Dog wetting on floor overnight.

fourtwozero

One of my dogs wets on the floor overnight. She is a Shetland sheepdog cross about 8 years old or a bit older. She was a stray that we held on to after no one claimed her. She is quite overweight (she put on a lot of weight after we got her neutered).

We have had her to the vets several times and they cant find anything wrong with her i.e. infections or the like. She does it it a different room to where she sleeps so it doesn't appear to be age related incontinence.

The unusual thing is she will sometimes wake us after she has done it to clean it up so she knows its wrong. She is usually walked between 7pm and 9pm and she often waits outside till 11pm herself before she comes in for the night.

She can also let us know when she wants to go outside. Has anyone got any ideas about preventing this from happening?

cocker5

Hi OP,

One the overweight thing – neutering dog doesn’t cause him / her to be overweight its food portions / treats and exercise.
So you need to look at her diet an address this.

What do you feed her?

Do you weight out her food? Based on breed etc? cut down on portion size

What treats do you give her? Cut out all crappy dogs treats and give her carrots / sugar snaps peas etc as a treat.

She needs less food and more exercise OP, then she won’t be overweight. Not trying to upset you but it’s a fact.
Neutering can sometimes make dogs lazy – but bringing them out walking every day and smaller portions stop the weight gain.
This may be linked to her not realising she needs to go until the last minute.

You mention you have other dogs - are you 100% it’s this dog and not one of the others going to the toilet?

What way do you react when you come down?

When she tells you and you come down and clean it up, are you speaking to her? This could be seen as a reward etc.

Has she always done this or is it a new thing?

How much water does she drink normally?

A bit more information may help people suggesting things to try.

Cherry Blossom

I have a Sheltie and when he has to go, he really has to go. He does wake me up first though and I just bring him out. He can usually last until 7:30 or 8:00 but occasionally I have to get up with him in the dead of the night.

aonb

OP, a dog doesnt know something is "wrong"... she doesnt sit there thinking "hmnnnn think I'll pee on the floor now"... so please dont get cross with her. If she is overweight, this may be a factor. She may just not be able to hold it until a.m. As Cocker5 said, are you "rewarding" her when you come down to clean up? She is probably distressed that she has soiled in the house. Also as cocker5 said, is this a new/recent thing? Are you cleaning up with the right chemicals, ammonia based cleaners are not good, they 'encourage' another pee! - although I think you said she pees in different places? If you are coming down every night to clean up, how about coming down anyway and letting her out to pee?
Is she drinking a lot? Has she been tested for kidney/thyroid function?

I know its very irritating having to clean up in the house, but be assuered shes not being "bold", she cant hold it until morning, for whatever reason... you just have to find out what that reason is.

Latatian

You could try a crate so she can't go into another room- if she's able to hold it and has just got the idea that it's okay to go in that room to pee, then she won't be able to do that in a crate.

Have you tried blocking off that room? Also try rewarding her for peeing outside. One of my dogs is elderly and she just kind of forgot her housetraining at a certain point, and it was like she forgot that outside time was for peeing. Instead she'd diligently sniff and try and work out what you wanted her to do. Once I started giving her a bit of her dog food for peeing outside, she copped on much faster.

Neutered dogs don't get overweight just because they're neutered- they also have to be fed too much. I'm prone to overfeeding my dogs so I keep a constant watch on how many treats I'm giving them and I measure out the food daily. Try measuring out the dog food for her ideal weight- not her current weight, and then if she still gains on that amount reduce it by 20%. Cut out all treats except carrots and apple slices, you can feed green beans, cooked butternut squash, broccoli stems etc. as well to keep her being too hungry. You can measure out the food and then set aside a little bit of that as treats or for training.

Weighing it is more accurate than measuring, but I know some people who use a measuring cup and just mark a little further down the cup with a black pen every time the dog gains or doesn't lose weight.

sillysmiles

During the summer time when we have the doors open my dog will hang out on the deck and potter around the garden and generally be outside a lot. Last summer we made the mistake of assuming when we were coming in at night (10pm ish) that he'd be fine for peeing as he'd been out all evening. He had a few accidents inside and we realised that even though he has been out all day/evening we still need to take him out last thing at night and tell him to "go pee it's bed time".
It's like giving him a signal to say this is your last shot till morning.

(Combined with the other advice above)