Crating a dog who has never been crated?

[ReneeM]

My girl, Sakura, has little bladder control due to tumors in her liver and kidneys. She is acting fine, and is back to her old self, but is peeing everywhere. It has gotten worse the past couple of weeks. If my family goes out for even a few hours she pees on the floor. She uses puppy pads in my bedroom at night, but that is the only place she uses them.

She is destroying the floor. I am currently looking into getting her a crate, but she has not been crated since she was two or three. I'm worried about how this will effect her. If it will stress her out.

My parents are at their wits end with my dog. We will not put her down because of her bladder issues as long as she is still happy. I can't imagine doing that to her.

I'm not sure how else to deal with this issue. I bought diapers, but she tried to bite me as I put them on her, so that cancels that idea.

 

[Stackie]

If you put her in a crate, she is just going to pee in it since she has little bladder control and then get it all over herself...I wouldn't crate her because of that personally.

If she only uses puppy pads in your room then can you keep her in there when you are away?

 

[ReneeM]

She is okay overnight in my room with me, but gets upset in there during the day, and sometimes pees on my bed and carpet. She will bark and get herself worked up.

I could try it again though, and see what happens . She has pretty much ruined my carpet at this point anyway

 

[arf2184]

Is there a bathroom or laundry room that can be made into 'her' spot, where you can lock her up while away? Somewhere where the floor is easy to clean (though you'll probably have to replace it later on anyhow).

Look on Craigslist for a crate if you do decide to go that route. Not sure how big your girl is, but I'd try to get a larger one than needed so she can get out of the wet spot if she does pee.

Just put her bed or blanket in it with the door open (secured so it won't swing shut on her) and see if she'll willingly go in on her own. She may remember being crated and be all for it. If not, start small and build up to being crated for longer period of time. Reward her going in with the door open. Then reward her for staying in for a few minutes with the door open, then reward her for staying in a few minutes with the door closed, then gradually increase the time until she's happy to go in and stay in for as long as needed. Because she will probably pee in the crate I would try to leave her in it as little as possible. If you must be gone more than a couple hours, see if a neighbor or friend can stop by to take her outside or swap the bedding/pee pads out with fresh ones.

 

[ReneeM]

She is 13 so it is rare that she is crated. I forgot she is crated when she is groomed, but barks up a storm. At most she is crated one week a year when my family goes on vacation and she stays with our groomer. I totally forgot about that.

Right now I don't have a job so I am home with her alot. Lol, my carpet is over 20 years old, so it needs to be replaced anyway.

I'll see if I can't figure something else out without crating her. Realistically I have no idea how much longer she has left, so changes are probably not good for her after 13 years.

 

[ReneeM]

I got my girl a crate Problem is it's way to big for her. It's actually for a 40-70 pound dog. She is a medium size dog, ( weighing in at about 25 pounds) but is about 2-3 inches to tall for a medium sized crate. She is all leg

So we had to go with the next size up!