Extreme Housebreaking Problem

[dante2zoe]

I am at my wits end and extremely frustrated. We have had Goose for 15 months. He is a shy guy, but has made great strides. He is extremely inconsistent about peeing in the house during the day. He has been on several different long term antibiotics, housebreaking parties outside until the neighbors thought I had lost my mind, positive reinforcement, cranberry pills. He hadn't had an accident since October and has now peed in the house 6 work days out of 7. He has ruined 4 dog beds. We have cats - I cannot have a dog door and my husband absolutely refuses. A dog walker isn't an option where we live. The other 3 can last 8 hours, but he just goes on these spells where he can't. He gets a long walk (45 min) every morning and 2-3 turnouts before I leave for work. They are raw fed - I don't ever see him tanking up on water. His urine has been tested and cultured numerous times, everything looks fine. He is quite healthy and happy, but just can't keep himself dry! He is belly banded every day while I am at work, with a heavy duty Poise pad - he pees through the pad and onto all kinds of things. I love this boy to death, but he is making me crazy. He is 3.5 years old and retired after his maiden races. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't have a crate and he would be miserable. All dogs have free rein of the downstairs and two rooms upstairs. All are muzzled. He isn't too cold and isn't too warm. He also gets up in the middle of the night, but I can't tell if he really needs to go out or if he just wants everyone to run go outside so he can get a different bed. He does switch when he comes back in and I can usually shush him when he starts to whine. Help! He just had his urine tested again and all is well.

[RobinM]

I am hoping you get the magic bullet for this problem. Have you tried either baby gating him in a room with no carpet and a nice big comforter for him to lay on or an expen in an area with no carpet. This way he is not isolated from the others, but until you get it under control, he won't ruin anything.

 

Thank you for loving him enough to help him. Hang in there, it WILL get better.

[dante2zoe]

Thanks for the suggestion, but yes, we tried that. He got extremely distressed. We have actually had to remove all the carpeting in the downstairs due to this problem. We replaced it will linoleum (however you spell it!) and rugs, but otherwise our 9.5 YO Bambi's all over the place. We also had xrays of the bladder done and sent to Dr. C, who didn't see anything out of the ordinary either. He stopped for a while when we brought his littermate home, but is now back to baseline. I am just venting, but it is still frustrating and I have run out of solutions. I try not to project my stress, but sheesh! Thank goodness he is cute!

[RobinM]

 

Thank goodness he is cute!

 

 

I say that everyday about one of them or another. I really hope you get to the bottom of this... soon.

[Fruitycake]

I totally understand how frustrated you must feel.

 

I have no suggestions, just good wishes that I'm sending your way. I too hope you find a magic spell to fix this!

[Batmom]

There are dogs who can't last 8 hours.

 

Sure a dog walker (or "dog letter out" if you have a fenced yard) isn't an option? No reliable teen neighbors, nearby vet techs looking to make a little extra on their lunch hours, etc.?

[JAJ2010]

Ii would try crating just to see if he is more inclined to hold it in there. Maybe he just needs more structure and the crate might help that. Sunshine is crated at night since she cannot be trusted to hold it. Both our girls LOVE their crates

[JAJ2010]

Is it maybe anxiety based? Could try some clomicalm or prozac. If it doesn't work. He doesn't have to stay on it.

[Guest ishapespace]

I would try crating him. We had a problem with Anna, for about the first 8 months we had her, with her peeing the house at night. She, and our other grey, were baby-gated in the bedroom with us, but she would pee in the room. We crated her in the bedroom with us and she was fine. She would go all day free in the house and muzzled, but couldn't make it through the night. She finally got over it and now is just gated in our room with the other two at night and they are all gated in the main room of our house (muzzled) during the day.

 

If you think it's anxiety based, maybe try some melatonin, rather than a prescription med. It will calm him and you can get it without going to the vet.

 

You said you tried gating him, could you gate everyone into a smaller space? Do you leave a TV or radio on? Does he ever do it while you are home, or just when you are gone? Does he hold it all night? I know you mentioned that he sometimes gets up in the night, but if you don't let him out when he does that, does he have an accident?

 

Good luck.

[dante2zoe]

Thanks for the suggestions! I am rather confident that it is a behavioural issue and not medical. He is rather shy and skittish and is my velcro boy. I think he is way too tuned in to me, so to speak. When anxiety was mentioned, it helped me to step back and see the whole picture, not just the pee spot in the middle of the dog bed. This started (this time, after a good 3 months or so) a week after my son returned to college after break. I didn't connect the dots because Kevin worked during the day, but his presence, or lack thereof, is felt in the house. Kimber left 3 weeks earlier and there were no issues, so I didn't think about it.

 

At the same time, the holidays were here with a change in routine and distractions. Meanwhile, I am going through major upheavals at work (lay-offs, salary cuts, etc.), my husband has a lot of medical issues and has been a royal PITA, and a close friend is coping with hospice and family issues with the impending death of her FIL. I also started taking the pups to a weekly playgroup, which Goose likes, but he needs to adjust. Short story, long, I am wondering if he is just on overload (in more ways than one! ) and is sliding.

 

I also took our morning walk a little later today so there was some light and really watched him as we went along. He has been FAKING peeing! He lifts his leg with the others, but nothing happens. Some of our snow melted yesterday and there were some grassy areas visible. He peed like a racehorse there. I think he doesn't like to pee in the snow. I tell you, I got a sensitive boy here! Of course, we are getting ready to get another 2 feet of snow today and tonight, but at least I will be at home for the first couple days of it. I started back throwing a big happy party when I saw him actually pee and am starting over again with that.

 

I am also going to slightly change our morning routine so he knows it means I am gone for a while and see if that doesn't help. I also might try the melatonin but don't want too many changes at once or I won't be able to tell what works! I really hate to crate him or gate him anywhere because he recently found my bed and it makes him so happy to nap there during the day. I can't lock him in there because that is one of the few rooms with carpeting and he has never had an accident up there. He goes downstairs.

 

Lastly, when he whines at night, I tell him to settle down. I will rub his ears (he comes to me for that) and he goes back to sleep. If he gets up a couple more times, I will let him out. Otherwise, I don't. He hasn't had an accident at night if he doesn't get out and can go 10 hours without needing to go out. That is why I think the nighttime shenanigans is knowing he can get them all up so he can switch beds. They are gated in our room at night.

 

Does this sound like a plan?

 

Oh, just so you know who we are discussing, here's the culprit!

[GeorgeofNE]

He's gorgeous!

 

Two qutestion: 1) "Fake peeing," are you sure he's not straining? Because there is a small possibility he could have some sort of stones that kind of come and go. Stones irritating his urinary tract could cause your problem.

 

2) What do you mean when you say "long term" antibiotics?

 

I ask because George took an entire year and over $2,000 in tests which found NOTHING before we landed on the idea of REALLY long term antibiotics--and it worked. And he isn't the first Greyhound my vet has treated in this manner after getting the same weird test results.

 

George had three regular urinalysis, and 2 full on cultures. All of them were 100% normal. And yet he COULDN'T HOLD IT. But every time we'd trying him on antibiotics, within days he'd be fine! Then within 10 days of stopping, he'd start peeing again.

 

Aside from a "greyhound normal" high creatine, all his blood and urine was normal.

 

I started keeping a diary, and the pattern became clear--so the vet told me she'd like to try ONE MORE TIME with the antibiotics, and we gave him 14 weeks of Baytril.

 

Hasn't peed in the house since!

 

PM me if you have any specific questions.

[JAJ2010]

If he's that much of a sensitive boy maybe some anxiety medication couldn't hurt? I'm all about better living through chemical intervention. If he's anxious enough to have an accident that can't be fun for him.