Kennel weeing

[Marlene]

Hi, 

I have a 15 week pup, Shepsky.

We have him in the crate at night but mostly he likes to be out during the day.

We have bought a kennel which we leave under the veranda and have used treats to get him to like his kennel.

He may stay in their a few minutes has falling asleep maybe 3 times in there. But on a few occasions now he has peed on his bedding in there.

I have now removed his bedding

Does he not like the kennel, or is he marking his territory, 

I really want him to feel comfortable in his kennel when he wants to rest outside. 

It's close to our back door and close to where he usually lies down to rest

 

[Adrienne]

Hello,

Welcome to the forums!

In general we expect urine marking to occur mostly after the age of 6 months, with the majority of dogs urine marking by the time they are one year and a half to 2 years. There are of course, exceptions to the rule, but it feels like he's too young to start marking.

This is an interesting behavior, and I am curious to know what happens now that you have removed the bedding. 

Perhaps, what is happening is that, in the crate at night, he doesn't soil in it because it's snug enough which helps him hold it due to a dog's natural "denning instinct" whereas, in the kennel being more spacious he may be OK with sleeping there and peeing there when he no longer can hold it. If this would be the trigger though, we would expect him to still pee in the kennel now that you have removed the bedding.  However, we would expect at his age to be able to hold it and walk out of the kennel to pee rather than inside. 

If now that you have removed the bedding, the peeing subsides, it could be that when he was in the care of the breeder, he was used to using washable pee pads as a surface to pee on. At around 8 weeks of age, puppies develop a substrate preference, so if that's what the breeder used, then he may feel comfortable peeing on it. 

Other things that come to mind are evaluating whether he may feel that place as the safest place to pee if there are many noises or other dogs around that area. Also it may be worthy ascertaining whether what you are seeing/feeling is really pee. Have you seen him actually pee on it? If so, did he raise his leg or just squat? Is the amount of pee small (like a few dribbles) or a nice amount? Can it be that while in the kennel he has licked and chewed the bedding making it wet rather than really peeing on it? Just a few ideas. 

I think as he gets older, he will seek his kennel more and more, especially if you keep placing in there goodies. As a puppy, he may be too stimulated by other things around him to want to rest in there. Also, if you are not around, it could be that he doesn't feel too comfy in there by himself so he's seeking to join his family. 

 

[Marlene]

So as I write this, my dog has entered his Kennel and is sleeping. 

He doesn't want to come inside, it is 11pm.

Is it ok to let him sleep outside or should I bring him in.

[Adrienne]

Hi there,

It looks like he is developing a liking for it if he's sleeping in it!

As to letting his sleep there, personally, with a young puppy I would worry about him possible starting chewing things in the middle of the night/early morning . Also using the kennel rather than the crate, may put him a step back in potty training, since it sounds like he was not peeing in the crate. 

Edited to add: I always like to offer a goodie like a dog cookie and say "crate', when putting a dog in the crate for the night so to create positiva associations with it and to make him more compliant to enter it in the future. 

Edited April 28, 2020 by AdrienneFarricelli

[Adrienne]

However, you want to be careful in not creating an over reliance on the sight of the cookie when being crated. Here is a guide on how to train a dog to love the crate, look under "a word about lures' on how to prevent this problem. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/

[Marlene]

Thankyou, yes I have been leaving him in the crate at night, it's safer and he never cries whilst being in there.

As for the kennel since the day he fell asleep in it he hasn't entered it again.

 

[Adrienne]

Good to hear that he is enjoying his crate at night. It is nice when they settle in them without crying. 

It sounds like though he doesn't seem too fond of the kennel. Perhaps he doesn't feel like it's an "official living area'' so it may be a matter of location. Maybe it gets too warm? if you spend more time with him in the veranda, when he gets tired does he ever consider going there? Like for instance if you read a book there or work on something? Most dogs like to be around their families rather than on their own. Just a few ideas.  

I know the feeling though... we spend money on things we feel our dogs will appreciate, only to find out it's not as expected! We once got two nice crates for our dogs to spend time in the living room.Doors were always left open.  Einstein always loved lounging in it for naps, while Petra never set foot in it. I think she had enough crate time at night and would rather sleep elsewhere. Who knows though, may be one day your dog will "rediscover it."

[Marlene]

The kennel is close to the back door, but I think you may be right that it's warm. I'll give it more time, I'm sure as it gets colder and he gets older he will start to use it more.

I do like the idea of him sleeping nights inside.

What is your opinion of adult dogs sleeping outside 

Do you believe they should be in our out.

People I have spoken to said large dogs do better when left outside. 

[Adrienne]

My opinion on adult dogs sleeping outside varies based on several factors such as dog's age, breed, individual personality, how safe the yard is, what type of fence is there etc. To sum it up, I would take a critical look at the dog and determine whether he is the type who wants to be around the family at all times, or the type who doesn't mind sleeping on his own outside.

You own a mix of German shepherd and Siberian husky blood, so you have a mix bag of genes, so you may get the German Shepherd's eagerness to be with his family, or the more independent streak of the husky, or even a mix of both. 

Here's a personal note on how I decided to make my Rottweilers mostly indoor dogs who were only kept in the yard during the day when in company of us. When my hubby decided to get our two Rotties, one main reason was to keep them outside since we lived in a remote, rural area with 5 acres of land. We even fenced off the whole perimeter of an acre just for our dogs' contentment. The idea was for them to enjoy the great outdoors while keeping an eye on the surroundings hopefully alert-barking should anything be amiss. Well, big mistake!

When we got them, once they were a little older, all they did when we sent them outside was wanting to come inside unless we were out with them! They didn't want to play together, they didn't want to explore, they had little interest in keeping an eye on our surroundings. All they did was bark and stick to the door asking to be let in, and if some time elapsed, they engaged in destructive behaviors and I think they did this out of boredom and frustration. It finally kicked in that they weren't meant to be the outdoor "guard dogs" hubby wished them to be, although they made perfect watch dogs inside the home, alerting us when some car parked by our gate. 

Moral of the story? Since then, they were never left unattended outside alone , they slept in the home at night and when they were out, at least one of us was always with them. This turned out to be perfectly fine though. 

Another story: one of my  boarding/training clients has a beautiful German Shepherd dog. As soon as late spring approaches, he starts getting really hot. The owner told me that therefore she decided to finally let him sleep outdoors on the deck outside. When I had to board him when she went on vacation, I wasn't comfortable keeping him outside. Too many what-ifs... what if a rattle snake managed to climb over the fence?, what if a vulture would die and he would eat it and get a blockage?, what if he got bloat at night? what if he choked on something and nobody was there to do CPR? I just couldn't! 

Well, come night-time and he starts to panting. I kick up the A/C, but he tells me he wants to go outside. He's by the door clearly telling me to open. I open and he does a fence perimeter check and then lies down in front of the house as if ready to sleep.  So I went inside and stuffed a Kong and let him enjoy it inside  the bedroom in hopes he would fall asleep right after. He enjoys the Kong, but then starts panting again looking uncomfortable. I try to see whether he would like to lie on the cold tiles in the bathroom floor. Nope. I call the owner at this point and she tells me that at times when the weather is bad outside at night (in Arizona we get some powerful night-time monsoon storms) and he is forced to sleep inside, she would grab one of those oscillating fans and set it to point in his direction. So I did just that, and Bingo! he relaxed and started sleeping in no time. 

So I would say, see how your dog feels about it. If he's the type that doesn't mind being kept outdoors at night, or even enjoys it, and you have a safe area with a sturdy fence (this is paramount with escape artists such as huskies/huskies mixes) I don't see the harm, but if he starts barking a lot, engaging in destructive behaviors and wants to be let in, I would say allow him to stay indoors, of course,  if you don't mind.