Jack Russell peeing in crate

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#1
Hi,

I'm new here, and I joined because I need advise. We have a 5 month old Jack Russell. She is the 2nd one we've had. She is mostly housebroken, meaning she waits until we take her out to go to the bathroom, unless we forget about it, and it goes to long. Then she'll do a puddle or pile by the door. She sleeps in a crate at night, and during the day if we leave her for more than 2-3 hours. Otherwise, she has the run of the kitchen, and dining area. The problem is that she will sometimes pee on the pad in her crate, and additionally, if we have a towel laying on the floor by the door (one we use to wipe dog feet when they come in), she'll pee on that as well. She doesn't always pee in her crate. She'll go weeks without doing so, and then she'll start it again. When she's started the peeing, she'll seem to continue peeing on the crate pad, until I notice it and wash it. For instance, I picked it up yesterday morning, and the back of it showed about 60% pee stains. Prior to that it had been quite a while since she'd peed on it. We want to be able to give her the run of the house eventually, however, if she always shows a tendency to pee on anything absorbent, we will have to find her a new home. I know Jacks are difficult to train, and the occassional puddles and piles on the floor do not worry me at all. It's the crate peeing. I've heard some Jacks will never be completely house broken, and also know personally a family who's
jack always pees in her crate. They don't think she does it anywhere else in the house, but I'm willing to bet they just don't find it very often when she does it. The urine doesn't seem to have a very strong odor at all.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated, especially someone with knowledge/experience with this particular issue.

Thanks, Steph
 
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#2
The first thing to do is get her checked to make sure she doesn't have a physiological problem like a low-grade urinary tract infection. You should also check for yeast (see www.greatdanelady.com).

I don't know about the crate; I've never used one for any of my dogs. Terriers are completely capable of making statements, though. If they don't like being cooped up it's not at all outrageous for them to let you know about it - how well I know! (lol) Leaving the puddles and piles next to the door is telling you something, too. Have you considered hanging bells on the door and teaching her to ring them when she wants out?

You might also try not leaving a convenient towel on the floor. That just seems like an open invitation.

She might even do better left with the run of the kitchen and a wee pad and fluid restriction at night. Don't completely deprive her of water, but after 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. don't let her have an unlimited supply of water. Just don't let her have anything salty! :)
 

bogolove

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#3
I crate trained Brady when he was younger. Now he sleeps in there every night and he walks right in, especially if he is really tired. I can remember when he was a puppy, and he was peeing in his crate a lot. Everyone told me it would take 2 weeks and he would quit. Yeah right. Everyone is different, and every dog is different. It took him forever before he finally stopped peeing in there. One thing is you have to clean that thing so good or they can still smell it. Everything in it has to be cleaned and wipe down that plastic tray on the bottom really good. I agree with Renee about taking up the towel near the door, it just says go ahead and pee here. Also, remember he is still basically a baby and puppies can only hold it for so long. I really think he will get the hang of it, it just may take him longer than some other dogs. Brady took a while getting it, and he is such a smart good boy now. He will bark at me and let me know if he wants out bad enough. Hang in there, I really think it will get better. Just keep trying to work with him on it, that will help.
 

Bug

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#4
Yeah my dog Charlie pees in his crate almost daily. For some reason I dont know to stop this, or help him through it. From my understanding, puppies arent supposed to eliminate where they sleep, but I guess mine is different.

Also this is kind of off topic, but how should I go about training Charlie to let me know when he has to go? I mean he really doesnt go in the house that much any more, unless I forget or he wants attention. But it seems like he is so succesful at not going in the house because I take him outside like every hour to two hours, and not because he tells me when he has to go. Sometimes I can pick up on his behavior, but he doesnt really run to the door whe he has to go, how do I get him to do that?
 

JRT_Rattie_Mom

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#5
Potty training a JRT

Hi Steph,

We have a 2 1/2 year old JRT, Lucy. She was very hard to potty train for her whole 1st year! She was never completely crated (but her crate w/door open was confined to just 1 room) and she was fine when confined to this area almost 90% of the time, but when she had the run of the house she went anytime she felt the urge... on furniture, bedding etc. It was very frustrating to say the least... but I just kept "talking to her" about going potty outside (never could catch her "in the act" so didn't feel we could be too harsh with her) and she would watch me clean up her messes... and I would tell her "I don't like this" in a certain tone of voice... and that if she went potty outside I wouldn't have to do this etc.

After Lucy turned 1 year old she got so much better! She would go to the door and bark to go outside when she needed to go... and other than occasionally being sick enough to causes an accident... she is now 100% potty trained :)

JRT's are such a handful in general :) This is just one more thing we "can" win on... if you can just stick with it!! Our Lucy was also SO worth waiting through all the potty training stuff!!


Karen, Lucy & Holly
 

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