It was a long way around! Lots of weeks of struggling with potty training your puppy. But finally, you did it and thought that now you were done, and you could now enjoy your days with your buddy! But one day, you went to him to play with him and found out that your puppy peed in his crate for the first time!
What? Why? Is it my fault or his? What should I do know? Potty train him again? Scold him? Or just give him away?
Lots of questions in your mind, but!
Hold on! It may happen.
An accident once in a while can happen, and there is nothing wrong with it. Just keep up with a good schedule, and everything will be alright.
But if it starts happening every now and then, you should wear your detective hat.
There are many possible reasons; why your puppy peed in his crate?
Let’s have a look:
Why Your Puppy Peed In His Crate For The First Time?
Following are the possible reasons why this happened:
1- He Was Not Fully Potty Trained
Maybe you just thought that he was now fully potty trained, but he was not.
There are chances of this happening, especially if you have just finished potty training your dog.
Here’s the full information about how to know if your dog is fully potty trained?
2- Anything Changed?
Sometimes puppies and dogs get anxious if something changes in their environment.
Check out:
- Someone in the family has gone
- If someone is visiting you guys? Is there any new animal?
- How was the weather? Was it a thunderstorm?
- Were there any loud noises around
There are a lot of things happening around.
3- It Might Be Regression!
When dogs or puppies forget their training and return to their old bad potty habits, this is called puppy potty training regression.
This is very common in dogs and puppies under the age of 1 year. But it can happen in older dogs too.
The good news is that it is easily reversible.
Here’s everything you need to know about puppy potty training regression and how to reverse it.
4- Maybe He Couldn’t Hold It
Puppies can hold their bladder for one hour for every month of their age until they are 7-9 months old.
It is possible that, for some reason, he was not able to hold it any longer.
It can happen for any reason; until it happens frequently, you should not worry about it.
5- Did He Drink More Than Usual Water?
Dogs and puppies must have a fixed drinking and eating schedule until they are fully potty trained and can hold their bladder and bowel for longer.
Maybe he had more than usual water intake, and he needed to go sooner than usual.
This can happen, especially if the dog is not fully potty trained.
6- Confinement Time Was Longer
Crate training and confinement is not rocket science, but some people may make mistakes while confining the dog.
Maybe his confinement time was longer than it should be.
If this happens frequently, you should reduce the time you are confining your dog.
According to Dailypuppy; Puppies 8 to 10 weeks of age should be crated for no more than 30 to 60 minutes per day; at 11 to 14 weeks old, they shouldn’t be crated longer than one to three hours daily; at 15 to 16 weeks of age, three to four hours per day is appropriate; dogs 17 weeks and older can typically handle four to five hours of crate time daily.
7- Maybe You Didn’t Catch It Before That
Is that possible that he did go into the crate before that, but you didn’t notice?
It may happen if the urine quantity was too less and it dried out quickly.
The smell of urine attracts dogs to pee there again.
8- He Didn’t Pee Completely
Many dogs, especially male dogs, don’t pee all at once; they save some for urine marking.
Maybe he saved some urine for that purpose and didn’t get a chance to urine mark and went into the crate.
Here’s more information about how to get a male dog to pee all at once.
What To Do When Your Puppy/Dog Peed In The Crate:
Instead of just standing there and cursing that poor little guy who doesn’t even know if he was wrong or where he was wrong, you should get him out and remove all the bedding from the crate.
Clean the bedding and the crate with a suitable enzyme cleaner.
(Here’s the list of best enzyme cleaners)
After cleaning everything, check with the UV light to see if there are any stains or odors of urine left behind.
If so, clean again. So your dog doesn’t go there again after being attracted to the urine smell.
Then find out what was the reason and beat it.
Check Out!
- He was on his schedule?
- Everything around him is as per routine?
- If he is getting potty accidents all the time? (rule out potty training regression)
- For how long can he hold his bladder?
- For how long should he be confined?
- Is he fully potty trained?
Should I Let My Puppy Pee In His Crate?
Letting a puppy pee in his crate would be the worst practice ever. It will reverse the potty training to 100%.
A dog who pees where he sleeps would never take care of any area of your house, so it is best practice to train your puppy to go outside or on pee pads in some cases.
Did he do it on purpose or for attention?
Not really!
Dogs don’t do anything out of spite or out of jealousy. So there are almost zero chances that he did this to hurt you or to take any revenge.
Do dogs pee in the crate for attention? We have a complete article written on this topic that is worth checking out.
Read more: How to stop a dog peeing for attention?
Should I Put Puppy Pads In The Crate?
No, you shouldn’t put puppy pads in the crate. You shouldn’t signal your dog that he can pee there if he wants. However, if your puppy is not pee pad trained or doesn’t know what a pee pad is, you can put it in the crate to avoid those long cleaning sessions.
Takeaway:
If your puppy has peed in his crate for the very first time, there is nothing to worry about. It can happen due to several reasons, including drinking more than usual water and not being able to hold it in the crate. If it happens frequently, say more than 2-3 times, you should wear your detective hat and find out why.
