Puppy won’t go back in crate after weeding in there

[dustandroses]

10 week old puppy happy to be in his crate for short periods through the day and settled easily overnight for up to 7 hours.

Today we went out, he was alone less than 2 hours, and when we came back he had wee ‘d all over his bed, he must have been desperate. Tonight he will not go in cage he is frantic, crying, howling and scratching etc.

Anyone awake who can offer any advice?

It sounds like you left him alone too long and he's now associating the crate with being frightened and alone.

You'll need to go right back to basics and help him associate the crate with positive things again, and you'll need to make sure you don't leave him alone for long periods again until you know he's happy being left.

Two hours alone is a huge amount of time for such a young puppy. Dogs hate peeing in their beds/dens so he must have been absolutely desperate to do that.

He's been in his crate for that length of time before and he's quite content.

He did settle but not until 3am. After I posted I put his bed on the floor beside me and lay on the sofa and we both fell asleep.

When we woke I took him into the garden for a wee, then into his crate which is the usual routine, but he was unsettled so I left the crate door open and he came back into the living room and so we did this dance until eventually he came back in from the garden climbed in to his bed in the crate and just gave me sad eyes and a sigh (springer) when I closed the door but settled himself down.

He's fine this morning, I will be keeping a close eye on him. Generally he's doing good at toilet training but every so often he just stands where he is and wees as if he doesn't even realise he's doing it.

Generally he's doing good at toilet training but every so often he just stands where he is and wees as if he doesn't even realise he's doing it.

He won't have full voluntary sphincter control until 16-20 weeks. Until that point he will not have full control to physically hold a wee for a 'normal' amount of time, i.e. a cuple of hours.

At 10 weeks old, he has virtually no ability to hold it deliberately though he might start to know he needs a wee a few seconds before he goes.

(Sphincter control while asleep is automatic so often puppies that age may now sleep through the night without needing a wee, but if they wake they will need to go out).

Thank you for that info, it's so long since we had a puppy I'd forgotten a lot. Currently we watch for cues, take him out regularly and there are a few times he runs to the door. We've found the puppy pads no use at all.