# She's suddenly urinating all over the house



## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

So Cedar is just over 7 months and is fully house trained. She does not have accidents. She's been home alone many times for up at 6 hours and has not gone in the house (we leave her crate door open and she comes and goes as she pleases). 

Suddenly, she's started going in the house, but she's doing it right in front of us, and sometimes right after she comes in from outside. It's not like she's going because she has to, there's something else to it. 

Tonight for example, I went upstairs to go to bed and called her to come as well, the same as every night. She jumped into the bed and started urinating on the bed. I of course yelled and grabbed her, which doesn't help, because she continued to go on the carpet. 

This has happened a few times over the last couple weeks and I'm getting very sick of it. I don't know why she's doing it nor do I know how to get her to stop. It's not excitement, as I didn't say two words to her tonight, she just went. Nothing has changed whatsoever. 

When we leave her alone for a couple hours, she holds it with no problems, but sometimes she just goes right in front of us. I don't know if it's some kind of fear thing she has going, but it needs to stop. 

Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this and how I can get it to stop? This can't keep happening. I need to find a way to stop it immediately!


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## JustMeLeslie (Sep 15, 2010)

Most of the time when a housetrained dog starts suddenly going in the house a trip to the vet is needed. She might have an UTI. This is a classic sign of one.


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## JustMeLeslie (Sep 15, 2010)

I forgot to ask is the urine normal colored. No blood?


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

She has a medical problem. Get her into the vet tomorrow. UTIs are very painful and if it's been going on for a couple of weeks then the infection has undoubtedly gotten worse. 

And for the future: any time there is a sudden and severe change in behavior like this you should get to the vet immediately.


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## shadow mum (Apr 8, 2008)

Agree. Vet visit!!!


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Yeah... sounds like a UTI. Suddenly urinating in the house is a pretty common symptom. I'd get her to a vet ASAP.


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## MrsMiaW (Sep 25, 2010)

Warrants a trip to the vet for sure.


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## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

Just got off the phone with my vet. He doesn't think this is a UTI. In fact, he said he's pretty sure it isn't. She isn't urinating anymore or less than normal. There's no blood in her urine. She doesn't appear to be in any pain. She's not having trouble urinating. She's not drinking any more or less water than normal. 

If I was to leave the house right now for 8 hours, she would hold it until we got home, she wouldn't go in the house. That's what makes the vet believe it's not a UTI, that she only does it when were around. He thinks it's excitement or fear, but she's done it a couple times when she didn't appear to be excited, and I have no idea what she would be fearful of.

When I say it's happened over the last few weeks, it's not every day. It's happened maybe 4 times over the last couple weeks, but the bed thing was the final straw. Every other time it's been on the floor which is easily mopped up. 

The vet told me I can bring her in if I want, but he thinks it's behaviour/fear/excitement based because of the fact she can hold it when we're not around, but only does this right in front of us, and never when were away. 

Based on that, does anyone still think it's a UTI? If so, I will take her in. If it's not a UTI and is behaviour based, how am I supposed to stop this from happening again?


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

When I call the vet, I want medical advice. Yes, the dog should be checked out for a UTI or another medical problem. I would not be comfortable with a vet who only offers behavioral advice over the phone and isn't interested in investigating a medical condition. I would find another vet.


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## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

Stevenzachsmom said:


> When I call the vet, I want medical advice. Yes, the dog should be checked out for a UTI or another medical problem. I would not be comfortable with a vet who only offers behavioral advice over the phone and isn't interested in investigating a medical condition. I would find another vet.


My vet is great. He doesn't just give behavioural advice over the phone, he'll give his opinion. For example, when she had kennel cough, I called and asked whether I needed to bring her in or whether it would go away on it's own. He told me most strains go away on their own just fine and unless it got worse, I didn't need to bring her in. He told me what to give her on my own, and told me antibiotics aren't usually needed. Most vets won't give out advice like that because they want to make as much money as possible off each dog.

My vet is actually really good. He described the symptoms of an upper and lower UTI and said he doesn't believe she has a UTI. 

I'm not about to find a new vet because upon hearing what's going on, he thinks it's behaviour related instead of a medical condition. He did say there could be something else going on, but based on what he has heard, he thinks it's behaviour. He said the fact she can hold it all day long when we're not around, but suddenly goes when we are there, makes him think it's not a medical condition.


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## Kris10 (Aug 26, 2010)

Actually the vet gave free advice over the phone, rather than just telling the OP to bring the pup in for tests. A dog can't come out and tell you what's wrong, so you do need to discuss the behaviors to help with diagnosis. It does sound behavioral but I would definitely rule out infection. Sometimes when just talking about a problem you may not be getting everything across or may unintentionally make it sound like what you THINK it is. If it were me I would go ahead and bring her in just to be sure.


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

JMO that a medical problem should always be ruled out first.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

ETA some stuff

Take her urine in at the very least. It's Saturday, maybe they don't want another appointment, etc. 

With urine or poop, I don't ask, I just tell and bring. 

I agree with ALWAYS ruling out a medical issue first. Always. Because you can do every behavioral intervention ever, and if there is a medical reason, you frustrate yourself and the dog. 

I would also not be happy with the KC thing - because A. I don't know how to diagnose it myself and B. it could be other things (lots of other things including things like roundworms)

Could she be going into heat?


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## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

Kris10 said:


> Actually the vet gave free advice over the phone, rather than just telling the OP to bring the pup in for tests. A dog can't come out and tell you what's wrong, so you do need to discuss the behaviors to help with diagnosis. It does sound behavioral but I would definitely rule out infection. Sometimes when just talking about a problem you may not be getting everything across or may unintentionally make it sound like what you THINK it is. If it were me I would go ahead and bring her in just to be sure.


Thanks for understanding where I am coming from. My vet is truly one of the great ones out there. If he can give advice over the phone to save me a trip to the office, he will. I will not be finding a new vet as I really like the one I use, and I believe he cares more for my dog than earning a few bucks off of her.

I'm going to take her in for a check up anyway, just to be on the safe side. Assuming everything is okay, what else could be causing this and how do I stop it? It doesn't appear to be excitement as I wasn't even talking to her last night when she suddenly peed. She didn't appear to be scared of anything. She sleeps in the bed every night, so that's not new.


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## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

JeanKBBMMMAAN said:


> Take her urine in at the very least.
> 
> I would also not be happy with the KC thing - because A. I don't know how to diagnose it myself and B. it could be other things (lots of other things including things like roundworms)
> 
> Could she be going into heat?


I'm going to take her in, as well as a urine sample, just in case he asks for one. 

I am actually quite happy with the kennel cough thing. My vet was honest with me and told me the vaccination they get for kennel cough is mostly a sham and doesn't protect against most strains. He told me if I wanted to take her to dog classes, I would need it though. Then when she did get kennel cough, she had a bit of a couch for about 48 hours. I described what I heard, he stated it was likely kennel cough and that antibiotics likely weren't needed. He told me what to give her and if it got worse or didn't go away, to bring her in. I gave her what he suggested and it went away. That was a while ago. 

It is possible she's going into heat, I never thought of that.


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## DolphinGirl (Nov 5, 2010)

You said you've yelled at her. Have you yelled at her a lot or raised a hand to her at all. If so, it is fear.


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## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

DolphinGirl said:


> You said you've yelled at her. Have you yelled at her a lot or raised a hand to her at all. If so, it is fear.


No, I generally don't yell at her. Sure, there's been the odd time, but it's rare and she's definitely not fearful of me. If I was to raise my hand to her and pretend to hit her, she would probably look at me thinking I was having a seizure or something. 

Like I said, I didn't yell at her until after she had already begun peeing on the bed. She's got an appointment on Monday at the vet, although I have a feeling everything is going to come back normal. 

I'm going to talk to my trainer about it tomorrow during class, but I'm not sure I'm ever going to find the reason why it's happening.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I"m going to go with everyone else on this one.

1) Rule out medical. It's a $30 test for a UTI.
2) Work on the behavioral if the UTI is neg. Just because you didn't say anything doesn't mean she's not excited and peeing as a reaction. It could be a calming signal. It could be fear.

Start crating her at night and during the day. Wait until she's calm before letting her out of the crate. Take her out immediately to pee and praise her like crazy for going. You'll have to treat her like a new puppy again.

But IMO, blood doesn't' have to show in the pee, she doesn't have to pee more than usual, in order for her to have a UTI. We had an awful time housebreaking Jax until I insisted on a urinalysis and the blood count was high. No other symptoms other than excessive drinking. 10 days of antibiotics and she was housebroken.


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## BellaBaloo (Dec 28, 2010)

Let me know what your vet says, My 7 mo old girl did this exact same thing last night! Threw me off because shes very house trained, I wasn't talking to her or anything and she just started peeing!! I was kind of thinking it might be heat related? Has never happened before.


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## JazzNScout (Aug 2, 2008)

I had a female who decided she needed to "mark" the house (but it was due to other dogs in the house). Crating her put a stop to that. Would the vet run a urine sample for testing just in case? It'd be awful if something really as wrong with her and you started dealing with it behaviorally.


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## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

JazzNScout said:


> I had a female who decided she needed to "mark" the house (but it was due to other dogs in the house). Crating her put a stop to that. Would the vet run a urine sample for testing just in case? It'd be awful if something really as wrong with her and you started dealing with it behaviorally.


I'm going to have the vet check her urine and do a blood test, as well as a physical examination obviously.


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