Lincoln is backwards

[Vapidfire]

Hello Everyone,

  Ok Lincoln is a backwards dog. Most dogs won't go in their crate. I understood him having a couple of accidents in there due to having an upset belly and being in a new confusing place.

However he has decided his crate is the place he is suppose to go to the bathroom! He'll walk into his crate do his business then go curl up beneath the coffee table to sleep!

The only time he's had an accident in the house over the past couple of days has been the time he seeks out his crate to pee or poo in.

Any advice on getting him over this? the crate isn't too big, we are waiting for him to grow more before introducing him to his 48".

[ZooCrew]

Hmmmm......... that is odd. 

Only thing I can think of is keeping the crate closed so he can't sneak in there when he has to go.

And praise praise praise when he goes outside.

[NewfFan]

Might actually make potty training easier! Like Chris suggested, close the door and then when ever you seem to go over to it, you'll know he's getting ready to go, and can take him outside and the praise him like there's no tomorrow! Most of us just have to watch and be quick to notice when they are going to go, you get a great indication because he'll go to his crate! Then hopefully he'll stop associating the crate with potty, especially if you take him to give him some treats in it, pet him in it, maybe play with some toys in it, etc.

[GoldenPyrs]

Everyone is giving you great suggestions, so I just have a couple of ideas.  In addition to taking him outside every 15-30 minutes all day and immediately after he wakes, eats or drinks, we found it helped to carry them outside versus letting them walk.  We did that with our's when they were potty training and it helped them get the idea even faster, I think.  It also helps to avoid those accidents on the way to the door, too.     Hang in there, he'll get it all figured out soon.   

[Ursa]

Not sure how big the current crate is but we had to reduce the size of Fargo's smaller crate even further with a divider.  Until we did that he also pottied in his crate.  It looked too small to us but he was comfy in it and there were no accidents.