[PyrNet-L] Kane update part 2

I took him out after about 4 hours of sleep and then after 4 more. No accidents on the floor and he slept as long as we did. :-) (We kept the door closed so he couldn't roam the house while we were asleep.)

So Kane will not have to sleep in the crate anymore, since I don't mind getting up to let him out in the middle of the night if it means no barking in the crate.

But here is the problem, the one that is going to nag until a viable solution is found:

When we leave the house to go shopping, school, ect.,we still must crate Kane. While in his crate he very often urinates and ends up with it all over his coat. I know he can hold it, as we always take him out to potty before crating, and we are never gone longer the 3 hours, so I think that he does it as some kind of separation anxiety thing.

I can't, obviously, have Kane urinating all over himself everytime he is crated so another solution must be found. My yard is not fully fenced, so letting him hang out in the backyard like that is not an option. But Kane does like to be outside on his chain....even when we leave him out there for an hour, maybe hour and a half, he does not bark or anything....he seems to enjoy himself. So I could leave him there while we are gone.

Both of our neighbors are very nice and trustworthy, so I do not think they would bother the dog while we were away, and they way in which by neighborhood is set up, there would be no one cutting through the yard or anything.......but I feel kind of wrong leaving him out unsupervised for that length of time.

We are considering fencing in the yard....the only hold up is money. But even if we did do so, it would not be done immediately, therefore I would need some sort of temporary remedy.

We could confine him to the kitchen while we are gone, since it is not carpeted and all, but that would require me to buy 3 very expensive door gates (120.00 plus), plus he might take to chewing things.....

I'm not sure where I'm going with this...... :-) ......but I guess I'm wondering if anyone has had this situation before? Advice would be insightful. Does anyone else leave their Pyre on its "chain" unsupervised for, say, 3 hours at a time? (I still don't like that idea)

I just feel, plain and simple, crate training is not going to work with this rescue dog, for whatever reason. We did everything right....gave him treats when he went in his crate and petted and happy talked him. But the combo of the crate and us not being there is too much I fear...

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"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite
you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
-- Mark Twain