# Crate accidents - please help!



## VesperHWV (Dec 17, 2018)

Hi all,

Our 15 week old HWV girl is such a gorgeous, clever girl. She had adjusted so well, gets commands so quickly and is super affectionate. We have had her for 6 weeks now (feels so much longer!) .

We have crate trained her from the start, setting her up in the kitchen / living room area which will be her permanent base and with me sleeping next to her the first 3 weeks. She has been doing very well and got down to sleeping through the night OK a few weeks ago (I am now sleeping back upstairs in our bedroom). She generally doesn't bark anymore at all when put to bed at bed time and throughout the night. 5am is another story though... 

However, the last week - maybe 10 days we noticed that every morning we let her out (bedtime is around 9pm, wake up around 6.20am), her vetbed is wet so she had a wee. It's pretty much a daily thing now and I am washing these like there is no tomorrow...She doesn't make any noise / sound when she needs a wee and just does it.... We just think and hope that she will grow out of this in the next couple of weeks (her crate is set to right size with a divider, not too big).

The much bigger concern is that last two nights she had a big accident in her crate and woke me up at 2 - 3am on both mornings to find her in a crate with poo all over...Now, I have made sure she went out to potty before bedtime / after dinner, etc. So I am a little bit concerned about this as obviously, she is distressed by having that kind of accident in there and I'd like this not to become a daily occurrence as with the weeing vetbed is currently...

Any advice will be hugely appreciated!

Thank you!


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## Wasatch Vizsla (Jan 19, 2019)

You might want to consider getting her checked for a UTI. Could be why she can't hold pee as long.

A few thing you could try. Make the kennel smaller. 
You said it's the right size but that's pretty subjective. They really don't need much room. Then back peddle a bit. Taking her out every 2-3 hours at night. Quick potty break and right back in. Can you go back to sleeping near the crate or move her to the bed room? It would be very easy to miss a subtle whining at that time of the morning from another room. She might be distressed waking up alone and being closer to you could resolve it. Which cleaning products are you using? Some actually smell like urine to dogs. I'd wash the crate fully with soap and water. Then spray with an enzyme based pet product to air dry. If the smell is not fully removed that might be confusing her. When she goes potty before bed is she pooping? If not you might consider reworking the routine a bit to help her with this. This could include moving her dinner earlier/ later and adding a walk. 

Puppies definitely like to throw us a curve ball. I appreciate you asking for help. Kennel soiling issues should be taken very seriously. This is not something to leave to chance and hope she'll grow out of it.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

It's always worht a call to the vet about UTI.

But if the accidents occurred around the same time you went back upstairs to sleep, it very well could be a reaction to that. Move the crate upstairs to the bedroom, and wake her and take her out later before you go to sleep.

V's need to be close to their people, and any separations should be handled with care. This might have been too much too soon.


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