# 12 year female GSD leaking?



## AwfulQuiet (May 15, 2002)

Abbey is getting a lot older.. For the past two years she had problems retaining her urine. Initially this was treated with hormones, but I'm not 100% convinced this was "accidental" all the time (She has always been an attention seeking dog, when she was younger she used to simply urinate on the floor when there were guests in the house, a form of protest that she wasn't the centre of attention when we went in another room).

Now, the problem got worse, she had a bladder infection but this was cured with several courses of anti-biotics.. Now she has powder to spray "down there" and also takes anti-inflamatories mixed with cortisone (she has problems also with her rear end due to nerve problems).

Now, she was perfectly fine for 3 months since our last visit to the vet and a new medication to help her retain (no more leaking, no other problems).

BUT, I went away this weekend for 4 days, my brother took care of her (not something that is new to her at all, so no situ change other than my leaving) and she starting urinating again, without even getting up from her bed or the floor.

I find it a bit hard to think the medications have lost their effectiveness one day to the next. Has anyone else experienced "protest urination" ?

Thanks,
Awfers


----------



## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

I would think that perhaps she tries harder when you are around. She could just not be paying the same attention for your brother as she does when you are home. My eldest has bowl incontinence now. I think it's related to some spinal problems. After her last chiro/accupuncture treatment she is much better. But it does change over time - it gets more frequent. It's harder to get up and I think that the signal to the dog gets lost under the other issues.
They do make doggie diapers for urine incontinence. I used them with one dog for quite a while. They work.


----------



## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

Personally I don't believe a dog of any age would purposely wet her own bed and lay in it as a protest because the owner left. I can see that it might happen due to the stress of you leaving, having a major change in her routine, or even that your brother could have accidently forgotten to give her some of her medication.


----------



## RebelGSD (Mar 20, 2008)

One of my guys pulled a couple of "protest unrinations" on me.

Once he was away from me to prepare for a dog show. When I arrived at the hotel, I took him for a walk. He saved a load and released it the moment I switched the light off (minutes after we got back from the walk). So I took him out again, nothing outside, switched the lights off and here goes the "waterfall" again. He was pretty upset with me.

He also did it at home a couple of times, after I returned from a trip.
He would be outside playing for half and hour, and save the load for the inside. 

Normally he is perfectly housebroken and he is also healthy.


----------

