I have a female Golden (almost 5 months old) who likes to bark several times a night. She is kept in a crate at night (approx 1000pm-700am). Sadie is let outside prior to crating and will then urinate in her kennel within 10 minutes of being placed in there. (She does go potty outside prior to Kenneling!) She barks to the point of becoming hoarse. I have tried to "ignore" the barking to not reinforce her doing so to "get out". Ear plugs don't even work effecively! Sadie is not my first Golden (Lilly passed 8/12/08 at age 9 due to osteosarcoma advancing and her hip breaking--I still mourn...) I never realized that 2 dogs of the same breed could be this different. I'm having trouble dealing with Sadie and I know that alot has to do with lack of sleep. Please help.

Maybe you could try limiting her water an hour or two before bed, and giving her a big off leash exercise session during the day plus some fetching or something very active around 7 pm?Does she have a kong or a nylabone in her crate? Is she alone much during the dar or is she getting plenty of attention/social stimulation?

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Is the kennel large enough that she can pee in one area and relax in another? Or is she peeing right underneath herself, in her bedding? Did this problem start suddenly or has it been her habit her whole life? Does she seem to hate going in there?

If she's suddenly started this behavior, especially if she's wetting her bedding while in the kennel, it could be a urinary tract infection (UTI). The fact that she pees outside and then immediately pees again in the kennel would support that theory.

If the kennel is large enough for her to pee in one area and sleep in another, she may simply not mind sleeping near an area she's wet. You may be able to discourage the problem by walling off a portion of the crate for a while so she's forced to wet her bedding or not at all (she'll have a natural instinct to hold it rather than wet where she sleeps).

If she's barking until she's hoarse, it seems like it's being reinforced, either by some discomfort with her bladder or some other kind of physical or emotional discomfort. Her behavior isn't typical, so she probably has a urinary problem that can be resolved or some kind of serious anxiety about the kennel that you could work on by building up her comfort and confidence in and around the crate.

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Hi there! We've only had our baby for 10 days so unfortunately I don't have much advice!! However, just a thought. You posted this in the Technical How-To section which I THINK is for techincal advice on using this site (how to post, adding pictures, etc). You may have more response if you repost in the Puppy section...just a thought! And good luck!!

moved to the Puppy Section

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A citronella bark collar was the best investment we ever made. Took about 4 days and now she never barks in the crate. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Sadie has acted this way since I bought her at 8 weeks old. I used to think she pottied in her crate because she was kept in a kennel outside and all of the puppies (13) soiled there. She actually urinates on her bedding and then "refuses" to sleep on it--hence barks until it is cleaned up. (I do have the crate partitioned off.) She sits, shakes, lies down, high fives, sits up and rolls over so she is pretty smart. Occasionally she even goes to sleep in her crate during the day (door is left open until evening). I am going to take her water away a couple of hours prior to crating and buy the citronella bark collar. On my way out now to take her for a one mile walk before bed (it's 10 degrees out and that's all I can handle). My husband wants to "find a different good home" for her so all suggestions are GREATLY appreciated (and will be tried). Thank you!

Have you tried covering the crate? I agree with taken the water up as well. When my dogs were pups I didnt let them sleep in our room, there crates were in the Fm room.

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It stinks that the breeder let them compromise their natural instinct to keep their spot clean. Hopefully, if you can use timing and the water tricks to limit the times she successfully wets her crate, she'll start to regain her natural aversion to it. It's a bummer about the barking, but since she doesn't seem to grasp the idea of not wetting her bedding, I can't blame her for barking once she's sitting in her own pee.

The bark collar might buy you some time and get you some sleep in the short term, but you still need to solve the peeing problem. Has she been checked out for a UTI?

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Sadie has been on an antibiotic (x one week) for vaginitis and I will check to see if this will also work if she does have a UTI. How do I stop her from urinating in her crate especially since the breeder allowed this since birth? I only put her in it at night after taking her water away 2 hours prior and make sure she has pottied outside. I have had her for 4 months but she wakes up wet (and barking) 4-5 days/week (couple times a night). What am I doing wrong that this is still going on? Thank you for all the help!