<p>No… haven’t done that, and she hasn’t suggested it when I’ve brought up the peeing issue. I have thought about taking him to a veterinary urologist to rule out ‘defective equipment’. Our previous dog did have bladder stones/UTIs, so we always knew if she had a accident, to take her in and get her checked out. When we first had our current dog, like I said, he did have a couple of different UTIs, and we got him treated, but I took in a urine sample about a month ago, and it was clean.</p>
<p>I have my suspicions about one other possibility. How do I be detailed, yet discreet here??
When my dog (a boy) pees, he’s not very good with his aim. Sometimes he pees with his leg up, and sometimes he pees like a girl dog… squats a bit on his two hind legs. However, I’ve noticed when he tries to pee like a boy dog, with his leg raised, he will often times pee a little on his front foot/lower leg. We have a fenced backyard, and 90% of the time, he goes out without me or H (except for the 10PM time when he goes on leash, so we can make sure he does pee), so I don’t know if he’s peed (and possibly peed on himself a little) or not. So wherever he chooses to lay down once he comes inside, I’m guessing he can smell pee, because it’s probably on his hair. So the pillow/towel/blanket may smell like pee, but it’s really on him. If this is the case, I have no idea what to do about it, short of giving him a bath after every time he comes inside, which isn’t going to happen!</p>
<p>BTW… my cleaning lady and I often trade dog stories since she got hers about the same time we got ours. She swears to me that our house does not smell like dog, at all. And she would tell me the truth if it did. So it’s not like I’m missing not cleaning up some messes and he’s smelling that.</p>
<p>so I don’t know if he’s peed (and possibly peed on himself a little) or not. So wherever he chooses to lay down once he comes inside, I’m guessing he can smell pee, because it’s probably on his hair.</p>
<p>This must happen to a lot of dogs, especially females. That “pee transference” must happen often onto pet bedding. Somehow, other dogs know not to think that smell means “pee here”. </p>
<p>I like the idea of reducing/removing water later in the evening, then pee before bed, and then hopefully there’s little urge to “go” during the night.</p>
<p>The vet urologist may also have some good ideas.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for my D. She has a rescue labeled as a plout hound/boxer mix. He walks with his face to the ground and is always trying to eat whatever he finds on the walk. Inside the house he is good. He doesn’t get into food or the garbage.</p>
<p>poor thing…he was likely underfed/starved before he was rescued so he’s thinking that he always has to be on the “look out” for food. How long has she had him? </p>
<p>Does she feed him before his walk?</p>
<p>I think I would try this: After he eats, put down a small amount of kibble in the bowl for him to “know” that there’s food available if needed. Not too much…don’t want him getting chubby. Hopefully, in time he will understand that food will always be available to him when needed.</p>
<p>And, maybe, while walking, have some kibble in hand so he knows that food is around if needed.</p>
<p>Some dogs (hounds in particular) will naturally “put nose to ground” because they’re scent dogs. My doxie will often do this, but not during an entire walk. We know when he’s got his “nose to ground” he’s located a scent and wants to locate/follow it. </p>
<p>Cute story: When my doxie was a puppy I took him to our son’s school while we waited for son to return from a field trip. When we got inside the school building, he wiggled out of my arms and ran down the hall (nose to ground)…found my son’s classroom…ran inside…and found his desk! They have remarkable noses!</p>
<p>M2CK - I just now had time to look at the video. I have a few concerns about using the product; when it’s all simplified, it seems like a doggy version of a cat litter box, and I’m not sure how I feel about having something like that in the house.</p>
<p>I have sent the link to our dog trainer to get his opinion on it. </p>
<p>Thanks for putting up the link. I’m always open to new ideas.</p>
<p>Teri…it’s a Pee Pee Pad, not a litter box. </p>
<p>When you look at it, the “potty area” is the size of a Pee Pee pad which you would dispose of when soiled.</p>
<p>In your case, if your dog “pees” on it during the night, then when you get up, you’d throw that Pee Pee pad away. It sounds like you only have a problem at night, right? I’d close it up during the day. </p>
<p>the Puppy Apartments come in many sized depending on the dog size.</p>
<p>Well, I sort of meant a cat litter box in that it’s a way for your pet to go to the bathroom indoors in an approved manner. You’re basically encouraging your pet to pee/poop inside. </p>
<p>We have had some instances of daytime peeing (although not as often)… literally, we all (H, pooch and I) will be sitting on the couch, and pooch has not gone to the door to indicate he wants out. And all of a sudden we’ll see he’s moved places on the couch and we’ll smell pee; sure enough, we look around, and find he has peed on a blanket on the couch… while we were all sitting there and very receptive to letting him outside if he’d just gone to the door. Thankfully these incidents are not as common as nighttime, in-the-crate peeing.</p>
<p>I have a yorkiepoo who will spend part of her walks with her nose intently to the ground. Rarely does she eat what she finds, but she does give many items consideration.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can break the sniffing habit, as it may be part of the breed. I enjoy that they find scents and follow them, I think it is good intellectual stimulation that house bound dogs never get. Yorkies were bred as ratters, so I think they have a strong hunting instinct. You said the dog is part hound so he has it too.</p>
<p>also, meant to say that LEAVE IT can be very importand depending what he is about to eat. It could be medicine, chocolate or some other poisonous item. Of course it handy for the yucky things one might find on the sidewalk as well!</p>
<p>When Maggie was young we went to Petsmart for training classes. It was my first training class ever. Maggie never learned certain things (well–she learned “come” but chooses when she feels like doing it!) but she did learn, sit, up, this way (while walking), leave it and stay (sort of like come–she knows very well what we mean but sometimes ignores it if the temptation is too strong)</p>
<p>My point, and I had one…is that “LEAVE IT” is the one of the most important commands she learned. Even with her stubbornness she almost always complies. Your daughter needs to train her dog to “leave it” at command. When they come upon something tasty in the sidewalk she will just say leave it and a slight tug should do the trick. I’m sure you can look up how to train for it. We used a clicker at petsmart. (and treats)</p>
<p>Teri…the peeing on the couch thing, while you’re there, is strange. This doesn’t sound like a “health issue”. Is he anxious about something? Have there been changes in the household? </p>
<p>He’s only 1 1/2 years old, so it’s not an older dog problem. Has he always had peeing problems?</p>
<p>M2CK - the timing of your post is impeccable! I was out this evening and pooch was home with H. They were basically hanging out on the couch all evening, H watching TV and working on his laptop. As I walked in the door, H says, “He peed on the blanket again; we’ve been sitting here all night, hanging out; he got up off the couch (where the blanket is), went down the floor and started rolling around, when I smelled urine, so I checked the blanket he had been laying on and sleeping on, and it was wet.” This is just so absolutely frustrating!</p>
<p>No changes in the house.</p>
<p>Regarding whether he’s always had problems… when I adopted him a year ago, I met with the breeder and the woman who had been keeping him (pooch had been staying with another woman, the breeder’s friend, supposedly to keep her dog company while they were waiting for our pooch to be adopted). The woman hinted that he hadn’t been successfully house trained yet, and particularly lit up when I suggested we hadn’t decided whether this dog would sleep with us or not; I remember distinctly her saying, “Oh, I wouldn’t have you sleep with him yet as I can guarantee he wouldn’t have an accident on your bed.” So yea, the lady sort of gave me a warning that there were going to be potty issues. At the beginning, we did all the things they tell you to do… take them out on leash every hour and praise them highly when they do their business. If they don’t, bring them back inside and take them back out again in another hour. We followed this regimen religiously.</p>
<p>One of our first mistakes was not to minimize the size of the crate with the divider… he had full reign of the crate and it was easy for him to have accidents and not have to lay in it. But then our trainer told us to minimize the crate size, which we did, and it seemed to help for a while. He’ll go through periods of a week or two or three where everything’s fine and I’ll think, “Yea, we are past it.” Then he’ll have another accident. </p>
<p>
Yea, I know… which is why I’m so totally frustrated with the situation.</p>
<p>teriwtt, have you talked to your vet about medication for urinary incontinence? One common medication is phenylpropanolamine, marketed for dogs under the brand name Proin. see [Proin</a> for Dogs Chews & Tabs - Urinary Incontinence Aid - 1800PetMeds](<a href=“http://www.1800petmeds.com/Proin-prod10304.html]Proin”>Proin | 1800PetMeds) for a description – but this is prescription only, so you need to talk to the vet. Basically it gives the dogs more control over their urinary sphincter muscles. Since your dog seems to wet at times when it is asleep or relaxed (just hanging out with the family on the couch), it sounds like a problem with urinary incontinence. </p>
<p>You will definitely want to discuss pros & cons and alternative meds with the vet, as I have no clue as to whether this would be a good solution for your dog – there may be other meds as well. I just think that from your description that this is a problem outside the dog’s control, like a child who has a bedwetting problem. So I think a trial with the meds would be better than more efforts at training.</p>
<p>Phenylpropanolamine is prescription only but it used to be a common decongestant/over the counter diet aid.
But it’s also used to make meth.
( I’m assuming they would use a tiny dose for pets)
Talk about multitasking!</p>
<p>When he pees on the couch with you “right there”, it sounds like he’s not getting his body into “peeing position” since you’re not aware that he’s peeing until you smell the pee.</p>
<p>That may suggest that he does have incontinence or some kind of lack of bladder control, since he’s “going” without “trying” (getting into position, etc).</p>
<p>M2CK - I am very familiar with Proin, as our last dog (been gone for 2 1/2 years) was on it for many years; it worked great for her. But she was much older when we started it.</p>
<p>I heard back from my trainer last night via email. He watched the video, and said he was going to call me today because he wants to hear what’s going on with the pooch. I am still thinking it might be something medical and am still considering a veterinary urologist consultation. It would be interesting to see what a trial of Proin would do.</p>
<p>Just heard back from my trainer. He suggests we be very strict (no caving) with the following routine for the next week and see what happens: water gets taken up every night a couple of hours before we all go to bed. Remove all soft/absorbable materials from his crate at night so he can’t pee in one corner and avoid it by laying in another. We do have his crate cordoned off so that he has room to turn around, lie down and stretch, but I guess if he wants to, he can curl up enough in one corner to avoid the peed-on-towel in another. So we have to take that out. I know he’s going to bark over that for at least a couple of nights, but the trainer said we have to do it; that way we’ll be able to tell if he truly has a problem holding it or not. If he does, then he will pee regardless of the towel or not, and then we can start looking at anatomical issues. It is kind of true that, for the most part (except for our bed), he picks something really soft and absorbable to pee on - the blanket we keep on our couch is really soft and absorbable. </p>
<p>So that’s what we will start this weekend, and hopefully we will have it resolved by next weekend when D1 arrives with her pooch for Thanksgiving week!</p>