Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
Labrador Peeing in Crate
Hester asked the following via email:
“My 12 week old chocolate lab pees in the crate constantly. His crate is small and he’s got room to turnaround and lay down but he doesn’t seem to mind laying in his urine. I don’t want him to think that it’s o.k. to pee in the crate and I’m at my wits end with cleaning him and the crate up all the time. He can’t even make it in the crate for 2 hours”
Here are my suggestions…
Crate training is one of the most effective methods for housetraining a dog, but sometimes it is either not possible because the dog just will not take to the crate, or takes a little longer if the dog needs time to get used to it.
First of all, you need to ensure all traces of the urine scent have been cleaned from the crate before even trying to reintroduce him to it. While ever there is a toilet smell in the crate, he will continue to treat it like a toilet. The other thing to remember is that at 12 weeks, he shouldn’t be expected to go much more than two hours without a toilet break, so it may be that he is peeing in it because he has no choice.
Once it is clean, try to gradually get him to go in of his own accord. Do you have a small room or an area you can cordon off where he can be confined while reintroducing the crate? If so, you can leave the crate in one corner with some of his bedding and maybe something that has your scent on it. Leave one of his toys or a treat in there and let him find his own way to it. When he goes in of his own accord, praise and treat him for it, even if only for a few seconds. Do this a few times a day (or, if you are out, put a kong toy stuffed with tasty treats or something similar in the crate so he has a reason to spend time in it).
Once he is spending time in the crate, gradually start to close the door (initially for just a few seconds at a time) until you can leave him in there without too much stress. The kong can be a great distraction here, so consider using one whenever you want to crate him for any length of time when you are out.
Provided he is comfortable with the crate after you have done the above, and you are following an appropriate feeding/watering/toileting regime, he should get out of the habit of peeing in his crate quite quickly. Just keep at it and remember not to use any form of punishment when he gets it wrong and you should be fine.
Incidentally, one of the videos in Chet Womach’s Dog Training Secret package shows how he introduces his Golden Retriever to a crated area, so that might help further.
