Pet Articles
Dog Urinates in Home
One of pet owners’ greatest frustrations is inappropriate elimination in the house. When the beloved family dog starts to use the living room as his own personal restroom, owners are understandably distraught. Aside from the monetary and time costs of cleaning up the mess left by their dog, the most serious cost can be to the relationship between pet and master. Unable to understand, and therefore cope with, the reasons underlying a pet’s continued housesoiling, some owners choose to give up their animal altogether. This scenario is unfortunate, and often unnecessary, considering that the behaviour is one that is easier to manage than most owners think.
The first thing that dog owners must understand is that there are many causes of inappropriate urination in the dog. Pinning down the cause is often half the battle, since identifying the problem helps us to select the appropriate treatment and greatly increase the odds of its success.
What would cause a mature dog to urinate in the home despite being given ample opportunity to do so outside? There are medical reasons and behavioural ones, and any vet will tell you that distinguishing between the two is crucial and often dictates the type and success of treatment.
Medical Causes
There are many diseases, especially in older animals, that may manifest themselves as housesoiling. Many geriatric dogs drink and urinate significantly more than usual – something your vet may refer to as “PU/PD”, or “polyuria/polydipsia” – as a result of kidney disease, diabetes, Cushing’s disease, and others. This is why it is important to mention significant increases in your pet’s water consumption to your vet. Dogs needing to relieve themselves more frequently than usual may in fact be suffering from bladder infections, prostate problems, or even tumours of the urinary tract. Incontinence is another culprit. Incontinence can result from neurological dysfunction or decreased urinary sphincter function. Also, geriatric pets may urinate in the home as their cognitive function and awareness of their surroundings declines.
A thorough history, including details about the volume, frequency, and colour of urination can help point your vet in the right direction. In addition, a laboratory analysis of your pet’s urine sample – or urinalysis – with or without simple bloodwork, can be invaluable. Often times, what appeared to be a behavioural problem turns out to have a medical basis, and can then be treated accordingly. Lab tests available through your vet not only rule out behavioural causes, but can help to narrow down the possible medical causes.
Treatment for medical causes of inappropriate elimination very much depends on the cause and the individual patient. Talk to your veterinarian.
Behavioural Causes
In puppies and young dogs, peeing in the house most often stems from insufficient housebreaking training. Urination in response to excitement or as a show of submission to other dogs or people is also common.
Separation anxiety can be an underlying cause of inappropriate elimination. Dogs that are highly bonded with their owners may become distressed by their absence, particularly if the owner has recently had longer periods away from home than usual. Older dogs are especially prone to experience this. Dogs with separation anxiety often show behavioural changes in response to cues of their masters’ impending exit, such as jingling keys or putting on a coat. During and after this time, they will express their upset with signs of overt agitation and restlessness (vocalization, pacing) or with depression (decreased willingness to get up or eat).
The cornerstones of managing separation anxiety include increasing daily exercise (to tire your pet out in advance), desensitizing your pet to your exit routine, and slowly letting pets get used to your absence in small, rather than large or sudden, increments. Leaving dogs with chew toys, other pets, or simply leaving the TV on for them, will help to divert attention away from your absence. In severe cases, a vet may prescribe dog-specific sedatives.
Marking, or urinating small amounts on upright objects, is a behaviour that is likely familiar to the owners of unneutered male dogs. Everyone has seen a male dog lift its leg on a fire hydrant outside, but problems arise when your good loveseat becomes the stand-in. Marking indoors is often the result of territorial instincts being triggered. Watching through the living room window as a strange dog or person approaches or even walks past the house can lead a motivate a male dog to mark his home turf – literally.
Neutering intact males stops marking in over half of these dogs. Another option is to minimize the stimuli leading to marking by keeping pets away from windows, so passersby stay out of their line of sight. Redirecting the marking behaviour toward an upright stake outdoors, and rewarding urination at this appropriate site with food or praise, is also a strategy that some owners find helpful.
The Bottom Line
In summary, owners don’t need to wring their hands when faced with urination in the house. A thorough history, physical exam, and urine tests performed by your vet will help distinguish medical from behavioural roots of the problem, and help tailor a treatment to your pet accordingly. Armed with an understanding of the cause of the problem, a treatment strategy, and a little patience, the family living room no longer has to double as your dog’s restroom.
By Rebecca Greenstein – Pets.ca writer
Hi,
My fixed male continues to urinate in one particular spot at night regardless of what time I walk him at.
We go on three lengthy walks per day, with a hour long run/play session on the second walk.
I have tried cleaning the area repeatedly, even varnishing it and still he chooses to urinate there.
I tried sectioning off that area and he will go against whatever I use to block it off.
He is entirely healthy, having been examined by our vet.
I am thinking it is more a form of habit.
Would putting some sort of diaper on him work?
A friend of mine suggested that I close the door to my room at night so that he can’t go outside to pee in his pee spot.
I didn’t do that as my other two dogs would be constricted to being stuck in my room, also my cats need to get to their litter boxes, food and water.
Nothing i do seems to help. I ignore the urine, do not even acknowledge it, I simply put newspaper on it to absorb it.
I use only positive reinforcement with my dogs. I don’t want to crate him at night as he is accustomed to sleeping with us. I will if I have to though, this way I could take him out first thing in the morning to walk him.
I can’t afford an animal behaviouralist and don’t know what to do anymore. Please help!
Thank you!
Janet
Please post this question in our forum where you will get good answers.
We have 4 shelter dogs, 2 female, 2 male. My male dogs, one 10 lbs. the other 70lbs. continue to mark my entire house. If it has a leg they will urinate on it. The worst has been lately, they have decided to urinate on my bed and the pillows on it. My bedding is in the washer on a regular basis, you would think that just closing the door would be enough, but we have lever doors and the large dog can open any door. This is never done when I can catch them. It is always after we leave. They are really well behaved with this problem being overwhelming. Help
First off dogs only want to please humans so this is unintentional. Given that this is the second untrained dog….you need to actively solve this with dog training from a pro as you are not having luck doing this yourself. You will have to invest some time and a bit of cash on this.
ssscat is something you can try to discourage marking behaviour in specific areas http://www.amazon.ca/s?ie=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=kitchen&field-keywords=SCCCat
If your male dogs are not neutered, neuter them as this can help.
If the dog can open a lever….change the lock to a cheap handle.
Good luck!
Hi everyone, I have a beautiful 3 year old male dog who I neutered when he was 1 year old, I walk all three of my dogs three lengthy walks per day.
He continues to urinate during the night in one spot. I heard that putting treats where they urinate will end their wanting to urinate where they eat.
I have tried varnishing the floor there, I clean it daily with vinegar.
I have reverted back to using newspapers, he is perfectly healthy.
My other two dogs do not do this at all. I only use positive reinforcement with my dogs, all three are very bonded with me.
I thought about using a diaper, ( but he would tear it off), a friend suggested that I close the bedroom door at night but I also have cats who need their litter box. I love him so much so it is more of an issue of why is this happening? He gets lots of love and praise when he pees outside.
After he urinates on this spot he looks sheepish. I wait to change the newspapers so he doesn’t see me, ( hard to do since they all follow me room to room).
Has anyone had a similar experience that they were able to successfully overcome? Thank you!
Hi, I have inherited my mother in laws six year poodle. She is house trained BUT when she gets mad she wets in my house or even on my bed. I have had her one year. I have had her checked for medical reasons. She is healthy! I feel she does it out of spite. I just never know what makes her mad. I walk her everyday. Except for the wetting she seems well adjusted. Scarlett is crated when we are away. Lately, she has started staying away from us at night during the waking hours. We do have a 10 year old doxie. They seem to get along fine.
This question is better suited to our forum where other members can chime in. Feel free to register there and post this question for free. Good luck!
I brought home a shy 4 y-o mongrel from a home that was used to famly conflict. (He love his “mum”, but probably had a rough time from his “dad”, I gather.
I took him out for 6 longish walks on his 1st day, but he didn’t wee once. He’s settled in very well and is very happy in our ground floor flat, and I took him a walk late last night before bed. As I was brushing my teeth he eventually had a wee all across the bedroom carpet!!!
His “mum” did warn us that he’d recently started weeing up chairs, and this might have contributed to his being placed for Rescue adopion.
I’m hoping it’s a passing phase and that a secure happy home might help, but can anyone please give any advice?
Here’s an article that may help. If it doesn’t I recommend that you have this same conversation with your vet.
http://www.pets.ca/dogs/articles/dog-urinates-in-home/
Good luck!
Thanks, Marko, but I’d already read that article. Thanks all the same.
I have a three year old female beagal. She has started suddenly to pee on the bed. We had her checked for urinary problems and she is fine. We have had to return to the crate when we are not home. Is this a simple case of separation anxiety or does someone else have a theory. Would love to hear from someone who has seen this behavior change.
This question is better posed to the members on our pet forum. Good luck!
We have a 17 year old Yorkshire Terrier/Pug Cross, he has always been house trained, up until about a year ago, the pooing and weeing occur whilst we are still in the house, every morning we come down to this and have to clear and clean the area, mop and wait for it to dry before starting the kids breakfasts and school lunches. We have tried everything, we are at our wits end, especially with the smell, the house stinks, we have cleaned, moped, sprayed, lit candles, leave the back door open for fresh air (which is not good in winter) and about everything else, we honestly dont know what else we can do. Help please.
First off, please be compassionate with your elderly dog. Some dogs, just like some humans lose bowel and bladder control when they age. You might consider doggie diapers at night or a pee pad in the area the dog relieves itself.
Secondly, has this dog seen a vet? There are medical conditions that may be causing this and if these are not investigated your frustration is very much misplaced.
Dogs never want their owners to be upset with them, they LIVE to please us. But all living bodies start to fail at one point or another….and older dog bodies that are having problems require a vet to check them out.
Good luck!