Doggie Dilemma

[EeyoresButterfly]

I have a canine conundrum I was hoping the dog lovers on this board might be able to help me with. My youngest puppy, Matthias, has this nasty habit of urinating in his crate on an almost nightly basis. He is approximately 8 months old and is neutered. At night he stays in the crate while his big brother Eragon gets to sleep on the bed since Eragon is sufficiently potty trained and obedient. Eragon is probably close to a year and a half and is about knee high to me. Matthias is a small dachshund/jack russell mix, so Erie's crate is pretty big for him. He outgrew his other one and I decided to put him in the bigger crate rather than buy yet another crate. I know they aren't supposed to be that big, but I wanted him to have room to move around, and he had the same problem in his little crate.

During the day he and Eragon are confined to the bathroom while I am away, and it has been a long time since he has had an accident there. Other than his crate, he is almost completely housebroekn. I know they tell you to crate train because they have this instinct to not pee in their bed, but that is the one place he is still having accidents. He pees on his blanket so it won't get all over, but then he wil lay on it. I have a rotating batch of blankets that get switched out every night so he has a clean one. I tried taking away his blanket, but he still peed and it was even worse because it was all over him. I have tried talking to my vet, but all he would tell me is that this is normal. I cut them off from water about 3 hours before bedtime, and I take them out right before bed and as soon as I wake up. Help! How do I get him to stop this? I want him to eventually be able to sleep on the bed with Erie and me, but I will not even consider it until he stops peeing in his crate every night!

[EeyoresButterfly]

While I'm at it, question number 2: I have noticed brown crusties on Eragon's ears. Eragon has perky ears, and the crusties are on the inside of the ear, but not the canal itself. I do not think he is a breed prone to infections, but then, I don't know what his breed is. I was told collie mix, but I'm not even sure that is correct. I've been ferreting around online, but his symptoms do not seem to match those of an infection. Erie and Mattie like to wrestle and Mattie will latch on to Erie's ears, it's his favorite thing to do. I'm wondering if that's the cause? I'm keeping an eye on it for now and if it doesn't clear up by next week I'm taking him to the vet. Has anybody experienced something similar? Did it turn out to be something that required professional treatment?

[Mayonnaise]

Dunno bout the crusties, but as for the oversize crate, we went thru that with my family dog, (now my parents dog since us kids have moved out.) Try finding a cardboard box a little shorter in height than the crate, as wide as the crate, and about as deep as the crate is too big. I think we used a box that my brothers baseball team jerseys came in, but you could probaby get a movign box from some stationary store. Undo the top of the crate (assuming a put it up yourself, flat pack cage-style crate) and put the box in the back, open side down, and drape it with a towel. Puppy will have less space to wander away from his mess and will be more inclined to try and hold it. As he grows you can cut the back end side of the cardboard box down, (that's important, if you cut the front end he'll just go around the towel and go inside) giving him more space, till he's big enough and the box comes out entirely.

8^)

[ktulu]

Try putting something in the crate so it cuts down on how much space he has.

[Theme Park Where]

That's what I was going to suggest, "shrinking" the crate down to a more manageable size for him. Another question - where is the crate kept at night? If it's in another room, he may be alerting you to his need to go potty, but you can't hear him. That small a dog has a mighty small bladder, and although he makes it through the day he may not have the same bladder control at night. If he's in the same room with you, can you determine when he's going? You may have to sacrifice and take him out close to that time every night until his bladder control is better. If he's going on his own bedding, he may not be able to control it yet. Eventually you can make the time you take him out later and later, until he makes it through the night.

I have a fox terrier, and he got up every night to potty. He could hold it during the day, but it must have been uncomfortable at night. I finally put a paper down for him to use since he couldn't always wake me. Now he can't get out of bed on his own (he's 16) so he does actually manage to hold it, but boy does he have to go in the morning! We have to get up at 7:00 on the dot and I jog from the bed to the front door after lifting him down off the bed, otherwise he won't make it!

[DisneyMom]

I'm wondering if the crusties might be something like ear mites but that is a wild guess.

We never crated a dog, but always had doggie doors except my last dog would just bark at me to go out (no doggie door there).

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Both the Grumpy pups are crate trained, but they must sleep in them also. When ther were smaller, we had to do the "crate shrinking" bit so they would no use it as a potty. it took a few tries but they eventually figured it out.

We follow the advice of our puppy trainer that told us to not let them sleep anywhere but the crate at night, then they would regard it as their safe haven. When we go out, they can stay in their crate for about four hours before they need to be let out.

Perhaps the puppy sees the other dog sleeping on the bed and thinks that if he makes a mess in his "potty box" he will be alowed on the bed too?


On the ears thing, we have to clean out their ears about once a week, because they get dirt in them, and when they play rough, once in a while, they will get a small scratch, so we try and keep it clean.

Like our trainer said about raising pups, "its an art, not a science."

good luck!

[Zazu]

:pluto: Pluto never had these problems.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

:pluto: Pluto never had these problems.

True, but Pluto also responds to vocie commands beyond the "sit, stay" level!

[EeyoresButterfly]

The crate is in my room atthe end of the bed. He doesn't whine or anything, he just goes. When he had the crate that was the "perfect" size, he would do it every night in there as well, which is why I haven't been too concerned about shrinking the crate since it doesn't seem to make one iota of a difference to this little guy. He has the stubborness of a dachshund with the hyperactivity of a Jack Russell, it's a fun combo. I don't know what I can use to shrink his crate, he eats cardboard, and paper, and plastic, and cabinets, and books, and what were we talking about again? :) I swear, between the two puppies and the two cats, I'm going to end up in a little padded room by the end of the year.