urinating in the car

Question
what can I do to stop my 6 month old golden retriever from peeing in my car?  she only started doing this in the last month or so.  It does'nt matter how long the trip is, it can be just a few blocks and she will pee, even though I had put her out prior to getting in the car.
Because she is a large breed dog, she is in the back hatch area of my Ford Edge. on the last few outings I even put  her bed and blanket in with her, to no avail.

Any ideas on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

thanks  Lise

Answer
Greetings, and thank you for contacting All Experts!
If this is something that has just started out the blue, before assuming any behavioral problems, it would be helpful to have the vet exclude any urinary problems. Urinary tract infections are notorious for causing urination issues. However, if this is happening exclusively in the car, and you are certain she is not dribbling urine in any other areas, then the fact this is unique to the car it very likely is a  behavioral issue.

A good place to start would be to clean up the back hatch area throughly with a good enzyme cleaner. If your golden perceives the smell of past urine she will be more likely to urinate again because she is reminded that she has urinated there in the past. A good way to break the cycle therefore would be to invest in a good product that removes all traces of urine such as Nature's Miracle.

Now it may help to figure out what is causing the urination in the first place. Because there may be different causes, -and it is hard to say why she is doing this without seeing it- I will suggest different approaches. Generally, urinating in the car can be due to anxiety, excitement or territorial marking.


If this may be due to excessive excitement, try to keep the whole process of getting in the car low key. Therefore avoid as much as you can anything like ''hey, you want to go in the car? Ready for a car ride! Yeahhh, let's go out!'' Just calmly walk to the door, call her to you and put her in the car. Low key, no big deal.

A crate of the right size may be preferable instead of leaving her in the hatch area (if you car allows it). Crates, as you may know already are excellent house training tools, and are based on the principle that a dog does not like to soil in the areas they sleep. Sized right, it may help teach her to keep her urination at bay. To better accustom her to the crate, I would suggest finding the right size crate (she should be able to lay down, stand up and turn around, but must be snug enough to avoid her from urinating in one corner and resting comfortably and dry in another corner.)

Leave the crate in the home with the door open and place a comfy blanket in it with some treats in it, to make it extra inviting. She needs to learn that being in the crate brings comfort and security. Praise for her investigating the crate. Once she accepts the crate and associates it with good things, lure her in it with stuffed kong and close the crate with her inside for some time.

Now, let her out to potty and then transfer the crate in the car, lure her in it and give her a stuffed kong to chew on while you drive around the block. The kong should keep her mind occupied possibly preventing her from getting nervous or excited. Since she has learned to associate the crate with good things and she should love the kong by now, and she should shift her excited, anxious energy to the kong and a more relaxed state of mind. If she does not eat the kong's contents, or urinates, this is sign she is way too aroused or excited. So you need to work on this a bit taking baby steps. The following behavior modification program will take some time and patience, but it will change her emotional state about car rides especially if the urinating is based on anxiety or fear (you may assume she is anxious or fearful if she appears extra alert in the car, pants and looks around a lot unable to relax) In order to work, have a helper work on focus exercises while you drive.

Step 1) Teaching focus and eye contact
Start by investing in 100$ treats. These are hot dogs, some chicken with no bones or skin, freeze dried liver, anything that makes dogs drool. Now inside your home, ask your helper to start making a noise with his/ her mouth, anything..a whistle, a smacking sound, simply a noise, no words. As he/she makes the noise he/she must treat at eye level. Right when your golden hears the noise, she should look up and see the treat. The helper must give her the treat immediately when she does this, even for a split second eye contact. Repeat over and over. This is the sequence: noise/treat at eye level/ dog makes eye contact/ dog gets treat/. Do it at least ten times and asking for more eye contact by holding the treat at eye level longer before giving it.

2)Changing the emotional state and asking for alternate behaviors

Now, to put her up for success, put her in the car and have a volunteer stay with her in the back. You want to work on de-sensitizing her to the car, even if she has been there many times. Obviously, she has changed her state of mind about car rides or got worse and therefore needs to start again from scratch. Start the engine and have the helper make the noises with the mouth to grab her attention and give her treats as she makes eye contact. Keep the engine on for about five minutes without going anywhere with the helper working on focus. End the session there and resume tomorrow.

3) Progressing and adding challenges

The next day, same process, only this time keep the engine on for about 10 minutes. Helper should work on getting her attention over and over for that time. End the session there and resume a day later.

Now, start the engine and drive the car for just a few feet. Same focus exercises, and good timing on getting her attention if she appears to be looking around a lot and appearing nervous, too excited or anxious. Stop and resume the day later.

The next day, drive around the block with the same focus exercises.

Next day, drive a couple more blocks, with the same focus exercises.

If all goes well, the next day, have the helper get her focus with the mouth noise and this time give her a kong filled with a couple of treats. This should keep her occupied for a minute or two. Let the helper stuff it again on the way back and make the noise with mouth and give her the kong as soon as hse makes eye contact.

4) Prolonging and adding more challenges

Continue driving farther away and stuffing the kong more challenging hoping it will keep her occupied for some time. As she gets better, have the helper sit next to you in the front of the car, and leave your dog in the car with the kong and then finally your final goal should be to drive alone with your dog traveling with the stuffed kong. This may sound like a lot of work, but it goes to work on the root of the problem, which is changing the dog's emotional state.

By doing so, you are giving your dog an alternate behavior to resort to (giving focus and chewing on the kong)instead of urinating and her emotional state about the car will change.

What you want to avoid at all costs is scolding her. She may urinate out of excitement or anxiety, and therefore may not even realize she is urinating, until she feels wet and smells it. By scolding her, she will possibly not understand what the commotion is all about, and her anxiety may further exacerbate if this behavior is anxiety based.

Some extra tips:
-If you drive through some very noisy areas, putting on some music may help create some white noise that buffers other noises.
- If you had other dogs in your car before, she may be peeing the area to mark it as hers, females also can be territorial markers, so make sure the car is free of other dog odors.
-If the kong helps distract her, use it all the time. To prevent over eating, you can take away some kibble destined for lunch and dinner and use it to stuff the bottom of the kong.
-Always make sure she travels on an empty bladder, do not leave until she has fully emptied her bladder, some dogs upon knowing they are going on a car trip will only dribble a few drops and run towards the car, leaving the bladder quite full.

I know this sounds like a lot of work, but if done well and gradually, you should see results. Generally, the more a behavior has been allowed to put roots, the more it will take to eradicate, I hope this helps, my very best wishes!