Advice needed!

[Brent Lang]

Good afternoon community!

I have a Golden Doodle named Zoey, who has just turned 1.  She is well loved, especially by my kids.  She's very intelligent, and just an overall good dog.  Here is my "problem".

She spends a lot of time in the crate.  She doesn't seem to mind, but I don't like it.  She's in the crate all day long while my wife and I are at work.  When I get home, i let her out of the crate, and she remains out of the crate until bed time, at which point she goes back in.

I want her to really be part of the family, which to me, means no crate.  I would like to have her sleep upstairs with the rest of the family, but we have a cat (about 14 years old), who hates the dog, and it's like a warzone when they are together.  So, a couple of weeks ago, as an experiment, I gated the downstairs and let her out of the crate and went to bed.  When I woke up, there was piss in two different areas, and she had torn up and cardboard box, some matchsticks and some firestarters.

When she is in the crate, she never has an accident.  How do I complete the transition of her from crated pet, to full member of the family that has full access to the house?  Could it be she's just not mature enough yet?  Given the opportunity, she still likes to get into "mischief" and chew/eat things she shouldn't.

She's 99% house broken.  I say 99% because, if we are paying close attention to her, she doesn't have an accident.  She'll run to the door and scratch.  But, if we miss the signal, she doesn't bark or anything, she'll just pee right in front of the door. 

What do I do?  Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Jess & Stewart]

It could be that Zoey HASN'T had much time out of the crate when she's just hanging out, laying down, sleeping etc so she doesn't know how to act when she is given time of out the crate. Along the same lines of a dog who is typically on leash, acting crazy when they get the chance to be off leash. 

My dog Stew is the opposite of Zoey, has been out of the crate at night since 7 months old, sleeps wherever at night, sometimes in the living room, sometimes in the bedroom. Never touches anything at night, weekends, afternoons when I am there but is NUTS when I leave & is back to being crated at 2 yrs old. 

I'd try to keep her with you if you try leaving her out at night again, see how she does. I'm sure she wasn't sure what to do since she's normally in the crate while everyone sleeps-this was totally new to her "I'm out when they sleep? But I'm only out when they're here with me!" 

I'd also suggest getting potty bells for her and train her to let you know when she has to go. That could eliminate the peeing at the door. 

[Brent Lang]

Thanks for the advice.  We actually do have bells on the door, but over time, they have gotten caught in the door when being opened/closed, and so they don't jingle anymore.  (Again, that's really our bad, not hers)

I think your ideas about her not knowing what to do given all that unattended freedom is probably what's going on here.  I will probably give it another shot in a few days.

Thanks for the advice!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

How about keeping her in your bedroom at night, uncrated? 

I don't think the destructive behavior is related to the cat, lol. I think that's a separate issue. 

I think the accidents are also a separate issue.

I can tell you that every dog I have ever had was given full run of the house well before a year old, including when nobody was home, and were 100% reliable with housebreaking. I adopted my current labradoodle at the age of 14 months, so not a lot older than Zoey, and he had full run of the house from the third day he was here, with no accidents and no destruction. Every dog is different, but I don't believe that the issues you are having with Zoey are related solely to her young age.

I had a cat for 17 years, with dogs in the house her entire life, and I found that most cats are able to keep themselves out of harms' way around dogs; they can go into all kinds of places where dogs can't get, lol. So I wouldn't let the fact that the cat hates Zoey prevent you from trying to give Zoey more freedom. 

[Brent Lang]

Thanks for the advice.

Im going to try again to keep her uncrated at night, but after having her out for a few hours to burn off some of that energy/excitement.  When I do, I will try to keep her upstairs with us.  The issue with the cat/dog battle isn't that the dog is destructive or pees because of her.  I think not so much destructive as maybe more..."curious"?  Who knows.  Anyway, the cat doesn't make her pee or destroy things, what I meant was it's like a warzone between the tww of them.  Zoey wants to play with the cat (Maggie), who wants nothing to do with it, so there's this constant hissing/snarling.  One time I tried to keep Zoey upstairs with us so Maggie hid under the bed.  Zoey saw her there so was trying to dig under the bed to get to her, and Maggie was freaking out, hissing, snarling, and swatting at Zoey.  And since she was under the bed when this happened, my wife and I could feel the cat's movements and the noise was unbearable....so, Zoey had to be brought back downstairs.

I do think that what needs to happen is that I need to just try again.

Thanks again for the tips!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

For her to "burn off some of that energy/excitement", she really needs more than just a few hours out of her crate in the evening. She needs some good hard exercise: full out running, long (30 minutes or more) brisk-paced leash walks, games of fetch, etc. Training sessions can tire a dog out, too. I realize it's difficult when you and your wife are both working, but a tired dog is a good dog. 

[Brent Lang]

So true!  I do my best to get her outside and throw the ball around with her for a little while, to burn off that energy and to tire her out.  It is very true that a tired dog is a good dog!  lol

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

I know exactly what you're talking about lol.  My cat and dog are like having 2 two year olds together.  Pet me, no pet me.  I had to switch sleeping arrangements so that the dog slept in the bedroom and the cat had a new comfy bed downstairs.  She likes to play hunt most of the night anyhow.  Now they are best friends…downstairs :)

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

This sounds to me like a case of too much freedom for too long when she has never been on her own without you there.  I would start with baby steps.  Go out for 1/2 an hour leaving her gated in a "puppy-proofed environment and leave her with a frozen kong or hollow bone stuffed with peanut butter or something she likes and can work on while you're gone.  Gradually extend the time.  She'll start to feel secure that you're coming back and hopefully the kong and bones will keep her from being bored.  At night I would try to keep her in your bedroom.  Maybe crated at first, until you resolve the housebreaking issue (which I think is a separate issue) and then with the crate door open.  By the time, my dog was a year old he had the run of the house but we started slowly.  He's funny because he hated his crate but he's claimed my armchair in the family room where he stays most of the day when I'm gone. Zoey sounds like a really good dog since what she chose to chew up wasn't major.  As for the housebreaking, I would make sure that she's going out on a regular basis and it's not a medical issue.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I also think it's time to get serious with Zoey's obedience training. If you are not working a formal training program, start now. "Zoey, go to your place" followed with a "down-stay" would prevent her from harassing the cat and digging under the bed. She'd be on her own bed and stay there. This takes time and work, but it's the solution to living happily with your dog.

[Brent Lang]

You have a good point.  She's actually pretty obedient.  When she's not berserk with energy (for example, just coming out of the crate), she does listen very well.  Even if we're outside in the backyard playing, I can call her over (Zoey Come!), have her sit, lay down and stay....Her "staying" time could use some improvement, but she does listen fairly well.  Her "bed" is downstairs, so I might bring it upstairs when I try again letting her sleep outside of the crate.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

At one she really should be housebroken - this is not meant as chastisement to you.  It means she is old enough to hold her pee and old enough to understand where she should pee and where not.  Perhaps, because she has been in the crate so much, she hasn't had a chance to get that information down.  I think you need to go back a bit to potty training.  Hang some bells on the door and every time you take her out, take her paw and ring the bell. Every time she rings those bells you MUST take her out, even if it seems that she is playing around.  She has to understand. Throw a praise-party every time you she goes. Make very sure you take her out last thing at night and that she actually goes. 

Shut her in your room with you at night.  Begin with her shut in the crate and transition her to the crate with the door opened.  Maximize her time with you - First person home, quietly gets her out of the crate, takes her potty and for a bit of a walk.  Very last thing as you leave is putting her in the crate.  If you can put it in your schedule, perhaps last person could take her for a ten-minute walk before crating in the morning.

Let the cat be the one shut away sometimes.  Cats are pretty independent and old cats mostly just want to lay around. Simply close a door to the room the cat is laying in.

[Brent Lang]

No offense, taken!  She actually is housebroken.  My point wasn't clear.  The only time she has "accidents" is when she's trying to tell us she needs to go and we miss the signal.  For example, she'll go over to the door and swipe at the bell we have on the handle (A bell hanging from a rope).  Either she swipes and misses the bell, so she's pretty much silently scratching the wall, or she hits the bell but we don't hear it (it's been squashed in the door, so it doesn't always make a loud noise).  At that point, if she's telling us she needs to go and we miss the signal and she goes, it's really our fault.  I just wish if she was signaling and we missed it, that she would bark or something.

We usually sleep with the bedroom door open because we have little kids and we like to be able to hear them if they wake up (son has night terrors sometimes), but yes, we need to kick the cat out and let the dog up there.  I might bring her "bed" (just a huge pillow) up there and give her the command "Bed, Down, Stay" and shut the lights.

I think this will work if I have her out of the crate for a little while beforehand, and let her get her energy out.

Thanks!