Shiba Inu/Poodle being crate Trained - Can I leave him in the bathroom

Question

My wife and I have a 3 month old Shiba Inu/Poodle mix. The crate training is rather hit and miss, and that could be because my wife his home with him during the day and he is likely peeing without us realizing it (she keeps as good of an eye on him as she can).

I work a full-time job and my wife is leaving for a week (we will have had him for 2 weeks when she leaves). My plan is to get home over the lunch hour, but it will be about 5 hours on both sides of lunch before he is let out. He peed in his crate for the first time today as my wife had him in there for about 3 hours to prepare him for next week.

I am wondering how to handle next week.

1. Should I keep him in the crate even though he may pee in there (and potentially become unhappy with us)?
2. Or should I leave him in a bathroom with his crate, food, water, and some toys in there?

I know if I take option 2 he may have more accidents, but I think it could be less of a shock for him and make the week easier on him.

Answer 1

There are 2 things which might could work.

1. Get a cat toilet and learn him too do his needs on/in there. Or if you have a balcony/garden that is tight/closed enough so he can't escape.

This will give the dog the freedom to do this on his own but requires some training.

2. Get a dog walking service, this way you dont have to care about it. This might cost money or maybe you have a neighbor with a dog of his own willing to walk your dog with his

Answer 2

I do not suggest leaving him in the bathroom. I attempted to do this with my dogs while crate training. It caused an anxiety that was not there before and they actively ate through a wall at my home. There are some sprays sold that try to stop dogs from using the bathroom in certain areas. I suggest trying one of these. Also, try putting newspaper or a dog pee pad in the corner of the crate and see if you can get him to go on that instead. Then slowly phase this out so he realizes that the crate is not a place to use the toilet. Make sure you are taking him out on long enough walks as well.