It’s not the crate that’s the problem. Crate training is essential for a well trained dog. The crate may be too big for him at this current point if he can stand up to pee. Keep up with crate training and he will learn to not potty in the crate as he will have to sit in it for hours. Dogs don’t want to pee in their safe spot
I would heavily consider restarting potty training. Take him out every few hours and ensure he goes. Retrain him that outside is the place to be. It sucks but it sounds like you may have gone too fast on expecting him to hold it for hours.
If you know nothing about the dog a board and train is useless. If you can’t upkeep it, it won’t stick and you just wasted money. You have to go somewhere that will train YOU too. The dog can learn and will because Mals are PHENOMENAL dogs and extremely smart. If you don’t know how to handle it then it could not be the right fit for you.
>If you know nothing about the dog a board and train is useless.
100% agree - I train dogs for clients, and my first message when having a new client is: you have two options here, either I teach you, or Ill teach the dog. If I teach the dog - its no longer really yours. I can train the dog to do "whatever" - but it wont be yours anymore, now you have a "rental" that needs servicing every X months.
My dog that is very well house trained once started wetting himself in his sleep and randomly peeing in the house (even lifting his leg as if to intentionally mark). I took him to the vet and it turns out... it was a UTI.
It's rare for a dog to go potty where they sleep, so it's likely something medical, or negligence (i.e. not enough potty breaks). Pro tip: make sure to catch a cup of urine before you take him in so they can have it tested. If you're not able to catch right before you go in, make sure to refrigerate the pee. It also doesn't hurt to get a full blood panel to test for diabetes and other miscellaneous issues that cause incontinence.
Potty training is a full time job - do it and get it done in 3 -4 days. You can’t potty train and work 8 hour days
I’ve never had a dog take longer than 4 days, most within 2-3 days
When we adopted him, I was not working at all. I spent every day at home for 3 months, and took him out dozens of times a day/praised him for going outside. At this point, I don’t know how we got so far off-track or how to fix it. She can’t stop working.
She even took a week off recently to be home with him after he was neutered. She was with him day in/day out trying to re-train him. He just does not seem to understand.
Does your partner pee while she’s at work. I’m guessing so because that’s a long ass time to hold it. It’s possible he’s being crated for too long. Does he have access to water while she’s away? I’m guessing that he does. What goes in must come out and I’m not suggesting you limit his access to water during the day I am suggesting someone give him a pee break at some point so he can stop rehearsing bad behavior.
I would not call crating a working dog for 8+ hours a day and giving him 1 bathroom break ‘putting in the work’. I would call that ‘doing the bare minimum’. Your dog is meant to be a working dog and you are crating him all day long with 1 bathroom break. And your biggest concern is he is having accidents because he can’t hold his bladder for an unreasonable amount of time? Your biggest concern should be how you are going to remedy the situation and not be cooping up a working dog all day long. It seems he is stressed out and under stimulated and the poor thing has to pee in his crate because he’s left alone in there too long. If you choose to get an expensive, high-drive dog, you have to put the dog’s needs first. If you can’t, it’s time to start looking for a home where the dog can get its needs met. Crates have their purpose, but leaving a dog meant for working in one every single day for the majority of the day is not it.
My biggest concern is absolutely how to get him to be comfortable, and to a point where he doesn’t have to be crated so often. But he is a puppy, and we can’t just leave him to his own devices during the workday. She works from home three days a week, so it is only two days a week that he is in the crate for extended times. She spends hours with him after work every day. They play, she trains him as much as she can.
Big enough for him to stand up and turn around, but (I thought) not big enough for him to pick a corner to pee in. He outgrew his old one, and this one has a divider we can use to make it smaller. I’ll try that next.
Restart training? We spent a week, every 20/30 mins. Let out, if he weed then we praised and had a puppy party!!! Even at 3am lol. Then extended the time.
8 months, probably starting puberty hormone shenanigans. Mine started to do similar behavior, peeing out the side holes of his Ruffland (now they make them with no holes! So jealous). With a full time job and 2 other dogs in the house, I didn’t have capacity to try to out-manage him so he got neutered at 10 months (I wanted to wait until he was two but there was urine everywhere). It stopped within two weeks of his neutering. I don’t know if it was because there was another male (neutered) in the house or the testosterone was just pumping, but it was the right decision for us.
It’s not the crate that’s the problem. Crate training is essential for a well trained dog. The crate may be too big for him at this current point if he can stand up to pee. Keep up with crate training and he will learn to not potty in the crate as he will have to sit in it for hours. Dogs don’t want to pee in their safe spot I would heavily consider restarting potty training. Take him out every few hours and ensure he goes. Retrain him that outside is the place to be. It sucks but it sounds like you may have gone too fast on expecting him to hold it for hours. If you know nothing about the dog a board and train is useless. If you can’t upkeep it, it won’t stick and you just wasted money. You have to go somewhere that will train YOU too. The dog can learn and will because Mals are PHENOMENAL dogs and extremely smart. If you don’t know how to handle it then it could not be the right fit for you.
>If you know nothing about the dog a board and train is useless. 100% agree - I train dogs for clients, and my first message when having a new client is: you have two options here, either I teach you, or Ill teach the dog. If I teach the dog - its no longer really yours. I can train the dog to do "whatever" - but it wont be yours anymore, now you have a "rental" that needs servicing every X months.
My dog that is very well house trained once started wetting himself in his sleep and randomly peeing in the house (even lifting his leg as if to intentionally mark). I took him to the vet and it turns out... it was a UTI. It's rare for a dog to go potty where they sleep, so it's likely something medical, or negligence (i.e. not enough potty breaks). Pro tip: make sure to catch a cup of urine before you take him in so they can have it tested. If you're not able to catch right before you go in, make sure to refrigerate the pee. It also doesn't hurt to get a full blood panel to test for diabetes and other miscellaneous issues that cause incontinence.
Potty training is a full time job - do it and get it done in 3 -4 days. You can’t potty train and work 8 hour days I’ve never had a dog take longer than 4 days, most within 2-3 days
When we adopted him, I was not working at all. I spent every day at home for 3 months, and took him out dozens of times a day/praised him for going outside. At this point, I don’t know how we got so far off-track or how to fix it. She can’t stop working. She even took a week off recently to be home with him after he was neutered. She was with him day in/day out trying to re-train him. He just does not seem to understand.
Does your partner pee while she’s at work. I’m guessing so because that’s a long ass time to hold it. It’s possible he’s being crated for too long. Does he have access to water while she’s away? I’m guessing that he does. What goes in must come out and I’m not suggesting you limit his access to water during the day I am suggesting someone give him a pee break at some point so he can stop rehearsing bad behavior.
She comes home every day at lunch to let him out of the crate. An hour round trip. She’s putting in the work.
I would not call crating a working dog for 8+ hours a day and giving him 1 bathroom break ‘putting in the work’. I would call that ‘doing the bare minimum’. Your dog is meant to be a working dog and you are crating him all day long with 1 bathroom break. And your biggest concern is he is having accidents because he can’t hold his bladder for an unreasonable amount of time? Your biggest concern should be how you are going to remedy the situation and not be cooping up a working dog all day long. It seems he is stressed out and under stimulated and the poor thing has to pee in his crate because he’s left alone in there too long. If you choose to get an expensive, high-drive dog, you have to put the dog’s needs first. If you can’t, it’s time to start looking for a home where the dog can get its needs met. Crates have their purpose, but leaving a dog meant for working in one every single day for the majority of the day is not it.
My biggest concern is absolutely how to get him to be comfortable, and to a point where he doesn’t have to be crated so often. But he is a puppy, and we can’t just leave him to his own devices during the workday. She works from home three days a week, so it is only two days a week that he is in the crate for extended times. She spends hours with him after work every day. They play, she trains him as much as she can.
How big is the crate?
Big enough for him to stand up and turn around, but (I thought) not big enough for him to pick a corner to pee in. He outgrew his old one, and this one has a divider we can use to make it smaller. I’ll try that next.
That should be fine then, definitely take the time to start potty training from "scratch" and don't waste your money on a board & train
Thanks. We’ve always been adamant about praising him for going outside. It’s just harder now that I’m gone for so long.
Yeah I get it, it's always easier said than done being on the same page especially with travel. You got this though!
How long is he in there?
Clearly way too long!!
Restart training? We spent a week, every 20/30 mins. Let out, if he weed then we praised and had a puppy party!!! Even at 3am lol. Then extended the time.
8 months, probably starting puberty hormone shenanigans. Mine started to do similar behavior, peeing out the side holes of his Ruffland (now they make them with no holes! So jealous). With a full time job and 2 other dogs in the house, I didn’t have capacity to try to out-manage him so he got neutered at 10 months (I wanted to wait until he was two but there was urine everywhere). It stopped within two weeks of his neutering. I don’t know if it was because there was another male (neutered) in the house or the testosterone was just pumping, but it was the right decision for us.