Peeing In Only One Room

[Guest amandagal]

I adopted a young greyhound about a month ago and she's been great. She was housebroken easily, practically begged to go out the first day when she had to potty. She only made three mistakes in the house, once was when she was scared and once was in the guest bed room. The first time, I thought she just did it because she was new and had to go to pee and room was open. The second time, was more recent (I almost always keep that door closed), and in a different spot but I was asleep so I blamed myself, maybe I didn't hear her. Tonight, I was cleaning and I accidentally left that door open again. She did not cry to go out or anything like she normally does. She cried (after the fact, I guess) and I came to get her and take her out...she didn't have to go. I wondered what was up with her, but when I took her back in and noticed the door was open, I also noticed she had already peed.

 

What is up with her and this room? Do I have to keep the door shut forever? That'll be nice for a guest to leave it open and to come in and find their luggage covered in greyhound urine :-)

 

Also, not really related to the behavior, but I noticed her pee is very darkly colored and seems thick...is that normal for them?

[Guest dogdaze]

You might have to leave the door closed until you eliminate the odor completely. Try a product like Febreeze for pet odors, or ask your pet store. Our Beagle was a former laboratory dog and when he first moved in, he peed in the dining room until he was house trained. Now our greyhound will go on the same spot if we are sleeping and don't let her out, which is ok because I don't have carpet anymore, so I just wipe it up and spray some vinegar. It might be a good idea to take a urine sample to your vet to rule out any urinary tract infections. Good luck.

[DocsDoctor]

Her urine does NOT sound normal, please get this checked out by your vet as a matter of urgency! Take a sample of the pee in with you so they can test it. Your description suggests to me that she has a urinary tract infection or is dehydrated, is it very hot with you and does she drink enough water? Has she been running hard in the heat? I don't want to scare you but if so you must contact the vet NOW as that would indeed be very serious (exertional rhabdomylosis)!

 

Re peeing in the spare room if she has an infection this could be influencing her behaviour, but my guess would be that because this room is not one in daily use, she doesn't yet see it as part of the 'house' (as in 'housetraining') and so it's OK in her mind to head off into there and pee if she's taken short. You don't want this to become a habit, so make sure you clean up well, using a proprietary pet-accident cleaner or failing that a solution of biological washing powder. Then you will either need to keep the door shut, or make her aware that this room is part of the house too, either by spending more time in there with her or maybe by feeding her in there for a while. This isn't a problem I personally ha ve had to deal with, but I've heard that a dog won't pee where it's been fed!

[Ragsysmum]

I'd agree with the above post regarding her using the guest room. She needs to learn this is part of the house and not an alternative potty area. With all our new dogs and fosters I leave all the rooms open (except the bathroom where they never go) right from the start and walk them round everywhere so I can stop any signs of toiletting before they really get going. After the first day of being ask 'Do you need to go out' and being taken into the garden roughly every hour regardless, I have never had any problems at all with dogs going anywhere in the house and they all have full free run when we are out.....no crates, no baby gates, no muzzles.

[Batmom]

Sounds like she could have an infection -- I'm with DocsDoctor, I'd get a sample to the vet ASAP.

[TheFullHouse]

Sounds like she could have an infection -- I'm with DocsDoctor, I'd get a sample to the vet ASAP.

 

 

I have to agree and make sure she's drinking enough.

[Guest amandagal]

Thanks for the comments. I guess I can try playing with her in the guest room/watching TV with her etc and see if that helps. I keep the door closed because the cat likes to roll around on the bed and he gets hair all over it!

 

She's just been to the vet early this month, because she cut herself on a rock, and he put on her Baytril for a few days. That covers UTI too, so I doubt it's a UTI. It's possible though.

 

It is also possible she didn't drink enough yesterday, it's been 105 here and she does like to run around. She runs out the door at full speed when we go to pee. I hadn't thought of that. It wasn't rhabdo colored. It was just dark yellow.

[Batmom]

A few days of Baytril won't kill most UTIs, and some UTIs aren't sensitive to Baytril at all.

[GeorgeofNE]

A few days of Baytril won't kill most UTIs, and some UTIs aren't sensitive to Baytril at all.

 

Yeah a "few days" of Baytril won't do much except empty your wallet. I've never heard of any antibiotic being prescribed for less than 10 days.

 

Anyway, as to the OP's issue: you need to remove the odor completely. Vinegar won't do it. Carpet shampoo won't do it. You need something specifically for animal urine, either a commerical product or there are some home made things that I think should work.

 

Otherwise, she's going to smell it, and as others have said, she may consider that a handy alternative outhouse!

 

George's urine is rather dark in color too. He just concentrates it well. It's been tested a LOT, so I know it's normal. Does your girl's urine smell worse than normal?

 

I think you should probably take it in for a testing just to be safe. Won't cost you much, and it's important to know for sure what's normal for her and what's not.

[Guest amandagal]

Thanks for the concern. Like George mentioned, she was on it for the standard course for prevention of skin infection. I was not aware that it was common for UTIs to be resistant to quinolones. They are normally the "canons" of UTI treatment. But, like I said, a UTI is possible (it is common for them to need several courses of treatment). I haven't noticed changes in her frequency of urination. It also wasn't smelly or cloudy. It was just, as George said, super-concentrated looking. Not drinking enough makes more sense than UTI to me, though she hasn't peed on something where I can really see it enough for me to know what her urine normally looks like, because she likes to pee in the grass...though, I'm sure she thinks I'm weird for trying to see it anyway :-)

[Batmom]

If it's ugly and smelly, that is a tipoff ... but with our Gidget's UTIs, her urine has always *looked* just fine. You'd never know she had one unless you did the urinalysis.