jodgaz

We definitely don't let her out if she is whining - she only leaves her condo when she has been quite. We're actually not home all the time, so having her go on the wee wee pads probably won't work for us, unfortunately. Initially we tried to have her litter box trained (with doggy litter, of course :-) ) but she didn't take well to this, and is definitely doing very good with going outside (even in the Michigan snow :-) ). I had thought that she would end up holding it since there are times where she has to sit in it, but she definitely does not :-( I was hoping that things would change as her bladder developed, but no luck yet. Keep the thought coming, though, I really appreciate it.

When she goes, we take her out immediately if we are home and clean it up. Most of the time we are not home, so she doesn't get taken out immediately, although we can't tell if she maybe is just going because she hears us come in, or if she is going and then has to sit in it for a while. Should she be sitting in it if she has an accident? That seems rather cruel to me, but is that the only way to get her to stop?

She has a kong that she likes quite a bit. We only give it to her when she is in the crate, but she literally inhales the peanut butter inside it, and then starts whining. I might try something else in it to see if that works. She will go in and out of it at times during the day, so I don't think she is scared of her crate, but the open top one might be a good idea. She is little, but she can jump, so I'll do some digging. I've even considered an open pen for her to be in that gives more space, but I was a little concerned that if we do that, she will just go in one area, and "live in another.

Nothing significant changed, although we have been around more lately due to the holidays and she hasn't been in her crate as much. The issue is that it never stopped happening, so us being around more just prevents it from happening as much because she is doing great going to the door and letting us know she needs to go out when she isn't in her crate. We try to have her go in her crate while we are home and sitting there, but she's even had accidents right in front of us (looking lovingly at us while she is doing it :-) ). We definitely let her know it is wrong, but it hasn't helped. I didn't know if there were things we could use - I keep seeing items like No Go that I was thinking we might be able to spray in her crate, but I'd prefer a more natural end to the issue. We use Nature's Miracle to clean up the messes, but this definitely hasn't prevented her from going again...

The crate was already partitioned off, so she actually does end up standing in the urine. I can also tell that some of it is from jumping because she will get it all over the place in her crate. I was hoping that she would grow out of it, but it's been about a month and a half and she still has not. We have a room blocked off for her, but she definitely isn't ready for the freedom yet. She is teething, and I'd prefer she be in the crate so she can be safe and not be getting into anything. Any other suggestions - I really appreciate your responses - we're desparate to help her out so that she isn't uncomfortable (and urine covered) every day...

:cry: We recently adopted an adorable shih tzu/poodle mix. She will be five months old in a few days, and has been doing great with housebreaking. The issue I am having is that she is soiling her crate every time she is in there. Whether it be for 5 minutes or 4 hours, she will urinate every time. We work full time, but have coordinated having her let out every four hours, but this is starting to be a problem, as the people we have coming in to let her out are getting frustrated with the clean up once a day. I would love to hear advice on how to help her "grow" out of this. She doesn't have a blanket or anything in the crate anymore that could soak up the accident, and I feel terrible every time she has an accident. We are providing her a very loving home, and due to circumstances that changed after we adopted her, being home full time isn't an option (and neither is giving her up - we love her!). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. She is an amazing dog, and we just want to make her life more comfortable while we are gone!! PS - we've checked to see if it is a bladder issue, and it is not, so any other suggestions would be appreciated.