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  • JoeyBear
    • Gold Top Dog

    Crate training worries

    JoeyBear

    Posted : 4/10/2006 11:10:08 AM

    My wife and I have a 15 week old Belgium Malinios and he's pretty much house trained, aside from an accident every now and then. At night, he can make it from 10:15-5:45 without having any accidents in his cage. When we go to work in the morning, I leave at 7 and my wife leaves at 8ish, and I'm home by 3:20. Kenai, our Malinios pup, pees in his cage every day.

    We've tried blocking off 1/2 the cage with a place crate so he can't pee in one corner and lie in another. My wife puts a towel down because if we don't, Kenai will pee and then lie in it until I arrive home after work. Last week he got 3 baths because he stank so much. We feed him in his crate and he'll run in there if our 10 month old lab is chasing him around the house.

    We think one of the problems is that the lab is messing with/barking and taunting Kenai all day and Kenai's little bladder is too excited to hold it any longer. We tried removing Loomis and putting him downstairs, but they bark all day. We've tried shutting the door to the bedroom where Kenai's crate is, but Loomis lies in front of the door and barks. Kenai has made it an entire day w/out peeing in his cage, but it's been a few weeks.

    It's driving me crazy and I'm sure Kenai is tired of getting baths :) :) Any/all help will be appreciated.
  • Mic
    • Gold Top Dog
    Mic

    Posted : 4/10/2006 11:20:12 AM

    Sorry to disappoint but a dog really isn't considered potty trained until it has gone about 12 weeks without a mistake.  Being that your dog is only 15wks...well you get it.
     
    Anyway, on to the issue at hand.  A 15wk old puppy is going to have a very hard time going almost 8 hours without going to the bathroom.  During the day he can probably only go about 4-5 hours.  At night he can make it (mainly because he's sleeping), but in the day there is to much activity for him to control his bladder. 
     
    So, if you can get home and let him out at lunch I definitely would.  If not, higher a dog walker to come over at about 12 everyday to walk him.
     
    Just out of curiosity...is the urine warm or cold when you get home.  this can help you guage when he is going to the bathroom. 
     
    I would also make sure he gets a good 40-60 minute walk in the morning.  This will help get his system going and encourage him to get all of the urine out.  I would make this a habit for the rest of your dogs life!
     
    I would take the towel out of the crate.  If you are not careful the towel will encourage elimination.
     
    Also, make sure the crate is the proper size...just big enough to walk in turn around and lay down.
     
    Hope this helps...
     
     
     
     
  • JoeyBear
    • Gold Top Dog
    JoeyBear

    Posted : 4/10/2006 2:38:59 PM

    Thanks for the reply. The cage is the right size and he gets a 1-1 1/2 mile walk every morning and about 30 minutes of running in the yard with learning to fetch and also chase our lab around. We pick up his water and limit his drinking as the vet has told us to do. I know he's got a long way to go until he's crate trained, but he's done it in the past and the little efforts give me hope :)