Puppy weeing at food time

Hi all,
My 17 week old puppy (I've had him for a week from a rescue centre) gets really excited at food time and pees when he realises what's going on.
We have another dog and two cats, so it's a bit of a chaotic time if you're not careful. We have been feeding Merlin (the pup) in his crate (to keep him away from everyone else and to make his crate (which he likes) attractive) but when he realises he's going into his crate for food he pees in front of it.
I think I probably need to randomly encourage him into his crate more during the day and I'm guessing I probably need to desensitise him a bit by messing with his food bowl and his crate when it's not food time?
Any suggestions very welcome!
Generally speaking his toilet training is going well - he's starting to pee on command outside and is having fewer accidents, mostly just when he's excited!

Maybe he will grow out of this habit once he's able to control himself a bit more. I did have a female dog who would squat and pee due to excitement even as an adult, and what worked with her was to do our best to tone down her excitement in situations where we knew she would do this - like when she met people at the door. But hopefully this won't be a longterm issue for your dog.

I think you are spot on with working to desensitize him. Also, maybe trying to do all you can to tone down the overall excitement level of all your pets at mealtimes. But living with three pets myself, I know how crazy they get at times.

Good luck!

Thanks for the reply. I think you're probably right so I'll just be patient. Ithink I've cracked getting him in his crate before all the other pets start hassling me so he wasn't so excited yesterday and I've been encouraging him into his crate at odd times and picking up and putting down his bowl randomly too, which may have helped.
Now I just have to stop him pooping indoors and we'll be laughing!