Dog started peeing on the floor at night :(( help!

[NewMe]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

We have a 3-year old border terrier. She is lovely and would never wee in the house! Until about a month ago...

She suddenly started peeing on the floor every night, sometimes twice a night! She did it on one rug, so we put it away. Then on the other, so we had to get rid of that one too. Now she just wees on the wooden floor!

Sometimes my husband sleeps on the sofa in the living room if he comes back from work late, and our dog sleeps with him. Then she doesn't do it. So I don't think this is a health problem.

We have a baby and I returned to work half a year ago. She doesn't get as many walks as she used to while I was on maternity, so maybe she is unhappy because of that? But this was half a year ago, and she seemed fine then.

We also take her out at least for a few minutes before bed, and sometimes take her on a nice long walk, but it doesn't seem to make much difference

When we find a puddle we tell her off and sick her nose into it, she seems upset, but then does it again

Oh and she has been very clingy recently, tries to rub herself on everything, and makes breast milk. Could this be harmonal? Is it likely to just stop at some point?...

Please help - I don't know what to do! We have a baby at home, this has to change!

 

[hanneroon]

shoving her nose in it is an old wives tale and it will not help. Dogs don't learn in that way. If you spot her doing it, you can shout no, but it is pointless, and really harsh, to shove her nose in it after the fact, she won t relate the two, and she will wonder why her loving owner is suddenly turning on her, her 'upset' reaction is because she is scared, not to mention covered in her own wee. It will just be stressing her out more. Adult dogs wee on the floor when there is something wrong, either stress, or a bladder problem, or she could be uncomfy if unspayed, phantom pregnancy and lots of other things. Lots of things have changed for her, and you yourself say that you haven't exercised her as much as you used to. Added to that a baby that gets attention when it wees itself and you've got yourself a confused little doggy. I would take her to the vet to rule out bladder problems, and lady problems, but if its not that, then you have to accept that its probably down to changes in her circumstances, stress, frustration. Some people suggest feeding more food in the morning than evening to help a dog last through the night so there's not as much pressure on her bladder i suppose, also try giving her loads of praise when she wee's out doors, like she is still a puppy, and try and exercise her as much as she needs. Also you need to scrub the floor with a cleaner specifically for cleaning dog wee smells, some people suggest biological washing liquid to remove all traces of smell, so she doesn't repeat wee in the same place.

 

[banana]

Vet!!

Welcome to Dog Forum - i would like to see a picture of your border terrier.....

 

[murphyrules]

you need to take your dog to the vet quickly if she is producing breast milk she is either pregnant or having a false pregnancy which can potentially lead to a life threatning condition called Pyometra. A false pregnancy could explain most of the symptoms she has. Get her to the vets is the best advice I can give you.

 

[NewMe]

Well we were only doing it when she weed on the rug - just brought her nose close to the wet patch really. She definitely wasn't covered in it We aren't harsh with her, on the whole she is a rather spoiled happy doggie

And she definitely knows what that is about. She looks guilty when we get up in the morning - she knows she's been naughty! So she does relate the two.

Thanks for your ideas about food and cleaning - will give it a go. And yes, I guess it's time to take her to the vet

shoving her nose in it is an old wives tale and it will not help. Dogs don't learn in that way. If you spot her doing it, you can shout no, but it is pointless, and really harsh, to shove her nose in it after the fact, she won t relate the two, and she will wonder why her loving owner is suddenly turning on her, her 'upset' reaction is because she is scared, not to mention covered in her own wee. It will just be stressing her out more. Adult dogs wee on the floor when there is something wrong, either stress, or a bladder problem, or she could be uncomfy if unspayed, phantom pregnancy and lots of other things. Lots of things have changed for her, and you yourself say that you haven't exercised her as much as you used to. Added to that a baby that gets attention when it wees itself and you've got yourself a confused little doggy. I would take her to the vet to rule out bladder problems, and lady problems, but if its not that, then you have to accept that its probably down to changes in her circumstances, stress, frustration. Some people suggest feeding more food in the morning than evening to help a dog last through the night so there's not as much pressure on her bladder i suppose, also try giving her loads of praise when she wee's out doors, like she is still a puppy, and try and exercise her as much as she needs. Also you need to scrub the floor with a cleaner specifically for cleaning dog wee smells, some people suggest biological washing liquid to remove all traces of smell, so she doesn't repeat wee in the same place.

 

[NewMe]

Banana,

Thanks, I guess so!

Here are a couple of pics for you

you need to take your dog to the vet quickly if she is producing breast milk she is either pregnant or having a false pregnancy which can potentially lead to a life threatning condition called Pyometra. A false pregnancy could explain most of the symptoms she has. Get her to the vets is the best advice I can give you.

Thanks, it does look like a false pregnancy... We will take her to the vets next week.

 

[hanneroon]

ok, sorry if i sounded mean! She will be feeling bad, as dogs do understand about peeing inside once they a capable of holding it, she will have done it cos she really needed to, maybe the rug smelt the most like outside or something. Good luck with her at the vets, lovely photo's, i also own a stick shredder!

 

[NewMe]

ok, sorry if i sounded mean! She will be feeling bad, as dogs do understand about peeing inside once they a capable of holding it, she will have done it cos she really needed to, maybe the rug smelt the most like outside or something. Good luck with her at the vets, lovely photo's, i also own a stick shredder!

Yeah definitely - rug is more like outside!

Thanks

 

[Tigernidster]

She doesn't know what she has done wrong at all!. She gets vibes from you that she you are cross with her - she cannot make the connection as to the reason you are angry with her. This is a misconception that so many dog owners get wrong.

Please be kind to her or she will simply become more stressed and therefore more likely to wee indoors.

 

[NewMe]

She doesn't know what she has done wrong at all!. She gets vibes from you that she you are cross with her - she cannot make the connection as to the reason you are angry with her. This is a misconception that so many dog owners get wrong.

Please be kind to her or she will simply become more stressed and therefore more likely to wee indoors.

I am sorry but I cannot agree. Sometimes I know if she weed or not by the way she looks when I come into the room in te morning. Maybe my dog is super clever or something, but she knows when she has been naughty.

 

[hanneroon]

hey guys i knid of think you are both right. Dogs will respond to your body language, and they will act funny if they are in a situation in which they got told off before.....

What a dog isn't capable of is withholding going to the loo if it needs to. It cannot forsee that by responding to an urge to wee it will get told off. All it knows is last time there was a pool of wee you weren't happy. Dogs instinctively won't go in their own den i.e. Your house, but if they are ill they cannot be blamed.....

If you do punish a dog for weeing, it will just learn that wee makes you cross, and it will wee somewhere else where it hopes you won't see it. I have known dogs that have been told off for weeing indoors and they exhibit all sorts of funny behaviour, from not weeing on a walk with the person that shouts, to literally being scared of kitchen roll and spray bottle, and then weeing through fear. Its best just to praise them for doing it in the right place. I still say goodboy to mine for weeing somewhere acceptable and he's nine i also shout no if he's going somewhere awful, but not too harshly and i pat his head when he stops. An old greyhound i knew used to regularly wee in my toolbucket! I'd shout no at him too!

 

[Tigernidster]

She doesn't know what she has done wrong at all!. She gets vibes from you that she you are cross with her - she cannot make the connection as to the reason you are angry with her. This is a misconception that so many dog owners get wrong.

Please be kind to her or she will simply become more stressed and therefore more likely to wee indoors.

I am sorry but I cannot agree. Sometimes I know if she weed or not by the way she looks when I come into the room in te morning. Maybe my dog is super clever or something, but she knows when she has been naughty.

An experiment was carried out using theft as the topic. The dogs' owners left their dogs in a room with food. Unknown to the owners, the food was removed but on their return the owners assumed the food had been stolen and eaten by the guilt shown by the dogs. The dogs sensed the owners' displeasure immediately.

Of course your dog is super clever - she sees your body language and feels your vibes very strongly indeed. Dogs want to please - they know instinctively when they have not but they cannot work out why unless you can gently reprimand them at the instant they "misbehave".

 

[eingana]

I think that it's very likely that the majority of her problems are to do with there being a new tiny pack member and her hormones are really screwed up with her trying to do her bit to be extra helpful for you and the baby, so if you sort out the hormones and the phantom pregnancy she will be a significantly happier beastie (and be safer too- pyometra is a killer).

Animals do know about when you're having a baby and they do understand that babies are special in the family, meriting their extra special attention and help, and I think that the fact that she's having a phantom and making milk shows quite how invested she is in wanting to help you with the baby.

My dog Molly fosters kittens. Officially it's me that does it, but it's not really, it's Molly. I just provide bottles of milk- Molly does everything else. Molly was spayed before she had any experience of puppies or of real hormonal maturity and I have never taught her any of the things she does, but it goes to show that the behaviours that go along with mothering are there in our animals innately. How else would she know how to cuddle them up to her tummy fur? The other GSD I know that fosters is also spayed but she still makes milk for her 'babies' and none of them are dogs. Last time I saw her she was rearing 3 rabbit kits and a squirrel kit, like a good proud GSD mum.

Please don't judge your girl or get too angry with her about this. She must be trying so hard to do the right thing (even though she's getting it really wrong) and while she's a hormonal mixed up girl she's not likely to be able to learn lots because she's in a situation where she's not entirely responsible for her actions. Your anger will just make her even more concerned at the moment because she doesn't know why you're cross with her.

Get her to a vet, get the hormones under control, book her in for spaying as soon as you can after this (having had one phantom puts a dog at a hugely greater risk of them happening after every season, and they're no fun for the dog even if they don't end up with pyometra), get a steam cleaner or some decent odour killer on the patches where she's peed so it's properly clean to a doggy nose, then start again from scratch on the training, rewarding for good behaviour and building her back up to knowing what she should be doing and when.

Good luck you'll get there

 

[NewMe]

I think that it's very likely that the majority of her problems are to do with there being a new tiny pack member and her hormones are really screwed up with her trying to do her bit to be extra helpful for you and the baby, so if you sort out the hormones and the phantom pregnancy she will be a significantly happier beastie (and be safer too- pyometra is a killer).

Animals do know about when you're having a baby and they do understand that babies are special in the family, meriting their extra special attention and help, and I think that the fact that she's having a phantom and making milk shows quite how invested she is in wanting to help you with the baby.

My dog Molly fosters kittens. Officially it's me that does it, but it's not really, it's Molly. I just provide bottles of milk- Molly does everything else. Molly was spayed before she had any experience of puppies or of real hormonal maturity and I have never taught her any of the things she does, but it goes to show that the behaviours that go along with mothering are there in our animals innately. How else would she know how to cuddle them up to her tummy fur? The other GSD I know that fosters is also spayed but she still makes milk for her 'babies' and none of them are dogs. Last time I saw her she was rearing 3 rabbit kits and a squirrel kit, like a good proud GSD mum.

Please don't judge your girl or get too angry with her about this. She must be trying so hard to do the right thing (even though she's getting it really wrong) and while she's a hormonal mixed up girl she's not likely to be able to learn lots because she's in a situation where she's not entirely responsible for her actions. Your anger will just make her even more concerned at the moment because she doesn't know why you're cross with her.

Get her to a vet, get the hormones under control, book her in for spaying as soon as you can after this (having had one phantom puts a dog at a hugely greater risk of them happening after every season, and they're no fun for the dog even if they don't end up with pyometra), get a steam cleaner or some decent odour killer on the patches where she's peed so it's properly clean to a doggy nose, then start again from scratch on the training, rewarding for good behaviour and building her back up to knowing what she should be doing and when.

Good luck you'll get there

Thank you ever so much for your response! This is great advice. I am much happier now - at least I have a plan of action now! Thanks.

 

[hanneroon]

teehee! On the stealing thing.....

My dog was never interested in food and never stole. Now he's neutered he will occassionally. I don t tell him off, as it is my fault for leaving food within his reach. Consequently i don't get the 'guilty' reaction. I get a dog sitting bold as brass and staring at the thing he stole from and actually begging! makes it much easier to read his intentions if he thinks he's not in trouble...... In that experiment he'd be looking sad if someone else had taken it and pleased with himself if he had.

Good luck with your girl this week, glad your feeling happier,

 

[eingana]

If it makes you feel any better, my blameless Shepherd Molly stole and ate half a bag of dates today. I am not looking forward to whatever this is going to do to her guts tomorrow though...

 

[Rosie33]

Hi,

If she's producing milk, she's definitely having a phantom pregnancy and she does need to see your vet.

Is she drinking more than usual? Often, bitches having a phantom pregnancy will and this could be the cause of her weeing overnight.

Also, difficult as it is, when she has weed, the best thing to do is to put her outside and clean it up without saying anything. If she's anticipating you being annoyed with her in a morning, this could be making her anxious overnight, which will make the problem worse.

Susan x

 

[hanneroon]

oh dear, stand back! I'm pretty lucky dude has a tummy of steel, he's eaten some worrying things with no effect whatsoever! dates would test that though i'm sure. The dog at work managed to eat two senna tablets recently, she chewed the whole pack up (which got us really panicking!!), and we found all but two, pretty glad to leave work that day...

 

[Macha]

I wouldnt be sure about the advice re spaying because it is fairly common, maybe about 20%, for bitches to become incontinent after spaying. Often hormone medication is given to deal with this problem. I've also seen advice to feed a bitch raspberry leaf supplements for 12 weeks after the onset of her season, as a preventative for phantom pregnancy. (I would spay a bitch who'd suffered pyrometra; in that case the risk of a repeat occurence of pyro would certainly be greater concern than the risk of incontinency). I hope the lactation isnt due to real pregnancy or, even worse, disease.

I would tend to agree that what we see as a "guilty expression" is simply our dog's knowing that we are displeased, not knowing what they have done wrong.