Yet Another Peeing-In-The-House Plea For Advice

[Guest mirinaaronsmom]

Sorry - this is going to be lengthy. I've read through a multitude of 'accident handling' topics on here, but can't seem to find the answer to my dilemma. I adopted El'zar last April and took a few months to work him up to being able to hold his pee all day while I'm at work. I'm gone for 10 hours, but have had success with previous hounds being able to manage. Occasionally he would have an accident, maybe once a week, while I was at work, but it wasn't consistent. After Labor Day, he went for a month and a half without an accident and I thought we finally had it under control. Then in the middle of October I sat for a friend's hound for 2 weeks and had a sitter come in during the day to let them out. When the guest dog left, he started again - not every day but a couple of times a week. Now it seems to be getting worse. He has started peeing when I have to go out in the evenings. Yesterday he was dry the whole day and then I went to church for an hour last night and he had pee'd. Only once has he pee'd while I'm home and that was when I was in the basement for an hour. (I don't allow him in the basement because I do stained glass and I don't want him to get cut by the shards.) I could hear him pacing and whining upstairs and when I went back up, he had pee'd. He does tell me if he needs to go out when I'm home - it's subtle, but he's never had an accident while I'm there, which leads me to believe it's behavioral. I took in another urine sample last week just to make sure it's not medical and after almost $500 in tests (x-rays, UTI and Lepto), he's healthy.

 

Here is our schedule - I let them out in the back yard at 4:30 am and then feed them. Then we take a 40-minute walk where he mostly squirts on every upright object and won't pee. When he does actually pee for more than 2 seconds, I praise him. Sometimes I let him out in the back yard right before I leave for work (6:15'ish) and sometimes he will have a good pee (10+ seconds followed by a praise party) and sometimes he won't pee at all. The accidents are not consistent with his peeing or not on that last outing. I give both hounds frozen kongs before I leave and he's happily working on that while I exit. I don't think Miri eats hers much, so he essentially gets two of them. When I get home from work at 4:30 pm, they go right out into the back yard. Then I feed them and we go for an hour walk, usually lots of marking. If I have to go out in the evening, I let them out again for a pee before I leave and he usually won't do anything. I have tried limiting his water, which has made no difference. Both hounds are secured in 2 rooms while I'm at work and have full run of the downstairs (except the kitchen) when I have to go out in the evening with access to water which he doesn't touch. I can't crate him because he is a crate chewer - he's missing 3 1/2 of his canines. I have tried using a belly band and he gets it twisted around and pees around it. This past week, I started putting down a pee pad, which I really hated to do, but he has been peeing on that, so at least that is saving my hardwood. And I use Nature's Miracle for clean-ups and have checked the floor with a black light, but I think it has seeped into the cracks between the hardwood and I have no idea how to fix that. He really likes the living room best for his messes.

 

I don't know what else to do. He has ruined the living room rug and is wrecking my beautiful maple floors. And don't tell me to make sure he's empty before leaving, because I don't know how to do that. Please tell me HOW to make sure he's empty. I really need HELP!

[GeorgeofNE]

My dog FINALLY seems to have stopped peeing in the house after I stopped giving him a Kong with peanut butter in it.

 

I have spent thousands of dollars, and run every test, most multiple times. I have tried everything--or so I thought. Then I finally decided to stop with the Kong (he gets two small Milk Bones instead) and viola! No more peeing in the house.

 

My theory is either the peanut butter or sugar irritates something, or simply the excitement of working on it gets him riled up and makes him have to go.

 

It's worth trying, isn't it?

[Ragsysmum]

Maybe it's just stress. If he was alone all day for 10 hours and then you left him for another hour in the evening although he could hear you in the house, I think he just needed to be with you. Probably pacing around because he knew you were in the house but couldn't get to you, would make him need to empty. Sounds like he needs more quality time with you when you are actually in the house.

[Brandiandwe]

The only way I know my hounds are empty are when they try to mark and nothing comes out. Mine pee by marking generally so our walks are very important. Of course hermon seems to have a tardis bladder or manages to refill somewhere on the walks because there's always something in there.

 

Otherwise, you have my sympathies! Brandi is an irregular pee-er and it's very frustrating!

[Guest Clawsandpaws]

What an icky situation. I don't have much advice to help with the emptying, but can you borrow another male dog and have him mark around your yard? See if that will make your boy want to pee, I know it's marking, but if he marks several times, thats better than nothing??

[Guest mirinaaronsmom]

Thanks for the comments. The time he pee'd when I was home, I had been home all day, but I'm sure it was stress. Although I think he just is such a nosey boy, he always wants to know what I'm doing. I certainly can try not giving him the Kongs - at this point, I'll try anything. He had some really good pees on our walk this morning and another one in the yard before I left, but that has happened before and he still has pee'd in the house. These boys seem to have an unlimited supply. Hopefully it will be another dry day when I get home tonight. One day at a time, I guess.

[mom2four]

Hi there, Our Ambi always had peeing problems, and my husband is home with them all day, so it's not SA. Recently we changed his kibbles because the old one listed SALT as an ingredient. (This would be the same idea as a peanut butter kong, unless the PB is unsalted). He's been on his new kibbles for about 6 weeks now and there's been not one pee out of him inside! He can even go more than 2-3 hours between pees now. So that might be something to look into.

 

Good luck!

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

What about a doggie door? You say you let your hounds out, so that means your yard is fenced, so make sure to padlock the gates on your fence, get a doggie door, teach them to use said door, then they can go out whenever they feel the need. Maybe this will help.

[kikibean]

I had a foster who was having problems. The vet was convinced it was behavioral but I pushed her on it and we finally found he had an infected prostate. A course of antibiotics completely fixed the problem.

 

We'd done an exam and at least 2 urine samples and bloodwork and nothing was showing up.

[Guest lulafortune]

We dealt with a similar problem with our hound for the first 8 months we had him. On again off again peeing in the house while we were at work which got progressively worse to include times while we were home or just out for an hour or so. We too had chalked it up to behavioral issues and tried just about everything. Finally we took him to the vet as a last ditch effort and tested him for a UTI. He came up negative, but we decided to still try antibiotics just in case, since a smear of some of his discharge had a little bacteria in it. He stopped peeing in the house on day 2 and has never had an accident since then. It might be worthwhile to try antibiotics if your vet agrees to it. We did a 2 week course of Cephalexin. The vet said that he may have had a case of Urethritis and peeing is a side effect.

 

Hopefully that helps. I know how frustrating it can be.

[Guest mirinaaronsmom]

We had a few good days and then yesterday was another tough one. He stayed dry all day while I was at work, then pee'd while I was upstairs changing clothes, then again while I was at church for an hour, both right after having been out for potty breaks. I'm sure the bitter cold temps aren't helping (-20 windchills yesterday and no relief in sight). We've had to take shorter evening walks due to the low temps. But when he did it while I was upstairs for 10 minutes, I decided he's lost all privileges. Now he has to stay within sight at all times and no more run of the house while I'm out - he found a new spot last night. We have a vet appointment this Saturday so I'll see what my vet says about trying antibiotics. I hate to take any drugs for myself, so I don't like giving stuff to my dogs either, but I'm about at the end of my rope. And maybe it's time to switch kibble. I checked the ingredients and salt is listed about half way through. I dread doing that since I've had some pretty sensitive tummies to deal with in the past, but these two that I have now seem to be pretty stable. I guess it's worth a try - now to do some homework on what to switch to. Thanks again for the suggestions.

[jetcitywoman]

We finally kicked our issue with Capri, and her story is different from others. Everybody was trying to convince me that it was a behavior problem, that she wasn't house trained, which got my back up. (LOL, momma bear: do NOT insult my baby girl!) So we went the full round of vet tests and treatments for UTI, tumors, incontinence, etc. What finally kicked it for us was setting up a web cam in the house, so we could see what she was doing.

 

It was behavioral after all, but not that she wasn't house broken in the normal sense. She's just an independent personality, and if she has to go and nobody is around, she will help herself. The telltale was that she always went in the same spot, same posture: in front of the back sliding glass door, facing out. It was as close to being outside as she could get; logical little pup! After we implemented a potty break immediately before we left the house and before she gets her lunchtime snack, on top of our normal walk and potty break routine, things got better. Then after a few months of frequent required potty breaks, she learned to trust that we will come let her out before she pops, so she holds it longer. So it was behavioral in the sense that it took a little more training for us to teach her to fully trust us to be home in time to let her potty rather than taking matters into her own ... paws.

 

She also learned somewhere along the way to ask to be let out, although we didn't consciously teach that. Part of the problem with her is that she can have a full bladder but ignore it until we were walking out the door and as the door closed she was suddenly like "wait, I have to pee! ARGH!" but we were gone. (Caught that on camera, it was also a big clue, although it looked just like separation anxiety.) So we would tell her when to pee and not let her back in until she at least squeezed out a drop or two. Now she knows the routine and we're all happier.

 

I do recommend not making your dog hold it for 10 hours, though! I sure can't hold my pee for even 5 hours, let alone 10, can you? So I recommend you either get a doggy door or hire a mid-day petsitter to give your pup a mid day potty break.

Edited December 12, 2013 by jetcitywoman

[Guest mirinaaronsmom]

That sounds similar to El'zar's issues. I don't have a webcam and hate to waste the money and headaches trying to figure out how to get it to work. (I'm a bit challenged in that respect) Although I am curious to see if there is a trigger and if he's doing it right after I leave, or right before I come home or what. I guess I'll have to break down and get one - that was kind of my last option. I have had someone come in the past during the day and he's had inconsistent accidents before and after she came. And a doggie door is not an option since then I'd have to give him run of the house to use it. And in this weather, he's not especially keen on going outside anyway. My next house will definitely have one though.

 

And, yes, I can hold it for 10 hours if all I'm doing is sleeping.

[Acadianarose]

Payton has to pee three times in the morning or he will have an accident. I take him out when he wakes up, an hour later and then about 1/2 hour later right before I leave. I have learned that if he doesn't need to pee, he won't pee unless I tell him to. It took a while of standing outside with him until he learned what "go potty" meant. He seems to have learned to hold it much better.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Acadianarose

[Guest jetska]

my dogs can hold it for 10 hrs if they need to.... I'm usually only away for 8.5, though

[jetcitywoman]

Ajax appears to be able to hold it for that long also. What I failed to express was that I think it should be the dog's choice whether to pee or not. In other words, it's better to give him more opportunities and it be his choice, than to make him struggle to hold it when he has to go really bad and end up soiling your carpets.

[zoesmommy]

Have you ever thought about a "doggy door"? They're nice because the dog can let themselves in and out as needed to use the bathroom. It seems your dog tries to "tell you" sometimes when it has to go. It is hard to do that when you are gone 10 hours or it is not possible for a pet sitter/walker to be there to help.

 

I found my doggy door to be such a blessing! Zoe lets herself in/out as she pleases and I have no accidents (unless it is for some other rare unrelated health reason). Training is easy. Use packing tape to tape it half way open (horizontally) so that the dog can "feel" it touch it's back. You be outside. Have a good time. Act like the party is out there. Since they are pack animals they will naturally want to be with you. Most likely it will venture through the hole. If not have a friend inside to give a "gentle" push or just to place front paws over the threshold of the door.

 

Keep having a good time outside. Playing, laughing, etc. Eventually the dog will come out. Take the tape off the flap of the dog door. Do the same things but encourage the dog to "push through" the flap to go out.

 

A few tries are necessary but they catch on very quickly. It took ours about 3 days. The flaps are very heavy duty plastic and have a magnetic metal strip across the bottom so it securely shuts/seals but can be pushed open by the dog when needed. The rest of the door is glass and in an aluminum frame.

 

Check Superior Pet Products web site.

 

Good luck and I hope this helps. It helped me a lot when I worked 32 hours a week( I don't work anymore) and my husband worked 40 (and still is).

 

We still use the door when we go out for the evenings, shopping, dinner, movie, or longer than usual, etc.

 

Let me know how it goes----please!