Crate Training: how long is too long

[Michael]

Our dog is a year and a half old Mini Pomeranian we got from the pet shop with previous owner's reasons for giving her up unknown. She's a really good dog but... we've been crate training her for 3 months and she still goes in the house sometimes. We do take her out to go - up to 5 times a day (and she does go potty), but we still can't leave her alone in the house to wander without peeing and sometimes pooing. She also pees if she gets too excited, so we have to ignore her for about 5 minutes, take her out to pee right away, then we can pet her. We give her treats when she goes outside and scolded when she goes inside.

I can hardly admit it, but it's gotten to the point we are talking about giving her up. Even the kids are starting to agree that it does not seem fair to the dog to be in the crate for so long.

Any ideas appreciated.

note: I've started another thread: dog won't roll over. Maybe its related?

[Jessika]

Well to put it simply -- don't leave her alone to wander the house unsupervised. When she is out of the crate, keep her on a leash and keep her with you so you can supervise her. When you can't, then crate her. THE SECOND she starts acting like she needs to pee, bring her outside.

Have you brought her to the vet for a checkup to rule out any possible health problems that may be causing this?? Perhaps a bladder infection or something of the sort?

It's common among females, and dogs in general, to pee when they get very excited, so you're doing right by ignoring her right away and giving her attention only after she settles down.

A year-and-a-half to me is still kind of a puppy, so give her a chance. How long have you had her, 3 months? I've had my pups for over two years now and they are still crated when I leave the house or even overnight sometimes when Jamie starts peeing throughout the night, even after letting her out right before bed. So don't worry about it

EDIT: Another idea - when she goes inside, ignore her completely. Don't bring any attention to her or the mess. When she goes outside, lavish her with praise and attention. She will learn that going outside she gets attention, going inside she gets nothing. Because even negative attention is still attention to dogs, and all dogs craaaaaave attention. So as frustrating as it will be, I know, just completely ignore her and the mess when she goes inside.

[Michael]

Thank you for your reply. Good advice and will indeed try ignoring any inside mess. The first thing that really stands out is that 3 months may not be a long time afterall... just that seeing her in the crate so much, we almost felt like we had gotten a bird, not a dog :-)

It gets discouraging when you hear dogs getting trained in a matter of days or weeks. I guess on the bright side, we did train her to stay and to shake a paw, and stop licking us non-stop. We just got to be more patient on the pooing and stop feeling so guilty about the crating. She doesn't go in the crate. So when do we know she is ready to come out of the crate... trial and error I suppose...

We sure hope one day she can wander freely about the house.

Thank you again.

[Hellow]

My mom and I think that it is inhumane to keep a dog in a little cage. My dog has free rome of my house even when we are gon somewhere. I have never crate trained her and never will. That applies to any dogs that i own in the future. That is just my opinion about crate training.

P.S. if you want to have her stop peeing and pooping in the house, always spray a bad smelling non-toxic spray sold at pet stores. This stuff is not smellable to humans.

[Lady's Human]

If done properly crate training is NOT inhumane. It gives the dog a "cave" to be in, and in many cases dogs feel secure, not punished.

[catnapper]

First, never use the crate as punishment. It sounds like you may be. What is your reaction to her when she does pee or poo in the house? When do you put her in the crate? Does she willingly go to the crate? Is being let out 5 times a day enough? I let my own dog out twice that. NEVER EVER let her out of your sight. Leash her to your belt if you have to. I tell my student "shame on you if your dog messes when you're not watching" Its not their fault - its yours for neglecting to monitor them. Would you leave a toddler alone ina room with knives and walk away? I'm sure you wouldn't.... and you shouldn't ever leave an un-trained dog alone! I have oodles more info on potty training but said it over and over again in previous threads and I'm feeling icky so I don't feel like typing it all out again Please do a search here in the dog behavior section for potty training hints. Its easy once you realize what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong.

Second, never ignore her for the submissive peeing. It'll only make matters worse. There are threads here on submissive peeing. Please look them up as there are lots and lots of fantastic ideas in the threads.

Three months is nothing in doggy time. My husand had a lab/doxie mix and when we got married, Sammie had no idea that outside was for potty. After 6t long months, she was finally starting to make headway. I'm sure we would have had another 6 months to go.... only she passed away beforeshe was fully potty trained.