Female chin spraying urine

Teddykay · Dec 8, 2014

I have owned my chin for about 4 months. She has had two prior owners before me (and I will be her last) so I understand it will take longer for her to take to me. She kind of has taken to me by crawling on me, eating out of my hand and letting me pet her. She is a really active chin and loves out of cage time. She can be really difficult to get her back in after though. Sometimes I end up having to follow her around for 15 mins trying to find a good time to snatch her up.

But...the last time she was being really difficult she turned to me, stood tall on her hind legs, barked a little bit, gaveme little bites, and then sprayed me with urine.

It really broke my heart that she used that kind of "mechanism" on me. What should I think of this?

Amethyst · Dec 8, 2014

I wouldn't take it too seriously, she just didn't want to go back into her cage yet. That is just what female chins do when mad, think of it like a kid throwing a temper tantrum. If it takes you awhile to get her back into her cage though, especially if you have to snatch her up I would work more on bonding. Having to chase her around to get her back in the cage does damage your bond, it's only going to make her scared and/or hate you when you follow her (she'll think you are going to put her away). You can try the catch and release game, follow her around during play time, pick her up a few times but just pet her or give a quick kiss and put her right back down, that way she stops associating you following her with just going back in her cage.

aznmexaggie · Dec 9, 2014

It's just a defense mechanism. If they are chased and cornered, feel threatened or are feeling agitated, females may stand up and spray urine. I've also seen females spray one another while fighting over the water bottle if it was empty and just refilled. Your chin basically did not like you chasing her around to catch her.

Llittlebllonde · Dec 9, 2014

My little beast of burden figured out I knew what she was gonna do when she stood up, so she took to crouching and spraying. It took me a while to figure it out. She had been spraying a pair of my shorts on the coffee table every day. I reduced her play space from the front room to just a 4x5 space in front of her cage. No more spraying and a lot more popcorning. I think she was overwhelmed.

Godofgods · Dec 9, 2014

while females are generally better at spraying, males can to.

My male got a lot of practice recently. I had to pick him up for eye drops for a week. He is deathly afraid of being picked up. And he is smart enough to know when im coming to get him. He would freak out, hide, run to a corner, and if i got closer he would start spraying. After a few days he got pretty good at it.

As for catching them when they are out, i usually find it easiest to have on hand on one side of the chin, but far enough away to not make her run to fast. and use my other hand on the other side of her as 'the enemy' so she runs towards my far away hand. Then i can close on em. - I just wanna be quick about it. Take to long and they can get very scared or find ways out of it. You just need the ability to be quick, but very gentle; since they are so fragile.