# Dog Won't Go Potty When Traveling



## RCKeeper (Aug 23, 2016)

Hello,

Indy, our 9-month-old black lab, is generally potty trained. He hasn't had any accidents in the house for quite some time (can't remember the last one), and waits by the door or licks our hand when he wants to go out.

However, we've noticed that he never uses the bathroom on walks, either. He sniffs around places other dogs have obviously peed, but never does his business when on a walk.

This wasn't a big deal, but now we've traveled with him a few times, and noticed that this reluctance seems to extend to all new places. The first time we took him to a hotel, he didn't pee for nearly 24 hours, despite having plenty of water.

A few days ago, we took him on another trip to a hotel. This time, he peed on both beds and the floor, despite several trips outside beforehand. He did eventually go number two outside, but never did pee outside. We kept him in his kennel the second night. We tried waiting for up to a half hour outside, but no dice. He'd walk around a bit, then simply sit down or lay down, as though bored.

Any idea how to address this? He seems to go potty nearly on command at home, but those commands don't seem to have any affect when we travel. It's like he's afraid to use the bathroom anywhere else, or doesn't realize he can. 

We've never punished him for going potty inside, just sighed, cleaned it up, and worked on getting him outside more often when he was a puppy.

He seems to be a bit of a scaredy-cat; he often barks at people when we walk him around the hotel, and is also terrified of walking over metal grates (we think due to the sound it makes).


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Do you take him out on a leash at home to potty or does he go out into a yard off-leash?

Some dogs really dislike doing their business on a leash. You can try making the new routine at home to take him out leashed for potty breaks (if you are not currently) and/or try using a long line to give him the feeling of being off-leash a bit.


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## RCKeeper (Aug 23, 2016)

He's off-leash when he goes potty at home, but we also took off his leash at the hotel 'dog park' (aka, the small patch of fenced-in grass with a small tree), and there still weren't any results. He wanders around a bit, then sits down and just looks at us, hah.

It's difficult to take him for a walk at home, because we're in Yuma, and the temperature frequently gets hot enough (even in the mornings) that it would be too hot for him to walk outside on the street or sidewalk. He gets most of his exercise playing in the backyard and swimming in the pool.

We are wondering if maybe he's associated the pool itself as a cue that "this place is ok to go potty." Because we have the pool, and all our friends who've watched him have the pool. Not going potty in the pool itself of course, but I'm wondering if now he thinks, "Oh, there's a pool here. That means it's ok to go potty." . . .and then maybe he's thrown off when there's no pool at the hotel or any other place? We took him to the beach before we hit the road, and he peed for nearly 2 minutes straight once he got up to the ocean.


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