Sorry if this is a totally newbie question but I'm just wondering… are female dog bladders generally smaller than male bladders, like they supposedly are in humans? I'm wondering because Bowpi, unfortunately, had an accident last night and I'm surprised that 1) she didn't do anything to alert us, and 2) she wasn't able to hold it overnight like our male dog does.

Regardless, I now know that our bedtime routine must include commanding her to go potty, regardless of how much she dislikes the wet, dewy grass brushing against her tummy!

@curlytails:

Sorry if this is a totally newbie question but I'm just wondering… are female dog bladders generally smaller than male bladders, like they supposedly are in humans? I'm wondering because Bowpi, unfortunately, had an accident last night and I'm surprised that 1) she didn't do anything to alert us, and 2) she wasn't able to hold it overnight like our male dog does.

Regardless, I now know that our bedtime routine must include commanding her to go potty, regardless of how much she dislikes the wet, dewy grass brushing against her tummy!

I have never found that? But I don't really have a clue if one is bigger then the other. But certainly an adult should be able to hold their bladder over night… How old is she?

I don't know about bladder size being different. I do know that unless there is something else going on like a UTI, my adult dogs can easily go the night without an accident.

When a UTI is involved all bets are off. Each of my girls have reacted very differently to a UTI. One had classic peeing inappropriately with no warning signs. One just became very grumpy and acted very uncomfortable. One had no outward symptoms until the infection was so severe she vomiting due to the severe pain.

She's about five years old. This is the first accident we've had since she joined us a month ago. Granted, she did appear to drink more water than usual yesterday (it was pretty hot, and we went out for some loooong walks). I slept in a little, so it had been about 10 hours since she had been walked. But still, I thought bladder functions were supposed to slow overnight, when bodies are asleep. And like I said, no warning… maybe she doesn't know how to warn us yet (she doesn't usually willingly enter the human bedroom).

I'll look into more info about UTIs -- we're about to take her in to the vet to get her teeth cleaned anyway. What are some other things I should look for? Are basenji more prone to UTI than other breeds? I know a bit about human UTIs, but never really thought about it with dogs before.

I've run into this as well. Kananga can easily go 12 hrs overnight without a problem. When he had a UTI awhile back, it happened early in the morning, couldn't hold it much longer.

It doesn't hurt to rule out a UTI and if you catch it early, it'll be that much easier to deal with.

I don't think that that basenjis are more prone to it than other dogs. UTIs can happen for many reasons and symptoms can vary from dog to dog.

Before looking at behavioral issues it is always good to rule out medical first.

@curlytails:

She's about five years old. This is the first accident we've had since she joined us a month ago. Granted, she did appear to drink more water than usual yesterday (it was pretty hot, and we went out for some loooong walks). I slept in a little, so it had been about 10 hours since she had been walked. But still, I thought bladder functions were supposed to slow overnight, when bodies are asleep. And like I said, no warning… maybe she doesn't know how to warn us yet (she doesn't usually willingly enter the human bedroom).

I'll look into more info about UTIs -- we're about to take her in to the vet to get her teeth cleaned anyway. What are some other things I should look for? Are basenji more prone to UTI than other breeds? I know a bit about human UTIs, but never really thought about it with dogs before.

I don't think that Basenjis are any different then any other breeds nor are they prone to UTI's (with the exception of Fanconi dogs… they are prone to UTI's).
And speaking of Fanconi, if she is 5, has she been DNA tested for Fanconi? Have you been strip testing her? As already stated, good to rule out health reasons as a first step.

Sounds like she does have something going on with her health.
Do keep us informed about what the strip test shows.
You will get lots of support here.

Yeah, we just got her Fanconi results back – she's clear/normal (yay!). I posted about it here in a babbly little message: http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=8877

No more accidents since then, and her mood/energy seems normal. One other thing she was doing, however, was vomiting yellow froth in the mornings. Not every morning, but only in the morning before she's been fed (it's happened about four times now). When something similar happened with Bowdu in the past, the vet said it was probably just an upset stomach from acid buildup, so we are spacing out feeding and providing a light snack at night. This seems to have helped, but I read that vomiting is also a possible symptom of UTIs in dogs. The timing seems a bit off though, so I'm not convinced the two (occasional vomiting/one accident in the house) are related.

I've gotten off-topic from my own original question, which was an anatomy question about bladder sizes in dogs which I was genuinely curious about. Heh!

Dogs often will vomit yellow bile otherwise known as "empty tummy"…. so spacing out the food or giving a light snack before bed is usually the cure