Dog peeing in its bed...why?

chabsey

We've got our rescue dog about a month now and she's settling in well, initially whined through the night as I think she was having separation anxiety but we leave the kitchen door open now and she hasn't whined since.

We walk her every day and she always goes to the toilet when she's out on these walks. During the day she spends time out in the garden where she can freely go to the toilet as required or spend time in her kennel which she uses all the time and never goes to the toilet in.

In the evening when we're going to bed I go out the back with her and wait for her to go to the toilet (I praise / reward her when she does) and then let her back in to bed, she sleeps in the kitchen.

During the day she used to occasionally pee in the house but we caught her a couple of times and took her outside and rewarded / praised her for finishing outside. Since then she hasn't gone to the toilet in doors (during the day anyway).

When she was going to the toilet in the house she had been using the mat by the kitchen door until we discovered this and washed it and remove it at night so that stopped.

Now though she's started to either pee in her bed or right beside it where it ends up soaking up into the bed. She doesn't whine so isn't in distress and punishing her in the morning is probably useless as she's unaware of what's been done.

So, how can we stop this happening? We can't catch her in the act, she's not showing any signs of distress and we're regularly washing her bed to remove the odour that might make her think that that's a place to go.

I've tried rubbing vinegar on the floor underneath her bed - no difference. And am out of options at this stage, her bed isn't machine washable so takes ages to hand wash and dry each day.

Any tips or ideas?

seamus

What age is she?

We had a similar problem with our rescue for a while. She still has the occasional night-time accident, but now it's nearly never in her bed.

It may depend on her past. Our suspicion with our dog is that since she had spent most of her life outdoors prior to coming to us, she was unaccustomed to holding it in all night so would find herself unable to do so.

She peed in her bed initially because she doesn't like peeing on solid surfaces, only soft ones where it can soak in...

Is it occuring every night or only some nights?

RoastBeefDinner

Firstly I think your doing great so far in that she is beginning to understand (during daylight hours) that the loo is outside. You haven't said how old she is or her breed not that it matters too much but it may help owners of similar breeds to assist you better.
If she is under 6 months then I'm afraid you need to get up in the night and let her out for a pee. Do you leave water out for her when she goes to bed? Try removing the water at bedtime, after she has done her pee and that may help.

seamus

I should also mention that the dog doesn't enjoy peeing on or beside her bed any more than you would so she's likely only peeing because she can't physically hold it any longer.

Scolding her when you come down won't help as you mention because she won't link the scolding with the pee.

chabsey

Sorry, should have said: Jack Russell cross, about 2 years old, so out of puppy stage.

chabsey

seamus wrote: »

Is it occuring every night or only some nights?

Only the last few nights, I have a suspicion that this is because I've moved the mat which was beside the kitchen door and also right beside her bed. She used this mat regularly, we'd no idea how much until I decided to wash it and the water ran yellow for about 10 minutes, it was saturated and obviously where she'd been going for a while without us realising.

lorebringer

One of ours does this on and off (and has done since we adopted him at 6 months). For him, it's a smell and texture thing. It mainly happens in clean or new beds, on his bed when another dog has been sleeping in it and on fleece bedding. It took us a while to figure out the texture problem, as he was peeing on our bed all the time and we couldn't figure out why. We contacted a trainer and they suggested it may be the fabric - light bulb went off and we realised that he only pees on fleece/fleece like blankets. We removed all the textured blankets and the peeing stopped. Now it is very infrequent (on his own bed) but he will still do it if left for a very long period of time without being about to go out (only in his bed, not on the floor). We think he thinks that peeing in his bed is "safe" (even though he really doesn't like resorting to it) and generally it's just a once off when it happens now.

Washing the bedding in a mild solution on a warm wash rather than a harsh bleach on a very high temperature will help it is is a smell association problem. The dog will want to smell himself off his own bed and if you wash away all the smell of him he may be "marking" his bed as his own by peeing in it.

Feeding him in the place he pees is a very good method to stop them peeing - a dog will not eat and pee/poo in the same place (even less so than pee/poo and sleep in the same place). Crate training is often reinforced using this method and it worked well for us when we were trying to get our guy out of the habit of peeing in his bed. It's simple but very effective and, as I said already. it's only the odd pee in the bed we have to deal with now (and it's usually due to smell anyway).

RoastBeefDinner

chabsey wrote: »

Only the last few nights, I have a suspicion that this is because I've moved the mat which was beside the kitchen door and also right beside her bed. She used this mat regularly, we'd no idea how much until I decided to wash it and the water ran yellow for about 10 minutes, it was saturated and obviously where she'd been going for a while without us realising.

I was going to say because of moving the mat she is more than likely afraid to do it elsewhere so she will do it in her bed.
By the sounds of it she has already copped on that outside is the place to go but at night she has no way of getting out there. Could you use a dog flap?
Otherwise it's back to basics and put a sheet by the door at night. Her wetting the bedding could be become a bigger issue if you let it continue. I can only assume a 2 year old Jack Russell should easily be able to hold it in till morning. Does she drink a lot in the evening? What are her feeding patterns like?

Whispered

I don't know if a 2 year old would automatically be able to hold overnight. Is bladder control a trained thing? Like if the dog has lived outdoors so far, they would have never had a need to learn to hold for any length of time. Would you have to begin as if s/he was a pup, only learning to control themselves?

I would also suggest paper in the room for her to pee on while in training. The aim would be for her to not use it, but just in case she does need to, it would be better for her to have an option besides her bed.

Well done on the progress so far!!

seamus

Whispered wrote: »

I would also suggest paper in the room for her to pee on while in training. The aim would be for her to not use it, but just in case she does need to, it would be better for her to have an option besides her bed.

I think this will work best alright. The dog doesn't want to pee in the house, but can only hold it for so long. With the paper, the dog will hold it for as long as possible before letting go and will gradually build up the bladder control.

Your only alternative (if you don't want to be cleaning it up) is to get up in the middle of the night to let the dog out, and gradually increase the length of time between bedtime and peeing until the dog is able to hold it all the way to morning.

My dog used to go mental to be brought out for a pee first thing in the morning. Now when I let her out of the kitchen she stumbles straight into her other bed in the sitting room and goes back to sleep.

**Vai**

2 year old dog still peeing its bed doesnt sound right to me. If it keeps up Id be paying a visit to the vet for a bladder check. In the meantime just dont give him/her any water for a few hours before u go to bed and make sure he/she goes to the toilet before going to bed. They dont always want to leave the comfort of inside for a late night pee but its better than sleeping on a pee stained bed.

Amberjack

I am wondering if your dog could possibly have a bit of incontinance from spaying? While not that common, it does happen to a small percentage of dogs, I have a springer who was spayed just before her first heat and she became incontinant shortly after. We initially noticed that from time to time she would be coated in urine and her vulva would be a bit swollen.
If this is the case, its nothing to be really worried about as it is easy treated with medication. Our girl gets a bit of Propalin syrup in her dinner each night and that does the trick - this med isnt too expensive.
It's just an idea I'm throwing out to you!
Good luck

chabsey

Update:

This is still going on. Last night we moved the dog's bed into the middle of the kitchen as we thought maybe she was trying to pee on the kitchen mat which used to be right beside her bed. She was also in a different bed as we were drying her one after washing it.

This morning she had pee'd again and there didn't appear to be any attempt on her part to have moved from the bed (a couple of small droplets aside).

I'm thinking of buying a crate and trying that. I don't think it's incontinence as she never pees in the house now except at night. I have a feeling she just doesn't want to get out of bed.

We had also tried feeding her directly beside her bed to make it feel more like a place she wouldn't want to soil. No difference.

What do people do in these situations? It's very frustrating, maybe a crate is the answer but I know she'll whine if locked up.

**Vai**

chabsey wrote: »

I'm thinking of buying a crate and trying that. I don't think it's incontinence as she never pees in the house now except at night. I have a feeling she just doesn't want to get out of bed.

We had also tried feeding her directly beside her bed to make it feel more like a place she wouldn't want to soil. No difference.

What do people do in these situations? It's very frustrating, maybe a crate is the answer but I know she'll whine if locked up.

Dogs dont want to pee in the same place they sleep, its just not what they do. As I said above, if it keeps up I'd bringing her to the vet as its very unusual. Usually in the first days of housetraining they will pee inside but never in their own bed.
Getting a crate at this point will just lead to her peeing in the crate, which she wont want to do either, Its not solving the problem. Im not an expert and Im sure theres people here who may have a better idea of the cause but it does sound very odd to me.

Wisco

I would imagine the best approach would be to pretend like she's never been housetrained and get up to let her out during the night, same as you would for a very young puppy. Gradually increase the time she's left in at night and see how you go. If this doesn't resolve things, you may need to make sure there's no medical reason for her needing to pee that often.
If she were incontinent, you'd find urine on her coat if she doesn't lick it off, as true incontinence is not controllable (ie, the urine leaks out without the dog being aware of it) vs a dog that pees in its bed because it can't go outside.
I don't think crate training will fix it, although it may help if you're also going to get up during the night to let her out.