My housebroken B now pees in my house!

[RockysWoman]

:mad: My housebroken, fastidious B has recently "decided" (I'm using that term loosely) to urinate in my house. We just had a barage of tests done to rule out any medical reasons why our 8 year old neutered male would start urinating in the house.

Nothing in his environment has changed in the past 7 months. This behavior began about 2-3 months ago. We think it has to do with marking his territory against the cat (who has lived with us for over 2 years) as we only catch him spraying when the cat is watching.

Any ideas people? This is driving me batty. He's always been such a well trained housebroken dog and I'd love suggestions as to how to correct this behavioral issue. Currently, when we catch him in the act, we immediately take him outside, then put him on the leash indoors and "put him thru his paces" (ie make him follow us, sit everytime we stop, obey commands and just behave directly in front of us.) Any ideas? Again, we've ruled out all medical possibilities (ie diabetes, UTI, renal/kidney issues, fanconi, food poisening, etc).

[Quercus]

Hmmmm…that is really strange. Just to make sure, the vet did screen his urine for glucose (Fanconi), right?

[tanza]

Are you strip testing for Fanconi?… one test will not always catch it... I prefer to strip for 4 or 5 days in a row to be sure... also sometimes it is really hard to find a UTI..... and also was a full blood panel done? How were his kidney values?.... but looks by your note that everything was done.... It is strange that he would start doing this... and really they really don't do things out of spite....
Can you tell when he is ready to pee?... like is he sniffing around first.. or does he just up and pee?....

[RockysWoman]

Rocky just got the all clear from the vet about a week ago. We did a whole blood workup, CBC, urinalysis… the whole shebang. Thankfully our vet is very familar with Basenji's and Fanconi's and tested Rocky for the syndrome (he came back negative thank god). There is no medical reason why he should be urinating in the house.

He gives no warning. He'll just start peeing. I know he's not being spitefully but I do believe it is a territory issue with the cat (our 12 lbs hymi). Every time I have caught Rocky peeing, it's been while starting at the cat.

But this theory doesn't hold up as we caught him peeing at my parents house once. My dad thought it was out of excitement but this dog has never been a "happy pee-er".

I always look to medical reasons first. Now that we've ruled that out, I'm looking at behavioral issues. He may be picking up on the stress in the house (a 7.5 month old, a 3.5 year old, I work full time days, husband works full time nights, I'm spending less time at home recently as I'm doctoring my horse who put a nail thru her heel bulb, and husband is leaving for active duty in 30 days). I'm sure the dogs are picking up on the stress levels all this causes.

Help! Rocky and I have come so far together I want to figure out what we need to do to help resolve this issue. Short of keeping him beside me 24-7 what do you suggest?

[Quercus]

It's unlikely that it is territorial, unless you brought a new animal in. Sounds like he and the cat have been living happily together. And it doesn't sound like the stress in your house has changed significantly enough to trigger this. Has anything changed outside, that may have made him prefer to go inside…weather....construction....new dogs next door? Is it always in the same areas? Is he crated when you aren't there? Is he peeing in his crate? Does he lift his leg, or squat both when he is going where he is supposed to, or when he is not...IOW, does he do it the same way all the time?

[tanza]

The thing that is very curious is that he just "pees"… to me that says that he is losing bladder control.... My oldest bitch that is in renal failure will do that now in her sleep.... if we don't get her out every 4 to 5 hours... but she is 15 1/2 and does have a medical problem... My oldest male, also 15 1/2 will do that sometimes... but also due to his age, his kidney's are slowing down too.... but I know that when he does it.. he really doesn't know that his has just peed, he will look around and then immediately try and clean it up himself... (of course it is on the rug...ggg)....

So my first thoughts still go to something medical????

[RockysWoman]

Quercus, the only thing that has changed recently is 1) I'm away from home longer (12 hours instead of 10) but my husband is always there. The dogs are never alone during the day; and 2) Husband leaves for active duty in 30 days. Weather has actually improved (and yes, Rocky will hold his bodily functions if he feels it is eaither too cold or wet for him to be outside; he's held bodily functions before but never urinated in the house). no new dogs or environmental issues. He doesn't always pees in the same spot. It's all over the house.

Tanza, renal/kidney failure was one of the first things I asked the vet to look at as I have lost two pets before to such conditions. Vet said Rocky is perfectly fine with great kidney/renal functions.

I am at a loss! He's a great dog in spite of this. I just don't know what behavior I need to modify (mine or his) to correct this issue.

[tanza]

This is really a mystery… I have no other thoughts.... I still think the key somehow is related to the fact that he just "pees"... without thinking about it.... very strange... You might want to just be sure and repeat the urine for a UTI... like I said they can be hard to detect sometimes... I have seen that before...
One more thing, has his eating or drinking habits changed?...