Accepted Answer

Hi Rosemary,

The first thing I would suggest is cleaning the kennel well with an enzymatic pet odor cleanser. This will remove the odor from the kennel and will help prevent the dog from urinating due to lingering odor.

If you are not already doing so, I would suggest feeding him in the crate. This helps make the crate a positive experience for him and most dogs won't eliminate where they eat and sleep. I'm also going to refer you to a site on crate training as well.
http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html

If the dog is house trained besides this issue, you may want to try containing him in another area of the house, such as a kitchen or bathroom and see if he still soils the area. It may be related to separation anxiety. If so, the first thing is to take your dog for a nice long walk before you leave, preferably 30 minutes or long. Make it a long, quick paced walk to tire your boy out. Second is to use a low-key approach to leaving the house. Ignore your dog before you leave and after you come home for at least 5 minutes or more. If your house is like mine in the morning everyone is running around getting ready to leave. This has the dog in an excited mood and then suddenly he is alone. If this is the case, put him away from everyone, say in a bathroom until the frenzy is over. Don't punish or shout at your dog when you come home and find he’ssoiled the crate. When you do, you increase his stress level rather than reduce it.

You can provide him with small stimulating toys or toys that you can fill with treats. Sometimes leaving a TV or radio on can help a dog with this problem as well. Also remember to not reward a dog's excitement to you with petting and affection or even eye contact. You want to show him nice calm praise when he is being calm.

You can also try practicing alone time by having him spend time away from you in a crate or other area away from you for short periods of time when you are home. These should help his separation anxiety and boredom. It will not be an overnight cure and will take work on your and your family’s part to be consistent in your interaction with him. Another option is medication, which is discussed on this site:
http://www.cpvh.com/Articles/47.html

Hopefully one of these ideas will be helpful in solving the problem you are having.

Expert:	Jane Lefler
Pos. Feedback:	99.7 %
Accepts:
Answered:	1/3/2008

Breeder Behaviorist, See Qual.

Rottweiler Breeder 15+ years Dog trainer / behaviorist, Former Vol.Vet Asst.