Soiling the Crate

  • Soiling the Crate

    Posted by Catherine on February 23, 2023 at 7:26 AM

    Hello. We have a 10 week old GSD. We are crate training her. When we don’t have eyes on her, she’s in the crate. I work from home so she has several breaks during the day to be out of the crate and to take her out to potty. It’s usually every 2 hours or so. I would love to say that we’ve had no accidents in the house, but that would be a lie. I take her out every time she eats, drinks, comes out of the crate, and has played for more than 5 minutes. For the five or so accidents outside of her crate, it is usually because we haven’t caught her fast enough to prevent the squat. For the accidents inside the crate… They are mostly at night and at least every other night since we got her 13 days ago. We set timers to take her out every 1.5 to 2 hours. When we picked her up, the breeder said that the litter seemed to be incredibly thirsty and their intake had increased a lot. She does always seem to be thirsty. She has a vet appointment tomorrow. Will I be a monster for cutting off her water intake an hour or two before we crate her for the night? That was how we didn’t have toddlers wet the bed. The normal exhaustion of constant pottying is to be expected, but the production of bathing a bath averse puppy and scrubbing a crate/area every night are wearing us down faster. I just want her to pee/poop outside. I’m willing to change whatever behavior on my end that needs changing.

    Respectfully,

    Sleep Deprived in Texas

    GC replied 1 year, 7 months ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • GC

    Member
    February 23, 2023 at 7:39 AM

    10 weeks is literally an infant as you already well know, but I will tell you what we learned just in case. We also had sleep deprivation so take lots of pictures as you won’t remember anything later when they grow up. As for bath, it required 4-hands (2 people – one with treats) to work. Beware of over bathing as dry skin/itching can get out of hand. Enjoy these puppy times, as although tough, you will have fond memories of it later.

    • Catherine

      Member
      February 23, 2023 at 8:32 AM

      Yes sir, we’ve already made it a 2 person job for clean up. I’m going to start putting her in a dry tub and treating her in it for a few seconds at a time with longer durations and then also have treats available when she’s actually being bathed.

      • GC

        Member
        March 4, 2023 at 3:54 PM

        good luck. we are at the point our GSD doesn’t mind too much. She doesn’t necessarily want to go in the bath but she tolerates it. We are now at the point of only giving her favourite treat when she isn’t whining. That seems to be working out well. She even sat down last time.

  • Gene

    Member
    February 23, 2023 at 5:29 PM

    I don’t see anything wrong with picking the water up at all as long as it is not extremely hot out. The puppy will probably appreciate it.

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