Ok any thoughts out there as to what I can do I am at my wits end lol. Balon is still peeing in his crate. I have washed the pan several times with bleach and natures miracle, do you think I need to buy a new crate pan?

We get up in the middle of the night but he always has peed on the towel he sleeps on! Should I not put a towel in there? He is not peeing while sleeping I have watched for this, its not the neutering because he was doing this before. Any ideas on what else I can try??? I have never had a dog who pees in his crate like this!

He is about 90% reliable in the house, never a poop accident! I believe any accident in the house is the fault of someone here who didn't catch the signal!

But in the crate, I just don't get it!

Is it overnight? or is it during the day while the family is out? or is it both?

No only overnight, and he goes into his crate at about 11pm most nights, my sons stay up later then me so he goes out right before, then I set my alarm for about 2:30 and take him out. I am up at 4:45 and by then his towel is wet! I just don't get it. If I am home and I pop him in there to get stuff done, he is fine, but overnight nope.

Snow peed on her bed for the longest time! It got to be so frustrating. She even peed on the bed when it was out of the crate lol.

Take all the bedding out of balons crate. Taking snows bed and blanket out of her crate stopped the peeing almost immediately.

Ok he gets old towels to sleep on, so tonight I will give him nothing!

Balonsmom wrote:

I have washed the pan several times with bleach and natures miracle

Try vinegar instead of bleach. I don't know why it works better than the bleach. But it was a recommendation out of the "Siberian Husky's for Dummy's" Book and it works like a charm. I tried the bleach too and it didn't stop the behavior but the vinegar did!

It is because Ammonia (in pee) is a base. Vinegar is an acid. So when you combine the two, it is neutralized.

Bleach is also a base. It does not neutralize the Ammonia.

Thanks for the chemistry lesson Taveraw! I didn't know why it worked, just knew it did!

Ok so I literally scrubbed both side and all edges of the pan with vinegar, and tonight he gets no towel, we shall see. Poor Balon--and as a side note why am I suddenly craving salt and vinegar chips lol

dbingham12 wrote:

Thanks for the chemistry lesson Taveraw! I didn't know why it worked, just knew it did!

You're welcome Of course, I'm a geeky scientist

taveraw wrote:

dbingham12 wrote:

Thanks for the chemistry lesson Taveraw! I didn't know why it worked, just knew it did!

You're welcome Of course, I'm a geeky scientist

Yay for chemistry! I'm a geeky scientist type too, but I've always just grabbed Nature's Miracle to clean up urine. I will have to try vinegar the next time my cat pees on something. I've found that's WAY harder to get out than dog pee.

well even after scrubbing the crate down with vinegar and no towel I woke up to pee all over his crate? I guess he is a little piggy who likes to sleep in his own pee??? Any other ideas......

How much extra room does he have in the crate?

Not much, I have a crate divider he can just lay down and turn around. That's why it has me stumped, if he pees, he has to lay in it, its gross! I don't understand why?

Funny thing is my lab will walk over to his crate, sniff it, then turn and walk away like shes disgusted lol

Balonsmom wrote:

Not much, I have a crate divider he can just lay down and turn around. That's why it has me stumped, if he pees, he has to lay in it, its gross! I don't understand why?

That is really weird then. I'm not sure what to tell you on that one, but I know how frustrating a urination issue can be. Lulu is a submissive peer, and we can't ever pet her without getting at least sprinkles on the floor. I hope you find a solution for this though.

When does he have access to water? And how old is he now?

Koda wrote:

When does he have access to water? And how old is he now?

Sorry just got back from work to respond!

Balon is now 5 1/2 months old and peeing in the crate is something he has done since day one. He is about 90% reliable when we are home, he has never had a poop accident, not ever!

Access to water, at first was all the time. Vet told us to stop water after 8pm which we did (except for a week stretch after he was neutered because I didn't want him dehydrating after surgery) so as of Monday he has no access after 8pm. During the day it goes as follows, in the am with breakfast I give him plenty of water (he bowls are huge so they aren't filled to the top but it is a fair amount) but because I am here to take him out a lot. I leave at about 8:30 for work (Mon Tues Wed Thurs 9-2) and seconds before leaving he goes out. Then he is in his crate until someone wakes up (I have 21, 24, 26 year old sons still living at home and leaving for work at various times, the 21 is home all day right now) usually by 11 he is out again, and taken right outside. BUT there is usually already some pee in the crate at that point. (he used to have a towel to sleep up which soaked it up but you could tell he had peed on it!). During the day we offer water plenty of times during the day and he will go drink the labs bowl if his is empty lol. We watch hers too (she does not have accidents so if I see her going to her bowl I just offer it to her so she is not deprived lol)

Night time is as follows. They are fed dinner at about 5:00-5:30 again with water, and water is offered in smaller amounts up until 8pm at which point my vet said to take it away. So we do. He is in his crate at about 11Pm (taken out right before) I get up at around 2:30am and take him out and sometimes he has already peed a small amount in the crate. Then I am up at 5am (so that I can walk and feed them before work) and ALWAYS he has peed!

This is why its so frustrating, he is not dumb, in fact he is quite smart, you can teach him anything. And he is super affectionate. Its not the neutering, he did all this before that.

So now he has no towel, and we are washing the crate pan each time he pees with vinegar.

Oh and he has been checked several times for UTI always negative!

Any other suggestions would be very appreciated Tori!

Okay I really am at a loss here as you apparently are also. The only thing I can think of is that maybe he has super week bladder muscles. My vet told me that most dogs develop full bladder control by 16 weeks. I wonder if something is wrong that the bladder muscles haven't developed. Might be worth a call to the vet to ask?

I asked her that and when they had him in for his neutering she said she looked and felt around and doesn't see anything wrong. She thinks he is just being stubborn.

I think what I am going to do is go back to square one, I am going to get up or have someone here share the joy lol several times a night and take him out. I want to get him to the point where he isn't having accidents, pray, and then gradually lengthen the time we take him out to see if we can get him to be good.

The only other guess the vet has is possibly marking since it isn't like rivers of pee, just some here and there.

I had hoped that neutering would take care of that if that was the case, but I don't really know if it is marking? He's just weird lol

I'm not 100% positive about this but. . . it is my understanding that it can take several weeks after a neuter for a male dog to quit these kinds of behaviors. It has something to do with the amount of time it takes the testosterone levels to dissapate. So if its only been about two weeks (I am guessing since you said he gets to start restricted water again now that he is healed) then maybe it may take a couple more weeks to stop if it is marking.

Yes it will only be two weeks on friday, and yes you are correct I do remember reading about the testosterone levels! Maybe there's hope lol

I'll keep my fingers crossed!

I know I need it lol

just a thought but is he allowed to sleep with you at night like on your bed or next to you? We had an issue with shadow in his crate. We eventually took him on the bed with us and for the past 2-3 weeks he sleeps 8 hrs straight. Maybe its balons way of saying he wants to be with you and not in the crate at night??