Chris.

Thanks for all the suggestions, we will keep working with her and keep everyone updated how she is doing

I have been searching the web all day trying to find recommendations like this! My husky pup Tesla (9 weeks old) has been experiencing some of the same issues and it has been driving us crazy trying to figure out what to do or what we may have been doing wrong. After reading your wonderful recommendations, we started putting them to use right away and are hoping for some improvement! Just wanted to say thanks

Somethings you can do to help your pup relax in the crate are:

1) Start feeding her only in the crate, Make her relax and wait for her food before you release her and allow her to do so. Leave the door opened at first and close it when you see a noticeable improvement on anxiety.

2) After feeding with the door close let her bark and woo and whine to come out until she relaxes and then open the door... May seem like torture but just be in another room until she relaxes (Don't do this too early, many pups REALLY need to pee after eating so you would just be setting yourself back).

3) Use some time to slowly amp up the amount of time Nike is inside her little den. Start with 30 minutes while you go to the store or something and then slowly increase the time. Try doing it on weekends or if you can, start now if you have the spare time. Being able to hold your bladder 5+ hours in a car ride with your humans is different from doing it when your scared and alone. Put the crate somewhere you can see it from your balcony or deck and go out with your significant other and have a beer or glass of wine. The sooner Nike gets used to it the better in the long run.

4) Name the crate. Call it bed, Call it Crate, Call it Den. Something, anything. Nike is 4 months old you should be able to teach her that command. We use Tika BED. At first I would lead her in with the leash or by the collar, and reward / praise when she went in. When she learned that, we would reward when she went in all alone without the command and then only upon command. Now in the mornings she walks right in all by herself and waits for her Kong.

5) Get a KONG if you don't have one. If you have one get Two . http://www.kongcompany.com/products/dogs/kong-rubber-toys/classic/kong-classic. Pumpkin, Sugarless Peanut butter, Yogurt, or her favorite treat. Stuff the kong with it, Freeze it if possible and leave that in the crate with her. Your getting close to teething season as well so this will help with more then just SA.

6) Be proactive. Cut off the water supply 30 or 45 mins before it's crate time. Make Nike Pee right before getting into the crate. Spending that extra time limiting the possibility of mistakes will go a long way. And before long you won't have to cut off the water at all.

7) Lastly understanding, sympathy, and time. Don't overtax Nike, if you set a dog up to fail it will fail 90% of the time. dealing with SA is all about understanding that the only reason this is happening is because you, the sun and the stars in your pups eyes, are gone. Don't get mad of accidents, don't overreact, and take it slow. If you push too far and too fast the only thing your pup will learn is that peeing on myself, though  unpleasant, is what I have to do when I'm in my crate. Gradually increase the amount of time Nike is crated if possible to avoid any set backs. We went from 1 hour, to 2 hours, to 4.5 hours, all the way to 9 hours. This spanned from 4 months old to 10 months old. And this is coming from a pup who defecated herself in 30 seconds when we tried to crate her the very first night.


Others can give you some other ideas on how to positively reinforce the crate, but try and keep how ever you do it with RELAXATION in mind. you want your pup to sleep and be comfortable inside the crate, not amped and ready to play with a toy.

Love, time, and commitment. All things you guys already have considering you got a Puppy :)Just take it slow and enjoy the baby step :)I'm sure with your guidance and help Nike will be a little pro in no time.

If you guys are already doing any or all of this your going in the right direction. She keep at it and tell yourself "One day it will be over" .
Hope it helps in someway shape or form.
~Chris~[/quote]

You already got great advice from above there. And in case she seemed can't hold her pee, you might want to check her for possible UTI.

I'm pretty much in the same boat. I posted in another thread on this forum.

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t11510-accidents-in-crate#174094

I think my pup has a combination of SA and UTI