Hi,
I'm a first-time poster, and need some help.
I've had dogs my whole life. Followed by my childhood dog, I've had two Australian shepherds who I trained from 8 weeks as well as one male Aussie rescue. Currently, I have one female who I've had from a pup, and my rescue.
In addition, my partner and I brought a puppy home from our travels this winter. She was a feral but semi-domesticated dog I would say (comfortable around people, was born at a restaurant so always had people to play with, etc). By the veterinarians best guess, she was right around 8 weeks old when we got her. She is about 25lbs and most similar in type to an Indian Pariah dog, though I'm sure there is mixed european blood in there as well.
We brought her to Canada at three months old, via an 18 hour flight with one stopover in Amsterdam where she was taken out of the kennel and fed, walked and had her kennel cleaned. Prior to that, she had not been made to acclimate to her kennel as it was a fairly last-minute purchase before flying home.
Once home, she again did not often have to spend time in her kennel because we were home constantly for the next few months. I believe there was a time when she slept in it at night but it was inconsistent. We also would put her in when we did have to leave the house, but this was usually for less than 5 hours at a time.
Now, she is about 10 months old and my partner has gone back to work out of town and I am working full-time again. The dogs are home alone for about 8 hours per day.
It soon came to my attention that she has been peeing in her kennel. I don't remember if she was doing it this past winter when we left her, but I THINK she was. Doesn't matter if it's 8 hours or one hour, when I come home she'll have peed in it.
She gets really upset when she is put into the kennel, crying and howling and yowling and carrying on. Often when I come home, she will have somehow shifted the kennel several feet across the room. If there is ANYTHING within reach of the kennel, she will suck it in and destroy it (blankets, clothes, the arm of an upholstered chair). In attempts to have her realize that the kennel does not automatically mean I'm leaving, I tried periodically putting her inside it while I was home. That's when I realized that she pees in it almost immediately after being put in.
In the past few days she has managed to break out of the kennel (two different types - I tried her in a wire crate, a medium sized plastic one, and a small plastic one). When that happened, she peed in the crate, by the door, and on my bed throughout the course of the day.
I really want to be able to use the kennel because obviously there are holes in her house training for whatever reason.. but it seems to stress her out so bad, and the kennel isn't even doing its job if she just pees in it anyway!
I'm a first-time poster, and need some help.
I've had dogs my whole life. Followed by my childhood dog, I've had two Australian shepherds who I trained from 8 weeks as well as one male Aussie rescue. Currently, I have one female who I've had from a pup, and my rescue.
In addition, my partner and I brought a puppy home from our travels this winter. She was a feral but semi-domesticated dog I would say (comfortable around people, was born at a restaurant so always had people to play with, etc). By the veterinarians best guess, she was right around 8 weeks old when we got her. She is about 25lbs and most similar in type to an Indian Pariah dog, though I'm sure there is mixed european blood in there as well.
We brought her to Canada at three months old, via an 18 hour flight with one stopover in Amsterdam where she was taken out of the kennel and fed, walked and had her kennel cleaned. Prior to that, she had not been made to acclimate to her kennel as it was a fairly last-minute purchase before flying home.
Once home, she again did not often have to spend time in her kennel because we were home constantly for the next few months. I believe there was a time when she slept in it at night but it was inconsistent. We also would put her in when we did have to leave the house, but this was usually for less than 5 hours at a time.
Now, she is about 10 months old and my partner has gone back to work out of town and I am working full-time again. The dogs are home alone for about 8 hours per day.
It soon came to my attention that she has been peeing in her kennel. I don't remember if she was doing it this past winter when we left her, but I THINK she was. Doesn't matter if it's 8 hours or one hour, when I come home she'll have peed in it.
She gets really upset when she is put into the kennel, crying and howling and yowling and carrying on. Often when I come home, she will have somehow shifted the kennel several feet across the room. If there is ANYTHING within reach of the kennel, she will suck it in and destroy it (blankets, clothes, the arm of an upholstered chair). In attempts to have her realize that the kennel does not automatically mean I'm leaving, I tried periodically putting her inside it while I was home. That's when I realized that she pees in it almost immediately after being put in.
In the past few days she has managed to break out of the kennel (two different types - I tried her in a wire crate, a medium sized plastic one, and a small plastic one). When that happened, she peed in the crate, by the door, and on my bed throughout the course of the day.
- She was tested for a urinary tract infection one week ago and is all clear.
- I tried leaving her loose in the house one day and don't think she peed anywhere, but she did destroy things so that is not an option.
- Today I blocked all three dogs into the hallway. Two out of three blankets have pee on them.
- I've tried coming home at lunch (not always possible), but she will pee in the kennel before lunch and then again after lunch.
- She cannot have any blankets in the kennel as she shreds them. I've been using newspaper which she also shreds.
- She gets awesome treats and chewies in there, and I've been feeding her meals in the crate for the past two weeks.
- the other night I tried blocking her into a section of the bedroom with nothing to lay on (hardwood floor) except for a soft blanket in the kennel. Rather than go into the kennel, she whined all night until I gave up and let her out so that I could get some sleep.
- When we are home, she will "ask" to be let out by pacing around and sitting by the door. However, if we were to ignore her she wouldn't wait very long before sneaking off to pee indoors.
I really want to be able to use the kennel because obviously there are holes in her house training for whatever reason.. but it seems to stress her out so bad, and the kennel isn't even doing its job if she just pees in it anyway!
