We have a lab pup (some pup - 50 pounds now at <6 months!) Just built a 21' dog run for him (and for the protection of ANYTHING chewable).

He seems to "hold" his feces well and goes outside when we let him out each day. However, one corner is starting to smell strongly from urine.

Should we dig this dirt up periodically and replace it with fresh, or is there another way to handle this? I thought about adding some wood shavings so he'd have a bedding area (he has an insulated house and uses it....but the floor of the pen in dirt and gravel only.)

Thanks!

-- Elizabeth (hemsley@hdo.net), November 06, 2001

Answers

since your dog is already ouside in the pen. he has nothing to distinguish. outside the pen is the same ground as inside the pen.plus dogs mark their territory with urine. you will have a hard time with that one. good luck

-- cody (urbusted@alltel.net), November 06, 2001.

This is my pet(excuse the pun) peave. I would never, under any circumstances, pen or chain a dog outside by himself. That is cruel and unusual punisment. Dogs are a pack animal. Their natural social existance is with others, not kept to themselves. Of course his pen smells like urine, so would your room if you were locked up in it for 23 hours a day. If you can't integrate a dog into your family, don't have a dog. I know the flames are going to start on this one. I hear about hunting dogs, etc. I have two labs, they live with us, along with 3 other dogs I might add. The labs are great hunters. When the shotgun comes out they are ready to go! The other three look for something to hide behind. Farm dogs, who live outside, are part of family. They have the freedom to move and work, and I know several excellent ones in our area. We have one neighbor who has some kind of a mutt dog. When that dog is on the ground, he is friendly as ever. When he is in his master's pick up truck, don't even look at him. That's his job. Labs are wonderful, easy to train, loveable dogs. Great with kids. If you can't make a home with a lab, you probably can't do it with any dog. Give him a chance to become part of the family, or sell/give him to somebody that can give him a humane home.

-- Rickstir (rpowell@email.ccis.edu), November 07, 2001.

Is the urine smell coming from the ground (some male dogs squat) or from the fence/fence posts he is peeing on? If it is the ground, you might consider digging out that corner to say two feet deep, filling it close to the top with small stones, then a layer of gravel to ground surface. This would allow you to occasionally hose the urine into the seeper bed. Another alternative may be to put in a layer of concrete and just hose it down occasionally.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 07, 2001.

You guys need to walk that dog more ofetn- he should not be forced to urinate in his pen. If you think that you are walking him enough, but find that he is still urinating in the pen, then maybe he needs more housetraining. My little foster dog (male GSD mix) had a 16'x32' yard and he never would urinate inside of it. He always waited to be let out. If you have just built the pen and it already reeks of urine, my guess is that he is not just marking his territory and needs to go out more. Now is the time to deal with this before it becomes a permanent behavior for him.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), November 07, 2001.

First, thanks for taking responsiblity to not let your dog run free and be a 'pack' animal! A kennel is a wonderful place to keep a dog until it has been trained and earned the right to be left alone in the house, yard, etc. A young lab pup needs exercise, several walks or retrieving games etc. during the day. A 6 month old pup may not be able to hold it for long periods of time, some pups don't mature enough until they are closer to 9 months of age - so he may still need frequent trips out to relieve himself. I do agree that you should not just kennel the dog contineously, but it is a wonderful place if you work or at bedtime to keep the dog safe and to keep him out of trouble. He does need social time with the family, training time both at home and away from home, and time to exercise to become a nice family pet. You could try to sprinkle some odor neutralize were he has urinated, another idea would be to concrete or use patio bricks for the run this makes it easy to clean and prevents digging. I don't know how wide your run is but a 6 x 12 run is more than adequate for a dog as long as they get adequate exercise throughout the day.

-- Leslie in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), November 07, 2001.

You might also get some lime at the feed store and sprinkle it over the area every day to help fight the odor.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), November 07, 2001.

I had the same problem - my dogs always preferred being in the pen during the day while I was at work rather than stay inside the house. I tried a lot of different methods to keep the pen sanitary, - sand worked the best. I put about 6 50lb bags of clean play sand in there. You would probably need more since your pen is 21 feet. I raked it over about once a week and when the urine smell became noticeable again, I just put in another layer of clean sand. I moved the pen once or twice a year. Another plus the sand was cool in summer and retained heat from sunlight in the winter - they really enjoyed laying on it better than just dirt or grass.

-- Linda Al-Sangar (alsangal@brentwood-tn.org), November 07, 2001.