Crate bedding wet-but not wee?

[opalescent]

Hi all. A bit of a mystery- my 6 month old cocker spaniel sleeps in a crate overnight. She has appeared to be dry all night for some time (I.e- not waking for a wee, and goes for a long one when we let her out in the morning).

Lately though, on a couple of occasions I have noticed that her crate bedding has a large wet patch. It absolutely doesn't smell of wee. In fact, it smells of nothing.

There's no leaking or water source near her crate.

Any ideas what it could be?

No access to water overnight? That’s not good.
Could be wee.

Sweat, perhaps?
One of my dogs loves licking her bed (as well as the sofas 😳) so if it's in a fairly concentrated area, perhaps your ddog is doing that too

Why doesn't she have access to water?

Wee doesn't necessarily smell strong. I would say it's either urine or drool.

Another vote for drool

Dogs are meant to have a water source available at all times btw

Sounds like she is a licker if it's concentrated in one spot, maybe a comfort licker. And yes, she should have access to water at all times.

God yes, that's such a good point. She has had times with water in the crate, and times without for various reasons. There seemed to be mixed advice on whether to put it in the crate when I first got her, and we've kind of settled into a routine without, simply because it's never seemed a problem, But she should have access to water overnight, and I will provide some from tonight.

My Doberman sucks blankets to get herself chilled and ready for sleep, they get disgustingly wet

I think the advice is often to put the dog in a very small crate (ie only enough space to turn around) so that they don’t soil in the crate, which means no water overnight to help toilet train.

At 6 months though it should be fine to reintroduce and you can get water bowls that clip on the side of the crate so the water doesn’t go everywhere

THere has never been advice to withold water from dogs in crates.

Puppies and Dogs should always have access to water 24/7 . In crates or out of crates.

OP Is it condensation from where the dog is lying?

@ShirleyPhallus

I think the advice is often to put the dog in a very small crate (ie only enough space to turn around) so that they don’t soil in the crate, which means no water overnight to help toilet train.

At 6 months though it should be fine to reintroduce and you can get water bowls that clip on the side of the crate so the water doesn’t go everywhere

Awful advice.

themuttyprofessor.co.uk/2017/07/20/crate-debate-crate-not-crate/
Restricting a dogs access to move around and confining them to one space is NOT toilet training in my opinion. It is toilet management

Dogs are polyphasic sleepers. This means they sleep in short periods, like to get up and move around as well as changing positions

If the bed is on a hard floor it could be condensation as pp suggests. Our dog had one of those plastic beds with a padded bed in it but it was on a tiled floor. We discovered it was soaking wet & it was condensation. It stopped when we put a piece of carpet under the bed.

licking, but he needs access to water even overnight

Regarding your wet patch, my dog dribbles in deep sleep , often leaves a wet patch. She does not have jowels or saggy skin on her face, she is a gsd, but often leaves her drools patch over night haha, could be that

Wouldn’t panic about the no water overnight. You don’t need to get up and drink regularly overnight and while dog is asleep neither do they. My dog didn’t have water when in her crate at all, because she used to dig in the bowl, tried the bowls that clip onto side of the crate too and she still got all the water out and soaked the place. So we gave up and she never had water in the crate. Still loved her crate, never came out thirsty but your choice obvs, your dog. It wasn’t a stress reaction, she loves water. Took a bit of convincing for her to not play in any water container that she wasn’t meant to be in, literally in, when she was young.

I would say drool too. My dog is very clean, and licks any mud off her paws/legs - when she does this she inevitably licks her bed at the same time and sometime leaves a wet patch.

@ShirleyPhallus

I think the advice is often to put the dog in a very small crate (ie only enough space to turn around) so that they don’t soil in the crate, which means no water overnight to help toilet train.

At 6 months though it should be fine to reintroduce and you can get water bowls that clip on the side of the crate so the water doesn’t go everywhere

Dreadful advice.sounds like animal cruelty to me.when you have a very young puppy,you get the fuck out of bed to let it have a pee during the night.it is part of having and caring for a puppy!!!

@ShirleyPhallus

I think the advice is often to put the dog in a very small crate (ie only enough space to turn around) so that they don’t soil in the crate, which means no water overnight to help toilet train.

At 6 months though it should be fine to reintroduce and you can get water bowls that clip on the side of the crate so the water doesn’t go everywhere

When my dog was a tiny puppy, and she was tiny, she a small dog, she had a very big crate and was never left without water overnight.

She never weed in her crate and house trained really quickly.

Horrible idea to confine a dog so that it only has enough space to turn around.

Dogs get up and move around a lot during the night. Must be terrible for them to be confined like that.

Whoever is giving out advice like that needs to be completely ignored as I can't image anything else they're suggesting is of any value either.