My boyfriend and I adopted a 2-year-old spayed pit bull from a shelter about 6 months ago. She wasn't housebroken when we brought her home as she'd been in the shelter for awhile and had gotten used to eliminating in her kennel. After a month, she was fully housebroken, and that was the case until about a month and a half ago, when she started urinating in her crate during the day on a daily basis.
Here is some background information to hopefully provide the full picture:
-This started during a very cold, snowy period when she seemed to be tensing up and couldn't go in the morning before being crated. The weather has been nice and she's been going in the morning for about two weeks, but that hasn't stopped her from going in her crate.
-Any medical issues have been ruled out after the vet did tests on her (she also went through a round of antibiotics in case there was anything that the tests missed)
-She had no changes in routine, diet, or anything else that would have contributed to the onset.
-We haven't seen any other changes in mood, appetite, water consumption, or behavior.
-This doesn't seem to be related to the amount of time spent in her crate, as when we are home all day and offer additional mid-day bathroom breaks, she still doesn't go between the hours of 8 am-3 pm but doesn't have accidents.
-She also tends to have accidents in the crate on weekends when we're only out of the house for an hour or 2.
-She doesn't have accidents anywhere else in the house.
-Randomly, there will be days that she does not have any accidents in her crate.
-She goes into the crate willingly when given her command and is rewarded with a Kong to keep her busy, and I don't hear her cry as I leave the house.
-She has a small water dish in her crate at all times, but she doesn't touch it during the day.
-She is only crated during the day when we're at work; otherwise, she is loose in the house.
-We do not punish her for eliminating in the crate since we aren't there when it's happening.
This is her daily schedule:
5 am: goes out
6 am: eats breakfast
8 am: goes outside, then is crated
3:30 pm: goes out, plays with us and with our other dog
4:30 pm: goes for a walk (30 minutes - 1 hour, depending on the weather)
5:30 pm: eats dinner
9 pm: goes out
We have tried the following things to deal with this issue with no success: increasing the amount of exercise that she gets, changing her morning feeding time to an earlier time so that she has more time to digest before she's crated, using a different crate mat, removing the crate mats completely, cleaning the crate bottom daily with a bioenzymatic cleaner, limiting the amount of water that she drinks after breakfast and before going into the crate, moving the location of her crate from the same room as our other dog's crate to her own room, and giving her praise and treats every time she goes to the bathroom outside.
Our vet is stumped, and we are as well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Adult Dog Eliminating in Crate
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Re: Adult Dog Eliminating in Crate
Hi there, welcome to the forums.
My initial feeling was that its too long in the crate and up until the cold spell that taboo of not going in her crate was causing her to hold on beyond her comfort point, and then once she really couldnt and had an accident in there, that if you will, opened the floodgates...
However you say she doesnt normally go between the hours of 8 and 3, and sometimes there is no accident in the crate...
I think your next logical step is to film whats going on in your house whilst you are not there.
Dogs will often sleep all day and whilst they are sleeping, urine production is slowed down, so they can go far longer than they would if they were awake.
If something wakes them up, or if something frightens them, they are going to need to eliminate much sooner and if startled/scared then they may be unable to control it at all.
Because you say she has accidents even when crated for a short period, I am inclined to think there is an element of anxiety over being left, which may not kick in until after her kong is finished or may be triggered by something that happens when you are gone.
What happens if you go out for a few hours and don't crate her?
My initial feeling was that its too long in the crate and up until the cold spell that taboo of not going in her crate was causing her to hold on beyond her comfort point, and then once she really couldnt and had an accident in there, that if you will, opened the floodgates...
However you say she doesnt normally go between the hours of 8 and 3, and sometimes there is no accident in the crate...
I think your next logical step is to film whats going on in your house whilst you are not there.
Dogs will often sleep all day and whilst they are sleeping, urine production is slowed down, so they can go far longer than they would if they were awake.
If something wakes them up, or if something frightens them, they are going to need to eliminate much sooner and if startled/scared then they may be unable to control it at all.
Because you say she has accidents even when crated for a short period, I am inclined to think there is an element of anxiety over being left, which may not kick in until after her kong is finished or may be triggered by something that happens when you are gone.
What happens if you go out for a few hours and don't crate her?
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Re: Adult Dog Eliminating in Crate
Also, consider the relationship with the other dog. We need to know about him/her too, and whether s/he is also crated during the day. This might be a case of intimidation. The camera will tell you more.
Try a morning walk too. 30 mins a day is really not enough, and if walked before you leave, she may empty out properly. Do you go with her when you put her outside, or is she alone with the other dog, which could stop her emptying out?
Try a morning walk too. 30 mins a day is really not enough, and if walked before you leave, she may empty out properly. Do you go with her when you put her outside, or is she alone with the other dog, which could stop her emptying out?
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
Re: Adult Dog Eliminating in Crate
Thank you so much for the thoughtful replies. Interestingly enough, starting the day after I posted this question, she stopped this behavior. Her crate has been dry for 3 full days now, even in circumstances where I would have thought that it would be difficult (we had terrible weather yesterday morning and despite that I took her out 3 times, she refused to go at all before I left for work, but she still did not go in her crate). While I am glad that it has stopped at least for now, it's a mystery as to why.
I am wondering if there was something else going on that the tests from the vet didn't pick up, or if it was anxiety/insecurity. She has shown some resource guarding issues with the couch in the past, and we saw some of those behaviors starting to come out again out of nowhere during the time that she was urinating in her crate (we did some training in this area and this seems to be under control now). She stopped doing this at the same time that she stopped going in the crate, and I attributed this to training. I didn't connect the two behaviors at first, but now I am wondering if there is a relationship between them.
We've never left her out of the crate as she does tend to be randomly destructive and/or find things to eat that she shouldn't, even when we are there, so that wouldn't be a safe option for her.
Our other dog is a larger, neutered male pit bull who we had for about a year and a half before we adopted her. Their relationship has been positive overall, although she lacks some basic social skills and he seemingly gets "bullied" at times by her because he doesn't correct her (for example, she will steal his toys while he is chewing on them and he won't react). He is also crated when we are away. They had been crated in the same room (but they couldn't see each other) until a few weeks ago, when we moved her to a totally separate room in order to see if that would have an impact on her eliminating in the crate (it didn't).
I take her on a leash and walk her around the yard when she goes out (without the other dog there). I'll start trying morning walks again with her as well (I gave up on them awhile ago because she literally dug her heels in and refused to walk in the morning, but maybe now that she trusts me more, she'll be more willingly).
Thank you both again for the advice!
I am wondering if there was something else going on that the tests from the vet didn't pick up, or if it was anxiety/insecurity. She has shown some resource guarding issues with the couch in the past, and we saw some of those behaviors starting to come out again out of nowhere during the time that she was urinating in her crate (we did some training in this area and this seems to be under control now). She stopped doing this at the same time that she stopped going in the crate, and I attributed this to training. I didn't connect the two behaviors at first, but now I am wondering if there is a relationship between them.
I totally agree with the anxiety piece, and we are looking into setting up a system to record her while we're gone.emmabeth wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2017 9:34 pm I think your next logical step is to film whats going on in your house whilst you are not there.
Dogs will often sleep all day and whilst they are sleeping, urine production is slowed down, so they can go far longer than they would if they were awake.
If something wakes them up, or if something frightens them, they are going to need to eliminate much sooner and if startled/scared then they may be unable to control it at all.
Because you say she has accidents even when crated for a short period, I am inclined to think there is an element of anxiety over being left, which may not kick in until after her kong is finished or may be triggered by something that happens when you are gone.
What happens if you go out for a few hours and don't crate her?
We've never left her out of the crate as she does tend to be randomly destructive and/or find things to eat that she shouldn't, even when we are there, so that wouldn't be a safe option for her.
Nettle wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2017 3:24 am Also, consider the relationship with the other dog. We need to know about him/her too, and whether s/he is also crated during the day. This might be a case of intimidation. The camera will tell you more.
Try a morning walk too. 30 mins a day is really not enough, and if walked before you leave, she may empty out properly. Do you go with her when you put her outside, or is she alone with the other dog, which could stop her emptying out?
Our other dog is a larger, neutered male pit bull who we had for about a year and a half before we adopted her. Their relationship has been positive overall, although she lacks some basic social skills and he seemingly gets "bullied" at times by her because he doesn't correct her (for example, she will steal his toys while he is chewing on them and he won't react). He is also crated when we are away. They had been crated in the same room (but they couldn't see each other) until a few weeks ago, when we moved her to a totally separate room in order to see if that would have an impact on her eliminating in the crate (it didn't).
I take her on a leash and walk her around the yard when she goes out (without the other dog there). I'll start trying morning walks again with her as well (I gave up on them awhile ago because she literally dug her heels in and refused to walk in the morning, but maybe now that she trusts me more, she'll be more willingly).
Thank you both again for the advice!
