5 month puppy pooping and peeing in the crate

[AmburChinn]

Hello, 

I have a 5 month puppy who has been pooping and peeing in the crate. She didn’t come from a puppy mill, pet store, etc. Before coming here she went through a 5 week training course with certified dog trainers. When I got her they said she was crate trained and did well in the crate. When she first came, she never made mistakes in the crate, but then she started doing it out of the blue. I have never punished her for it and just taken her outside where I want her to potty before cleaning it with the enzyme cleaner. I usually take her outside every two hours or so, except at night. The last time I take her before bed is around 1 am and I get up and take her for the first time around 8 am. I also don’t leave her in the crate long during the day, usually only a couple of hours. The rest of the time she is either being taken outside throughout the day, in the house with the family being supervised to avoid any mistakes, or I am playing with her in the yard to ensure she gets good exercise. Also, she never makes a mistake in the house while being supervised, just in the crate sometimes. She doesn’t always make mistakes either, usually only once or twice per week. I’m sure that I’m missing something, but I can’t figure out what the problem could be or how to address this issue. I would appreciate some help or advice for this issue, thank you. 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forums! I am sorry to hear that you are struggling in potty training your new puppy. 

It sounds like you have been doing many things correctly and this pup has had a great start. This is somewhat a mystery since it's happening so randomly. I would keep tabs on the time it's happening at night and schedule a middle of the night trip/early morning trip about half hour earlier in hopes of preempting these accidents. 

Make sure the crate is of the right size: large enough for her to stand up, lie down and turn around, but snug enough that she can't easily pee or poop in a corner of the crate and rest comfortable at the other side. If it's too big, you may need to use a dog crate partition.

Keeping the crate nearby where you can see/hear waking up at night may help too since most pups will make some kind of noises when waking up and going potty. Alternatively, you can set up a camera to keep near your bed at night so to monitor her activity more closely. 

Also, when sending her out for that last potty trip, make sure she does successfully pee and poo. Go outside with her and watch her, keeping her on a leash if necessary. Sometimes we assume they go, but they don't, so they have accidents later on.

Training a dog to potty on cue comes helpful for this in the long run: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/advanced-potty-training/potty-on-command/

Keep me updated on how things go.