New Puppy - Wyoming,MI

prob is you trained her to pee in the house by pad training her.
1) is she fixed? if not that needs to be done it clears up a lot of "accidents" she's about the age where she will get her first heat ( period)
2) take her to the vet. She shouldn't be peeing in her crate, she should think of it as her den. Something has sent the message to her that it's not. when she's not out side going potty put her in the crate , don't let her roam around unattended. Also put her on a leash when you take her out, every couple of hrs, and praise her like crazy for going outside. Just letting her out will not housebreak her.

Unfortunately this is totally your fault. You actually TRAINED her to pee on materials in the house. She's a dog and she can't tell the difference between a pee-pee pad and a drop cloth and the carpet. She has been trained to pee inside.

You have to start over like she is a brand new puppy and retrain her. Except this time it will take much longer because you'll actually have to be un-training her to pee inside the house. It can be done, but it's going to take awhile and take some effort on your part. If you don't know what to do, ask your vet for a trainer to help you through it. They always have great ideas.

I have always heard that those pee pee pads are the worst things when training a puppy to use the bathroom outside-I'm not a big fan of them at all. Are you catching her in the process or after the fact that she has peed? You cannot "correct" her once the deed has been done. You have to catch her in the process. When I trained my dog I kept him on a leash the entire time and he was under my eyesight the entire time. If I had something to do and couldn't watch him-in his crate he would go. When you catch them in the process of doing the deed you grab that leash and yank on it saying No! You potty outside! tugging and pulling them to the door and take them outside. When they pee outside or do business out there you praise them for that behavior. Believe me it only takes a few stern pulls and raising your voice a bit to correct the behavior combined with YOU keeping an eye on them the ENTIRE time. It's a job it really is but all a part of having and training a puppy. Also another thing is are you taking the dog outside through the exact same door each and every single time? If you aren't you need to start it only confuses them when you are using multiple doors.
As far as her peeing in the crate or sleeping area I had always heard that Dogs will not pee where they sleep....my puppy did not care-he would pee in his crate on his bed and the crate was only big enough for him to lay down in and turn around too. He would even lick up the pee-I know totally disgusting and I never did get it but all I can say is he eventually grew out of that. He doesn't go in his crate anymore if he can help it.....if he isn't feeling well and just can't hold it well then I have a huge mess to clean up but overall he wont pee inside that crate anymore. She might just need to grow out of it like mine did but I guess the saying isn't true about dogs not peeing where they sleep because mine surely did......but I got him when he was 5 1/2 weeks old....someone told me once that he should have stayed with his momma till about 8 weeks at the very least because that is one of the things she teaches her pups is not to use the bathroom where they sleep but not until they are a little older so since he was taken before the 8 weeks he never learned that behavior from his mom....whether this is true I do not know but it may have had something to do with it maybe. I don't know I am not a "professional" by any means....

L.,

You've gotten some really great advice so far. I'm a dog behaviorist and a lot of these moms are right on with the fact that you trained her to go potting indoors and she doesn't understand that this is unacceptable.

I'm guessing that you either leave her in the crate for too long, or you got her from a pet store for her to go potty in her crate. Most puppies will NOT do this unless they have no other option or they have been conditioned to do so.

A few things I would add...keep her with you all the time by leaving a lightweight leash on her to drag around, take her out (on the leash) very frequently on a schedule through the same door every time, to the same spot everytime. Stay with her and watch her go potty, and priase her when she's actually going not after she's done. Avoid playing any games with her in this area. Give her 5 min to go potty and if she doesn't take her back in the house, to her crate leave her there for about 10 min and take her back to the same spot outside. Repeat this process until she goes potty. Schedule her food AND water so you know better when she'll have to go and make sure you are NOT leaving water down for her to drink whenever she wants it. It may be that she she's drinking WAY too much water and has to go very freqently. She should be drinking about an ouce for every pound that she is and in hot weather drinking about an ounce and a half.

DO NOT rub her nose in it or punish her when she does go inside. She won't understand this and it will only cause her to fear you. Instead paise her very generously as she is peeing outside and get out more freqently to go.

You should expect this will take about 2-3 months to re-train her before you can trust her to be on her own all the time again.

Good luck and email me if you have any questions!!

I second the thought that allowing her to use the wee-wee pads has taught her that she's supposed to pee on soft absorbent materials. This is what puppies are actually learning when they are house-trained - what substrate am I supposed to eliminate on?

Basically you have to re-train her all over again to going outside. I would start by taking the bedding out of the crate (sounds mean, I know, but hopefully it will be short) and keeping her on a leash close to you whenever she's in the house. That way she can't just wander off and pee somewhere without your knowledge (because you can't correct after the fact). Take her outside every 1 to 2 hours and use a tiny amount of a special food reward when she pees outside at the very moment that she finishes and praise like mad. Actually leash-walk her outside so that you know she has peed and you can reward her before bringing her back in the house.

And please don't stick or rub her nose in her messes - it's a very old-fashioned idea that really doesn't work (I know you aren't, but some people might tell you that).

I agree with Beth.
It sounds like you accidentally trained her to pee inside. You will probably have to start all over again like she is a puppy, taking her outside ONLY to go then return to crate. At least spring is arriving and you wont freeze while training her again.
It's a pain

L.,

I agree with many of the other moms. She will need to be retrained. Taking her out on a leash and making sure she does her business is the first step. I would also recommend clicker training as a way of rewarding her for successfully completing a command you have given her. There are a lot of different websites you can find or you can talk with your vet about this training technique.

Good luck retraining your puppy.

C. J.