German Shepherd Sudden 'Bed Wetting'

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dangermouse64

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Hi,

My Mums 6 year old german shepherd has starting peeing on his bed (in our hallway) at first I thought he'd been caught short as I've started a second job so I'm not home as much during the day although when I worked full time a few years ago he was fine from 8am until 6pm. My own dog (13year old cross breed) is still fine all day.

We've started popping home on dinner breaks to let them out but he still peed in the hallway. Last night I got home to find that he'd peed on the bed yet again but this time he was panting and looked generally 'odd' I didn't tell him off as thought he was ill so rang mum (she works at a vet, very handy lol) and she brought home a sample pot.

Had his urine tested today to see if this could be caused by something like diabetes but the tests have come back normal so it's looking like a behavioural issue instead.

I can't see anything that's changed other than my second job but 5-7 hours a week means he's still not left on his own for all that long, he's never had toiletting issues in the past and has my dog for company all day.

What can I do to try stop him wetting the hallway? I orginally suggested to my Mum that we get a kennel and leave him outside during the day but he's a companion for my 13 year old who has seperation anxiety and I don't really want to keep an arthritic dog outside.

Any ideas very welcome, cup of tea for those that read this far.

Dani.x
 
There can be other causes apart from diabetes - I'd get a thorough check, could be cushings, could be a bladder tumour or something similar, a UTI he's picked up,

The bed needs to be discarded and the area cleaned thoroughly to encourage him not to mark there again.
Also make sure his food or the heating on in the house may not be making him drink more therefore cannot hold it for so long.

Also could you do one thing for me, please check around his bum and tail area, if there is anything untoward, please go back to the vet immediately, I recently lost a five year old GSD to anal furunculosis. I really don't mean to scare you but anything untoward in the nether regions would need to be checked out.
He had multiple UTIs as a youngster, they were not diabetes or cushings but related to a mass of tissue in his bladder which took a good strong dose of antibiotics to clear.
 
Thanks for replying.

It wasn't just diabetes they tested for this morning, I just can't remember the other ones and typing in a hurry as I'm at work at the moment.

I'll have a look at his nether regions when I get home. The beds have been thrown away due more to the smell than the worry of him marking, I'm spending more money on beds than food at the moment lol.

I'll also get the vets to do a more thorough exam to make sure there isn't anything else, he doesn't seem any different apart from last night when he was panting but that stopped after about 10 minutes of us being in so could have been anxiety that he was going to be told off.

If there isn't anything wrong with him (fingers crossed there wont be) what would you recommend doing to retrain him? It's a few years since I house trained a puppy and he's slightly bigger so more mess lol.

Thanks

Dani.x
 
Is there anything that could have given him a fright while you were out? Any unexpected callers or loud noises or anything out of the ordinary?

The best way is to curtail them and make it plain, this area is for sleeping, that area is for toileting, YAY, but you have to be with them to retrain it.

Other than that an outside run may be an option.
 
CaveCanem said:
Is there anything that could have given him a fright while you were out? Any unexpected callers or loud noises or anything out of the ordinary?

The best way is to curtail them and make it plain, this area is for sleeping, that area is for toileting, YAY, but you have to be with them to retrain it.

Other than that an outside run may be an option.
Click to expand...



I'm not sure whether anything could have given him a fright, neighbours have said they didn't bark anymore than usual (when we leave in a morning for a couple of minutes and then when they hear the car come down the street) so doesn't sound like anyone called at the house but again can't be sure about loud noises.

The outside run would be a fab option were it not for my little arthritic pooch and if they end up with a heated outdoor run I think I'll take to eating dog food and peeing on the carpet lol.

He's booked in at the vets on monday, we've got one of our cats going in for a medication check so we've snuck him into the same appointment. We're going to get a thorough check done and go from there, fingers crossed if there is anything wrong with him we'll have caught it early as all this started less than two weeks ago.

Thanks for all the advice, I'll no doubt be back for more if it is a case of back to basics training.

Dani.x

Ps can you litter train a dog?
 
Is he leaking while asleep or deliberately peeing, my dog left large wet patches in her bed whilst asleep, tests discovered spondylitis in her spine, basically inflammation meant she couldn't feel what was happening. She was about 6 at the time. Daily dose of rimadyl & 7 years later she's still fine.
 
I don't want to worry you either but when this happened to our senior GSD it turned out to be kidney trouble; he had a very high white blood cell count indicative of an infection, or cancerous growth. In the event, we think it was cancer, we lost him shortly afterwards. I’m not suggesting that’s the case with your chap but it might be worth checking with the vet whether the tests showed an elevated white blood cell count. As for re-training, I’d approach it in the same way as training a puppy; praise when he pees outside, ignore behaviour you don’t want, encourage him with puppy pads if needs be, try a crate so he knows not to pee where he sleeps. Having said that I think it’s unlikely that he’s just being naughty; I don’t really know of any dogs that forget how to hold it in, but accept that my experience isn’t as extensive as a lot of other folk.
 
My collie dog was one who would wet in the house even when he had not long come in from the garden ,one day I watched on t v a programme called ask the experts all about dogs ,silly me used household cleaners to remove the smell ,not a good idea as most household cleaners contain ammonia , and encouraged the dog to wet again . The advise of the expert is clean with a solution of vinegar and water and the smell is neutralised if you want to then make the area smell fresher use non bio soap powder biological powder has enzymes so no good , so I did as they suggested and it worked .If no medical problems you could give it a try . Hope this helps
 
Thanks for replying everyone.

He went for blood tests on monday just waiting for the results to come back. Vet had a very good feel and said there was nothing she could find but doesn't mean there isn't anything there.

He's not drinking any more than normal and isn't acting any differently.

I could understand it being bad behaviour if his routine had drastically changed but it hasn't, they get fed in a morning and then pootle about the garden doing their business while we see to our foster cats, we clean the mess up on our way back into the house and then set off for work. We leave at 8am and one of us is back by just gone 12.30 and they're let straight out.

This morning however we fed them at 7.30 as normal, got the clean stuff ready for foster cats and went back into the hallway, 5 mins max, he blatantly just pee'd on his bed in front of us! didn't cry to be let out or pace like you'd expect if he was desperate, just stood there and let rip which means I've now had to put towels down for them to lay on untill I can sort another new bed after I finish work.

It sounds awfull but I'm starting to hope it is a medical problem rather than a behavioural one, if it's just bad behaviour then it means retraining mum aswell as the dog (it's hard enough to get her to keep hold of him when we let them out so that he doesn't bowl my poor dog over in his excitement at getting to the neighbours fence). You don't expect after 6years of perfect house training to have to start all over again.

Just feeling a bit fed up this morning, doesn't help cracking your head on the corner of the kitchen cupboard either. Bear with sore head was the perfect description for me this morning lol!

Do the puppy pads you can buy absorb everything? just thinking of how to protect my laminate flooring while we get him sorted.

Thank you again

Dani.x
 
dangermouse64 said:
Do the puppy pads you can buy absorb everything?
Click to expand...

Pads are mostly designed for puppy sized puddles and can flood.

Did your vet mention cushings…..peeing accidents and excessive panting were my almost 12 year olds early symptoms. 6 is abnormally young for cushings so not obvious but that’s the age mine was diagnosed at.

Hope your head is better :)
 
Hi joelb,

Vet said with him not drinking anymore than normal and the panting only being the once (he hasn't even looked bothered since) she said cushings was very unlikely but obviously we should keep an eye out for any symptoms and if we're worried we should get him tested.

All the other tests have come back normal and everything seems to be pointing to bad behaviour.

I've told my mum that we're going back to basics with him but I'm not doing it on my own (she's not very good at sticking to things) so if she doesn't help we'll find a new home for him (we wont but hopefully it'll worry her into training him again)

Fingers crossed he comes right again and we can go back to being a happy relaxed family.

Thanks for all the advice in this thread and wish us luck :)

Dani.x
 
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