peeing in crate

[Baileysmom]

Ok, this is getting a little annoying....... anytime I leave Bailey in her crate for more than an hour or so she pees in it :o she doesnt seem to have a problem with being in her crate, she happily goes in it, but Im trying to figure out why she does this :-? dogs usually dont "go" in their crates I thought. I put a towel or blanket in there so its more comfortable, but the pee is always on it. Do you think it would help to not put anything in it with her? or do you think there might be a uti or something causing it?? (what would other symptoms be?)
I always have her go outside before she goes in and never put water in it with her........ she rarely stays in longer than 4 hrs, but even that long is rare - she is a yr and a half old. what do you think??

[DogPaddle]

Who knows what little quirk in her mind causes this behaviour.
As for uti - how is she at home with you for 4 hours without an outside break?
How big is the crate and how big is she?

[Baileysmom]

shes almsot always fine if we are home with her..... has had occasional accidents, but pretty rare. We have noticed she is extremely shy about peeing :roll: she wont go if people are looking, or if she really has to, she gets as low as doggie possible to the ground first, or (and this gross, but funny) she will search out a mud puddle or if we are at a lake and immediately wade out and go there :oops: so maybe its jsut some weird quirk of hers I guess :roll:
she is in an "intermediate" crate, shes a 30 lb beagle/whippett ....... it seems to be a good size, big enough to turn aroudn and lay down comfortable, but not "spacious" so she could get away from any messes :wink:

[DogPaddle]

Well if she is fine when you're home I wouldn't think it was uti. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check though.
I don't know what to suggest. It sounds like everything is as it should be. Most dogs won't soil their 'dens' but - most is not ALL.

I suppose you could try going back to the beginning. Crate her while your present for short periods. Increase to somewhat longer. Introduce short periods while your away etc. Consider leaving a very safe chew toy if your comfortable with the idea. I'd also remove the towel and do a really complete sanitizing of the crate and area. You could also try the schedule thing, gradually increasing time. I think a possible schedule is included in the housetraining sticky in training.
I'm not sure any of the above is the solution but . . . I don't know what else to suggest.

[Crystal]

I feel for you.

I put old T-shirts in Toby's crate and he would almost always immediatley pee on them. Even though I took him to go right before he went in. He did not push them out of the way however, he just laid right in it. I was very frustrated. For some reason the crate didn't work.

When I am not home Toby goes to the laundry room. I took the door off the crate. It's just a house now. He sleeps in it and loves it, but when he has to go he uses paper on the other side of the room. The room is gated off so he can not get out. This just seems to work so much better for me.

Toby would even poop in the crate, step in it wipe it all over the inside and whine. He figured out if he did so I had no choice but to get him out. Smart dog huh.

So I gave up on shutting him in the crate. I will have it if needed for travel. He is fine as long as I am looking right at him. The minute I leave the room he gets rotten. So crates don't work for every dog apparently. I find the small gated room and newspaper for pottying does very well.