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Subject: Help with peeing in travel kennel

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tido12300

Posts:17

09/24/2012 1:27 PM
I just have a simple question, and wondering if anyone has any answers as to why and what I can do to try to prevent my 5 1/2 month old GSP to stop peeing in her travel crate. She has no problem what so ever sleeping in her crate at night and makes it all the way through the night without needing to be let out, but any time she is left in her plastic travel crate for an hour or more we always come back to her with pee all over her in the kennel? Any ideas as to why she does this, and what can I do to let her know this is an unwanted behavior?

smatulewicz User is Offline

Michigan

MH
Posts:1188

09/24/2012 6:05 PM
Just so I understand fully, are you talking about two kennels or one? Just not completely clear when you refer to travel kennel. Is she sleeping at night in the same kennel she is left in during the day is my question I guess. Anyway, the reason puppies can hold their bladders so long during the night (and can't be help to the same expectation during the day) is because their bodies and minds (for the most part) are inactive. Much the same way we can typically last a night much longer than we could during the day. There could be a number of reasons you are experiencing this from just a physical inability to hold it, to anxiety about you leaving and being left alone. I would try training during a day you are home, by putting your puppy in the kennel with the door closed and leaving the room, and coming back to let your puppy out, gradually increasing the length of time. Take your puppy immediately outside to go potty each time, so that it learns to understand it will indeed get to go outside upon you arriving back and getting out of the kennel. Also refrain from scolding, and clean everything in the kennel after a mess with something that will neutralize any smell that would prompt your puppy to go again (many types sold at stores). With time and some patience and active training I have no doubt this annoying situation will correct itself. Good luck

tido12300

Posts:17

09/25/2012 9:16 AM
Sorry I wasn’t too clear on the different types of kennels. The kennel that she sleeps in is the wire cage kennel that we have put a divider in to make it smaller and gradually make it bigger as she grows, the travel crate that we have is one of those plastic crates that we take her in when driving anywhere or if we take her with us somewhere outside of the home and that is the one she pees in. She rarely spends any time in the travel kennel because when we are not home during the day, she is outside in her dog run and like I said, she sleeps, she sleeps in the wire metal cage. Do I just need to put her in the travel kennel more often so that she gets used to it? That is the only kennel that she will sit and whine in as well. The other kennels, she has no problem with going in them and lying down and being quiet. I wonder if it is just a comfort thing and I just need to make more of an effort of getting her used to this travel kennel. Sorry if I am not too clear on the whole situation, but I do appreciate the responses.

Splat

Illinois (Northern)

MH
Posts:3130

09/25/2012 9:39 AM
I do know that some dogs prefer one type of kennel over the other... it could be that simple... I know that sometimes plastics have funny smells which I think some animals think are other animals marking... we had a cat that would pee on rugs with rubber backing...

smatulewicz User is Offline

Michigan

MH
Posts:1188

09/25/2012 11:13 AM
Ohhh, ok. Has she ever experienced a car ride out of the kennel? Your pup may be having major anxiety about the travel kennel because it is such an unnatural and unsteady feeling in there (being that you're traveling), and if it has never experienced a car ride out to see the works going by and understand you're moving this could be your culprit. I personally started working car manners with Bella very early so she didn't have to be crated in the car, but I also understand how different circumstances for different people make it necessary. You may just need to travel crate train the same you would a regular crate. Load your pup up, don't make a fuss about going in the crate or give too much attention...drive around the neighborhood once or twice to start. Build up to running errands that may take longer. Increase time as your pup's ability to hold it longer increases. I don't k ow of it would do more harm or good to take a ride with someone holding your pup (since I dont crate in the car) so it can see the world going by...but you could try it.

smatulewicz User is Offline

Michigan

MH
Posts:1188

09/25/2012 11:15 AM
Also, I'm am a terrible phone typer so I'm sorry you have to read around my typos lol

Texas Belle User is Offline

Austin, TX

MH
Posts:7834

09/25/2012 11:41 AM
I would bring the travel kennel and and make it a fun place to be. Feed her in it, put her toys in it, let her sleep in it. Get her used to it. I have the plastic, soft sided, and wire and I switch them out so my dogs are used to all three. Once your dog is used to all your kennels then you can put them wherever you want to and leave them there. I think it is simply the dog being stressed by a kennel he perceives as strange.

Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna) Yellow Rose GSPs "A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato

tido12300

Posts:17

09/25/2012 11:52 AM
Thank you all for the input. I think that I need to just do a better job at training her in the kennel as well as she is in the other kennels that she is already used to. I wonder if it is because it is a little bigger kennel for her right now as she is still a puppy because with the kennel she sleeps in we divide it in half to fit her at this size in her life so if she pees than she has to lay in it. But even still, when she pees in the travel kennel we come back to a wet dog covered in pee. She has experienced both types of traveling, both in the travel kennel and also free in the car looking out the windows, so she is used to the car rides, its when we go to lets say my in laws house and leave her in the kennel by herself for an hour or so is when she pees. She also whines in this kennel as well. I'm thinking that it has mostly to do with seperation anxiety. I think I am going to try getting her used to this kennel more little by little. Thank you everyone for your responses.

smatulewicz User is Offline

Michigan

MH
Posts:1188

09/25/2012 12:42 PM
Our first trip with Bella, despite her doing well in her kennel, and doing great with the 8 hour road trip... we left her in her kennel for about an hour and a half while we went to dinner with my Husband's grandmother (who we were visiting). She never makes a peep in her kennel, but we returned to her yelping frantically (she must have been doing it the entire time) and a soiled crate and dog. She had been out prior to going in her kennel, and could be left hours at home (probably 8 months old at the time). I just think it was a mixture of understanding that her routine was out of the norm, and separation anxiety. She was terrified we were leaving her, and in the comfort of our home she knows we are coming back...but there, she had no idea what to expect. She did get better as our trip went on, but regardless of how long we were gone, she still had much more severe anxiety in her kennel than she did in our home.

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