Please help, dog urinating in his bed

[125penny]

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Hi all,

I'm looking for a little advice. Please bear with me as I give you a little history as it might be relative! About 7 weeks ago I rehomed a 9year old Jack Russell, he was an outdoor dog who's had a tough life.

When I got him he was living with the lady who owned him's daughter and the brief basic history that's relevant to this post was "he's always lived outside and every time I went round he was lay in a bed off his own pee. He's in the house with me now(the past 5weeks) but keeps having accidents I can't train him".

I thought ok I'm having this wee man, it was love at first sight! I introduced him to my own dog and everything was great. He was walked morning, noon and night and there were very few accidents. Yay thought I!

11 days in the dog couldn't stand, vet felt if was spinal and he was given 50/50 chance of surviving and insurance hadn't kicked in yet (takes 14days) so I was in a pickle. To cut a long story short, numerous trips to the vets and various drugs he survived! Again yay!

However, during those 3 weeks he was in a crate constantly for rest, only allowed out to pee. He started to urinate in the crate. All the time. I thought it might improve once he was back to full health and back on his feet.

He's been out of the crate 2 weeks now and every morning I come down he's pee'd in his bed. He knows to pee outside. If I'm about the house and he needs to go he will go scratch the door to get out, or come jump on me, so I know he, without a doubt, knows to go out side to do it. It's now not only at night, he's started during the day too, my partner nips in 2/3 times a day and lets him out, he's maybe been to the toilet at 3pm and when I come home at 6 the beds wet, so it's not only at longer spells I.e overnight.

Before being in the crate any accident he had was always at the back door, never in his bed, it has only started since being in the crate. He is also urinating in the other dogs bed too and I really don't know how to stop it. I've put training pads down to try an encourage him to at least go on those, but no.

I know he's been an outdoor dog for 9 years so I never expected him to get it straight away, but he was doing so well until the crate thing!

I have never caught him doing it to try and clap my hands n take him outside etc, because as I said, if I'm there n he needs to go he comes n tells me! He's came on so so far since I rehomed him, this is his only wee issue.

Any advice would be greatly received!

 

[gypsysmum]

I assume that the vet has tested his urine etc for cystitis etc? If so he needs retraining.

He must want to wee outside. He is old enough to hold it so you need to train him to really want to hold on. To do this I would use a really tasty treat that he would die for. Take him to the garden and wait until he goes then immediately give him the tasty treat. He must be in no doubt about why he got the treat so tell him "clever boy" as he wees and then follow up straight away with the treat. After a while he should cotton on that wees in the house get him ignored while wees in the garden get him fantastic treats and lots of praise. Do not let him walk towards you for the treat otherwise he may think he got it for coming to you.

For the weeing in the crate, I know it sounds rotten but, as a last resort, could he lay on a non absorbent surface for a while? If there was no bedding then he would get wet if he weed. This will, often, stop a dog from weeing where he lays. Some dogs will aim the wee out of the crate, for this you could line the crate with plastic to make sure it would run down inside and wet him making him hold on until he is

released. Remove all absorbent surfaces from his environment so that he wants to go to the garden to wee where it will not make his feet wet when he goes.

Some dogs have a bad history around weeing and people. They have been chastised when the wee is found and so choose to avoid people when they want to wee. This means they go in the night when everyone is in bed or wait until everyone has gone out. If this is the case with him then it will take even longer for him to trust people to enough to want to go in the garden when someone is there to reward them. If you know how to clicker train then you could use that to reward him, from a distance, for weeing in the garden. Your timing would need to be very good so you might like to enlist the help of an APDT trainer.

To clean up urine in order to prevent a dog over marking use a 10% solution of biological detergent - wash, rinse, dry and then go over the area with a spirit like surgical spirit to lift the last fat deposits.

 

[125penny]

Gypsymum thank you so much for your reply.

It's so frustrating so any help is appreciated! He without a doubt knows that outside is where he goes. As I said if I'm there he will run to the back door and scratch or come jump on me and then go sit at the back door.

I will try taking his bedding away and see if that helps. I also have another dog and they both sleep downstairs. If he doesn't pee in his bed he pees in hers. Today for example I took his bedding away and left hers bedding and he's urinated there. I'm hesitant at taking hers away too as I don't want her to feel like she's being punished.

Before he came along she would have slept either with me or downstairs. Do you think I should keep her up with me a few nights to see how he gets on with no bedding?

 

[gypsysmum]

If you take her away it might cause different problems. Hold that in reserve.

Can you crate train him? There is a lot of advice on here about it. It is the most wonderful tool and you will wonder how you managed without it.

A crate should be big enough for the dog to stand up and turn around and no more. It should be introduced as the most wonderful new toy that the dog could possibly have! Put treats in there and throw toys in there. Encourage your dog to eat in there. Gradually close the door for a few seconds and then a minute or two. Have it in the living area with you and move it around so that the dog can see and hear you at first. Once he is comfortable with being in it then you could use it at night.

Dogs should not urinate where they have to lay, i.e. have no alternative but to lay there. He, should, therefore be dry in a crate and can be taken outside immediately he is released from it be rewarded for going outside.

If, rarely, he is a dog that will pee in a crate then take away absorbent bedding so that he is laying on waterproof bedding which will mean he will have to lie directly in his pee.

If, even more rarely, he still pees by aiming it out of the crate, then line the crate with plastic sheeting so that it comes back at him.

Remember all through this to keep your patience. If he picks up any kind of frustration from you around his urine he will avoid people and wait until he is alone to pee. He must trust people and look forward to getting high value treats and praise outside when he pees there. So very difficult, I know, to hide your feelings at finding yet another puddle to clean up, but vital to help him understand the new rules after all this time.

 

[125penny]

It was when he was in the crate the issue began. He never urinated in his bed before he was in the crate.

He is now sleeping down stairs by himself with no bedding and he is using the training pads instead which is great. I am walking up to him and giving him his treat as you advised. Hopefully he now continues as he is doing. :- )

 

[gypsysmum]

Please don't reward him for using training pads or any other aid that allows the dog to urinate indoors. It is like saying here is your indoor toilet and I am going to reward you for urinating indoors. I understand your desperation to keep the bedding dry but you are just shifting the problem from the bedding to the floor. He should only be rewarded for urinating outside. I know some people advocate moving the pads (or paper) to the door and then outside but the principle is still the same. You are training them to urinate indoors.

The idea of not having any absorbent material is to encourage him to hold on until he can go to the garden and urinate on absorbent material there. This, alongside the rewards, is the best way forward.

You want a dog that actively holds on to its urine in order to get the treat that is only on offer outside.

Every dog is different and perhaps being in a crate made him anxious? Some dogs urinate to relieve anxiety (the act of urinating is a relief). If it is anxiety related then things won't improve until the anxiety does. You may well need the services of a qualified Behaviourist. Take a look at the COAPE and APBC websites. They will expect him to have been checked over by a vet before seeing him.

 

[125penny]

He has never been rewarded at all for urinating on a training pad. He only gets rewarded for going outdoors. In my eyes him going on a pad is great as I'm not washing bedding 3/4 times a day as that's how it was, but he has never been rewarded for using it.

Yesterday and today he hasn't used them at all, he's been holding it which is the end goal.

I've used pads with all my dogs and until this one was in the crate, it was a way that worked for me, that along side being walked and let out numerous times in the day and praise and reward.

Taking the bedding away seemed to do the trick, I will continue as is and then reintroduce it.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[gypsysmum]

Sorry, thought you said you were rewarding him for using the pads. It all sounds like it is going in the right direction. A dog that has laid in his own urine for so long is going to be difficult to train. Well done you for persevering with him!

 

[125penny]

Gypsysmum! Update for you! We are now almost accident free, yay! Removal of the bedding and slowly reintroducing it worked. I would say we're down to maybe one 'accident' a week, if that, and he just does it on the floor rather than his bed.

Thanks so much for the help! x