J (jreid4) wrote in boston_buddies,
J
jreid4
boston_buddies

Help!

A few weeks ago, our little guy started peeing in his crate.  The first time he did it I was totally surprised because we only leave him in there for about four hours at a time (he goes in the crate in the AM and I come home at lunch to let him out and then he's let out when we get home).   We have literally tried everything by the book.  We take him out on a very strict schedule, restrict his water (only four times a day and never less than four hours before bed) and praise him like CRAZY when he goes outside.  However, he can't seem to understand this potty thing.  He's doing very well with the other obedience training that we've started (he is doing very well with learning commands) but he just can't seem to get the potty thing down.  And now he's just going in a place that every book, trainer and dog person tells us he won't go: in his crate.  I've read that this can be a sign of a psychological problem (i.e. when he was a very small puppy he was left alone and forced to eliminate in his crate all the time).  We're not sure what we could do to prevent this from happening.  For weeks after we got him he held it just fine but now I know he's going in the crate because whenever we go outside, he just doesn't have to go badly... he kind of waits around instead of having to pee like mad.  Should we remove the bedding?  I feel bad just making him sleep in there all night for hours without having anything but a plastic floor to lay on but I don't know what else will help him stop doing this.  The worst part is, he doesn't even seem to mind the pee... the other morning when I woke up it was all over the little pillow he rests his head on and he was laying his head in it!!!  I couldn't believe it.  I feel so bad that he thinks he has to pee in there... we take him out often (during the day every 1-2 hours) and literally right before bed.  He can't even hold it as long as a dog his age should be able to.  All the books we've purchased say a puppy should be able to hold it the amount of his own age (so a 3 month old puppy should be able to hold it for three hours).... he's almost 12 months and can't (or possibly refuses) to hold it for more than two hours unless he's sleeping with us in bed (or sleeping on the couch or something).  However, we can't just trust him to have free reign of the house all night while he should be sleeping because I know he'll go in the house.  We are seriously at a loss. 

Also, important to note: we just took him to the vet yesterday and they did urine/fecal tests that were all totally clear.  So he doesn't have some kind of bladder infection that would be forcing him to pee all the time.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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