Puppy peeing/marking her bed?!?!

Hi everyone. I have a 5 month-old female cav. We got her from a breeder 2 months ago and she's doing great with house training and is crate trained.
From the beginning she's been displaying a very strange behaviour of peeing on her bed or towel or any other fabric we would put in her crate. Mind you – she doesn't pee in her crate when she's just sitting on plastic. She has her toys in the crate and never pees on them either. Also, she doesn't pee on towels or anything else that's soft when she's with us on the couch or around the house (we have carpeting in all the rooms). I placed a towel in the play pen (on the floor) to see if she would pee on it – and she did. I guess because it was in her designated area.
We generally don't put any fabric in the crate because of this issue.

PLEASE HELP!!! has anyone seen or heard of this behaviour?? How do we break her of it?? I'd hate to think that she could never sleep on anything soft

Thank you!

You know I had this same issue with Coco as a little pup. I thought she was marking too, and was really sad to think I could never let her sleep with soft cuddly things. Eventually I took her to the vet and found out she had a UTI! That pretty much solved all her peeing problems

If it is not a UTI, make sure you take water away 1 - 2 hours before crate time, and a few extra potty breaks between the time you take the water away and put her in the crate. This should at least really help reduce the chance of her peeing in there, and even if she manages to, it would only be a very small amount.

Wash the bedding with good enzymatic cleaners to get any remaining smell out. Dogs can still smell urine even if we can't if not cleaned properly!

I don't think she is marking...she is very young still and dogs do like to pee on anything absorbent, like grass. I also recommended taking her to the vet just to make sure she doesn't have an UTI. Very likely she thinks you are giving her the towel/blanket to relieve herself if necessary. I would add an extra potty break and take away any towel/blankets when she is caged alone. You can reintroduce the soft material when she is better housebroken. My male would sometimes potty on his blanket as well when he was a puppy. I made sure he relieved himself before bedtime and the accidents stopped.

Don't worry, this is not strange behavior As long as a UTI is ruled out.

Puppies will tend to pee on certain surfaces like towels, beds, etc. It is a texture thing and some do it more than others. Blankets and towels too because they can scratch them up and go on them. Brooklyn did this no matter what if a bed was down or a blanket until about a month ago! She is 11 months. So don't worry, you are not alone and it will get better! It drove me nuts because I wanted to buy her all of these cushy cute beds, and she would just walk up and pee on them So, I got her a mat/rug to sleep on that stays flat, she can't bunch up and has NO cushion in it (http://www.fuzzyard.com/products/standard/range40/product137?pageNum=1) it is the only thing she has not peed on. Then I added in one to her crate eventually that was a bit different, but similar in style...flat, can't be bunched up and no cushion. It was really trial and error with what she would and would not pee on. It's annoying, but as long as it is not medical, don't worry...its normal.

Also, an enzymatic cleaner is a must...like Natures Miracle. If you don't use that, you need to just throw the towel or bed away. Washing it only will not get rid of the urine smell.
Also, she is still so young, so make sure she is getting enough potty breaks. She probably can't hold it through the night yet.

And lastly, what helped with us was to have the mat that we were going to put in her crate, out with us for her to lay on for about a week so it got her smell on it. She tended to pee on things that didnt smell like her or were brand new. Almost like laying her scent.

Oh, and there are waterproof beds if you want to use those for a while too.

Our Sophie had a few UTIs as a puppy, and peed on anything I put in her crate. I finally put nothing in her crate and let her sleep on the hard plastic tray. I felt terrible, as it seemed awfully cruel, but that was the *only* way she did not pee in her crate, even with the UTIs. I kept this up for a couple of months, until she 'forgot' about her bad habit. When I finally put something soft in there, she didn't pee on it.

Definitely have her checked for UTI. If she's clear, then it's a bad habit that must be broken ASAP.