Hi, I have an 8 month old female corgi. When we're home we take her out about every 2 - 2.5 hrs. We take her out for the last time at about 10pm and she's good until we take her out at about 5:45am. She is put in her cage at about 7am after being taken out again in the morning. When I return home from work around 2:30pm She has pee'd in the cage. I cannot break her of this. What should I do? I have made the cage smaller, to the point that she has just enough room to lay down. I'm out of Ideas. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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That is very odd. Did you just get her, or have you been having this problem a long time? My first thought is that she may have a urinary tract infection and simply cannot hold it. At 8 months she should easily be able to wait while she is in her crate during the hours you posted. Between 3-10pm, is she getting lots of exercise?
The dog was given to my son when it was old enough to be weened from her mother at about 8 weeks old. He didn't try to train her at all except to whistle at her when he wanted her. He had her for about 4 months and realized he couldn't take care of her so he dropped her off with my wife and I. So we have had her for about 2 months now. She was peeing in the floor all the time but we have that under control. She pee's in her cage between the hours of 7am and 3pm. Between my wife and I the dog is taken on at least a 1 mile walk every day. We play with her in the house a couple of hours every night. Plus she is constantly running through the house playing with our 2 cats. So I would say she gets a lot of exercise, but it may not be enough for her. I don't know much about cardigan corgi's other rhan they are herding dogs. I do know she is very well behaved. She doesn't chew on anything except her rawhides or my hand...LOL she loves chewing on me...When I fight back with her she starts growling and she actually barks....She never barks unless I'm messing with her in a rough house way. It's kind of funny. I'm kind of thinking she may be peeing because she might have seperation anxiety.
It does sound like she is getting enough exercise. I would watch it with letting her bite you. She may see you as a pack leader and not bite you very hard, but decide she is higher in the pack than your wife. Could be a bad scene. Corgis can get bossy, especially in adolescence and test the household pack order around her age.

Back on topic, separation anxiety is possible but it's still pretty rare to see in a crate training environment. It's usually only a SA symptom in dogs left alone with free-run of the house. Could be the problem.

Both Sam and I are thinking urinary infection as a first guess. Wouldn't hurt to get her checked out by a vet, then if it's not that, try to figure out the behavioral issue. Also to Sam's point, if she never really got house trained at a younger age, then she may just need a little more time to learn.
Genrally dogs wont potty where they sleep however Some pups are just resistant to Crate training. My moms Puggle just refused becasue she figgerd out that if shed peed in her crate, she got out. However you dont want to just let your pup lay in her own pee. you were right make the cage smaller, they should only really have enough room to get up, turn around, and lay back down, you dont want to give them enough room to potty on one side and sleep on the other. also, some people make the mistake of putting food and water in the crate with the pup if they are going to be away for a long while which is bad. Also, Is there anyone home to let her our of her crate while you are at work? being in a crate from 7am to 2:30 pm is quite a while to hold pee, even for an 8 month old. If there isnt, try to make arangements with a reliable friend or family member to come over and let her out for around half an hour or so. when Des and I are both at worjk at the same time, My mother will come over and let the pups out for a bit.
My thought would be first to have her checked for a urinary tract infection. A simple urine sample is enough for the vet to quickly figure out of this is the problem. The second thing I would say is I would guess she really never had "housebreaking 101" until coming to your home. By eight months of ages most pups have had five months of good practice where she has only had two. While most corgis at this age are pretty reliable it could well be that earlier on she had no choice but to eliminate where she slept. We see this often in pet shop pups that have been adopted a bit older or kennel dogs. The good news is while it may take longer I do not know of a dog that has never been housebroken. Good luck.
Thanks for all of your replies, I'll have the vet check her out.
Is your crate too big? if there's too much room, your pup might go in a corner instead of holding. Check with your Vet for UTI as well.
Sam, No the crate isn't to big. She has just enough room to lay down and turn around. At first I gave her the run of the cage but then she pooped. After that I shorted it up to about half the size and she pooped again. So now she is in a little less that 1/4 area of the cage. Just enough to lay down and turn around. She has been with this much room for a week and although she has not pooped, she continues to pee. I have noticed that when she pee's, it runs to the back of the cage, so maybe she thinks it's ok to do this. This morning I raised the back of the cage about 1/2 inch so if she does pee, she will have to sit in it. I'm thinking if she sits in it for awhile she might not pee in the cage again.
Juuuuuuust in case it is sep. anxioty.. Why not try three things..

1. Put a shirt or something that smells like you in the crate with your pup. Sometimes it calms them down if they just smell someone familiar.

2. Leave music or the TV on to give the fake sense that someone is there with her

3. cover the crate or leave the crate in a darker room. I learned with a screaming husky that if we leave the lights off when we leave in the evening she just sleeps or stays calm :)

Good luck with your little girl!

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