Peeing In The Car

[Guest mhall]

We're having problems with Jasper peeing in the car. It's happen about 4 or 5 times since we brought him home a few months ago. We thought we had nipped it in the bud, but it happened again yesterday.

 

Possible pertinent information:

 

- We always walk him around the block before getting in the car so he has an opportunity to pee a couple of times. We do this even if he's been out fairly recently.

 

-Aside from him trying to mark a chair when he first came home, he's never peed in the house.

 

-He likes car rides, and never seems particularly nervous or anxious in the car.

 

-There's no real pattern to the peeing. Sometimes it's after he's been in the car for 5 minutes, sometimes 30. He'll just suddenly stand up and pee. He stops if we (gently) scold him, and can hold until we're able to get him out of the car to pee.

 

I think what's happening is he thinks car ride = opportunities to mark new and exciting places, so he's not totally emptying himself before getting in the car. Obviously the best solution is to make sure he's totally empty, but it's not really feasible for us to take a long walk with him before every car ride. We've tried to trick him into thinking we aren't going for a car ride before we take him around the block (waiting to pick up car keys until we get back to the house, etc.) but he always seems to know when we're planning to go somewhere.

 

Would using a belly band be appropriate? I'm not really sure what else to try at this point, and since we have a few long trips planned with him this summer, we'd really like to figure this out.

 

Suggestions appreciated!

[JAJ2010]

Slap a crate back there! We have the same issue with Sunshine. I think she sees it as a safe/easy spot to pee. But she won't pee in a crate so we have a tiny little 36" crate that she gets squished into and she rides along fine. I might be able to take the crate out now.... but I'm scared to!

 

Oh but wait you have a boy! SO MUCH EASIER. Slap a belly band on him and tie that pee pee up! We had a male visiting us that marked on my curtains. Poor DH was horrified by my duct tape dish towel belly band.

[rycezmom]

Yep! Put a bellyband on that boy.

[cleptogrey]

crate or belly band and use nature's miracle to clean the scent. your seats will need to be saturated, but the stuff really works. i personally would go for a crate.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Ok, some other things that you may need to look at:

 

1) Do you have a set schedule of when he goes outside for potty breaks? Maybe you happen to be timing some of his rides with when he usually goes outside.

2) What does his water consumption seem to be? Maybe the few times he has peed in the car, he was drinking a lot more water, such as after play or maybe something is making him anxious to begin with.

3) You say he is not visibly anxious, is his nose runny, does he drewl, does he lay down and sleep, or is he in the "sphynx" position when he is laying down? Any of these are signs of anxiety or alertness (the sphynx position is not a relaxed position sometimes).

4) When you walk him to potty, do you make a super huge big deal when he does his business? Reason I ask, I actually have my hounds trained to pee on command. Of course they need to have some pee in there to begin with, but If its been a few hours and I know we have a trip to take, I can walk them and tell them to pee and they will.

5) I would say a belly band is appropriate in this situation, but keep trying to figure out a pattern, no matter how miniscule the details get.

 

Good Luck

 

Chad

[Batmom]

If it's an excitement thing, might help to take him for a lot of short rides -- 1 or 2 a day, even, at different times of day, so that it gets to be old hat.

 

My Zema gets a bit wound up about car rides and will usually want a pee break after 1-1.5 hours of driving, even if she was out just beforehand.

[Guest bluefawn]

I would take up his water at least 30 minutes before going on the car ride. You might want to keep a journal for a while, noting when the last time is that he had water before riding in the car, and whether or not he peed that trip. Also, could it maybe be a UTI? Sending hugs and prayers for a solution soon!

[Guest mhall]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I think I'll sew Jasper a belly band, and see where that gets us. What does one usually put inside a belly band to absorb pee?

 

Ok, some other things that you may need to look at:

 

1) Do you have a set schedule of when he goes outside for potty breaks? Maybe you happen to be timing some of his rides with when he usually goes outside.

2) What does his water consumption seem to be? Maybe the few times he has peed in the car, he was drinking a lot more water, such as after play or maybe something is making him anxious to begin with.

3) You say he is not visibly anxious, is his nose runny, does he drewl, does he lay down and sleep, or is he in the "sphynx" position when he is laying down? Any of these are signs of anxiety or alertness (the sphynx position is not a relaxed position sometimes).

4) When you walk him to potty, do you make a super huge big deal when he does his business? Reason I ask, I actually have my hounds trained to pee on command. Of course they need to have some pee in there to begin with, but If its been a few hours and I know we have a trip to take, I can walk them and tell them to pee and they will.

5) I would say a belly band is appropriate in this situation, but keep trying to figure out a pattern, no matter how miniscule the details get.

 

Good Luck

 

Chad

 

Good things to think about. In answer to your questions:

 

1. He does have a set schedule for breaks, and even on weekends/days we're not working we try to keep it regular. This is what his typical meal/bathroom schedule looks like:

 

6 - breakfast

6:30 - 7:30 -walk

8:15 -walk around the block

somewhere between 4:30 and 5 -lunch

5:15 - 6:15 -walk

7:00 - dinner

7:30 walk around the block

somewhere between 9 - 10 -walk around the block

 

As I mentioned in the first post, we always take him around the block before getting in the car, even if he's been out recently.

 

2. His water consumption is easy to monitor because he doesn't drink much on his own - we add it to his food (which is one of the reasons we feed 3x a day). We always leave a bowl of water out for him, but he's never taken more than a few sips from it. Any time he's gone on a car ride it's been at least 2 hours since his last meal/water and he's had 2 separate potty trips before he's gotten in the car.

 

3. I think excitement could be a factor, but not nerves. He will stand for the first few minutes of the car ride looking out the window, then usually lays down on his side. If we're in the car for more than 10 minutes he falls asleep.

 

4. We taught our last guy to pee on command, and we could teach Jasper too, but I don't think that will solve the problem. We currently don't let him in the car until he's peed a couple times on our around the block walk (and I watch closely, since he will sometimes lift his leg but not follow through). I can't think of any way to ensure he's empty, short of taking him on a really long walk. I really think he just wants to save some up for better peeing opportunities wherever we're going.

 

I suppose it's possible it's a UTI but I think it's unlikely since the peeing is limited to such a specific situation. If it doesn't improve we will make a trip to the vet though.

[Guest mhall]

If it's an excitement thing, might help to take him for a lot of short rides -- 1 or 2 a day, even, at different times of day, so that it gets to be old hat.

 

My Zema gets a bit wound up about car rides and will usually want a pee break after 1-1.5 hours of driving, even if she was out just beforehand.

 

Just saw your post after I replied - this is a really good suggestion. We're planning a camping trip to Nova Scotia this summer, and I had intended to take Jasper on progressively longer drives before that trip, but it hadn't occurred to me that starting with a daily drive around town might help. Thanks!

 

We haven't gone on any long drives yet, but will plan to take frequent breaks when we do. I usually need them too.

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

I always belly band Spencer when I take him for rides in the car. He tends to have less bladder control in the car because i think he's scared he's going to the vet. Once I take him out of the car then I remove the belly band.