Consistent Peeing Inside

[Guest jschwe]

We have been working with Superbirds separation anxiety since day one. It used to be terrible, but had slowly gotten better. We are now at the stage where, on days that both husband and I work, we can leave him for up to 8 hours and he is fine. If we leave early in the morning, we can be gone for any amount of time and he does just fine alone.

 

HOWEVER. If we leave late in the day, especially in the evening, 9/10 times he will pee on the carpet. For a while we were making progress and it seemed like he would eventually stop, but we seem to have stalled. I am now unsure how to proceed, and worried that maybe it's become a habit? I don't know how to enforce something that is happening while we are out. I am also a bit paranoid about trying things that may end up setting him back (like being crated which he absolutely hates). Anyone have any suggestions?

[Guest Downtownhoundz]

Have you tried belly bands on him?

[Guest jschwe]

We have. When he pees, he pees. It goes through the band onto the floor anyway, and then he lays on the couch with pee all over him....it isn't ideal, and never seemed to stop him going.

 

I should also mention, when he is left at our house/other people's houses with other dogs, he seems to do fine. Has never had an accident when other dogs are around. We are considering getting a second since he seems to enjoy having company, but DON'T want to just introduce more housebreaking problems, so I'd like to get him sorted out first if possible.

Edited May 22, 2014 by jschwe

[Guest grey_dreams]

Have you practiced alone training during the evening? Dogs don't generalize well, so you should probably do some alone training in the evening too.

[Guest AimeeBee]

Alone training in the evenings is probably a good idea. Silly question -- but are you making sure that he's gone for a potty walk and is totally "empty" before you leave for the night? At the very least it might mean less mess to clean up.

[Guest jschwe]

Thanks guys. I am looking into getting a DAP diffuser to help keep him from getting worked up, and will start doing alone training in the evenings. I think I got paranoid that it may screw up his (so far) perfect days...but hopefully he gets the idea.

 

And AimeeBee, I can take him out for hours until he is down to basically misting trees when he lifts his leg...I swear he keeps a reserve tank specifically for our floors. He will always find some.

[GeorgeofNE]

So, crazy question: do you give him anything (to eat) at night that he doesn't get during the day?

 

I ask this because it took my thick head five years to figure out that the peanut butter in the Kong I gave George every day was in large part responsible for his frequent accidents.

 

Since I stopped giving him the peanut butter, I think he's had maybe 2 accidents (versus the 2-3 a week he used to have).

 

It's easy to see this as a behavior thing, but think carefully if ANYTHING is different.

[PatricksMom]

Is there something happening at the time of day that could be upsetting him either in your home or maybe something happening outside that he can see or hear? Leo is fine if we leave during the day but he developed a lot of anxiety from everyone else walking their dogs past our apartment if we leave after work so we're still working on the peeing if we leave that time of day. He's doing a lot better now but we're still working on it.