How do I stop my dog from peeing on things overnight? (New cat dominance issuses?)

In My Humble Opinion
1

So, a change from the cat threads.

My dog is 14 and rather set in his ways. He’s a West Highland White Terrier, pretty bossy. I should add that he was never quite all the way solid housebroken, which is my fault, I know. He used to pee a lot in my parents’ house, but this time last year I bought my own house and he’s been very good here (new house, new rules, I think.) He sleeps in the laundry room (a very spacious back room with, thank goodness, a linoleum floor) and very rarely has peed in it. Once or twice, with long thunderstorms when he wouldn’t go out into the yard, but that I understand. Normally he spends a lot of the day outside - I let him out when I get up, around 7:30, and he stays out when I’m at work. He’s got a nice setup outside, very happy, don’t worry about him.

So, two weeks ago, I bring this cat home. Hap doesn’t seem to mind the smell of the cat, although he does give it a sniff, but the actual person of the cat he really doesn’t care for. I’ve tried to introduce them twice, with the dog on a leash and the cat in a carrier, and while the first time was better we are definately still not ready for prime time. I’ve been switching their bedding out and letting them get used to each others’ smells and so forth.

So, now he pees in the laundry room, which I guess is a dominance thing. He didn’t start when we got the cat, though, or when he met the cat, he started two days ago. He does seem to be peeing “in quantity”, however, maybe not so much the little “marking dribble”. I don’t know what to make of that. Of course I clean it up as soon as I find it, and yesterday I went on a big cleaning tear, did a really good job of mopping back there and everything, (even gave him a bath so he didn’t smell up everything I cleaned!) and he peed back there yesterday afternoon (when I’m home I have to swap out the cat and the dog from the living room, obviously, and he peed on my freshly mopped and dried floor) and this morning I stepped in a puddle when I went to let him out. Urrrrgh.

So, what can I do? I mean, it’s because of the cat, right? The cat has been back into that room once when it was empty, although I shooed him right out because I hadn’t catproofed it. I think that was about a week ago, though. Could I maybe be confusing a health issue for a dominance issue because of a coincidence in timing? (I ask because he seems to be going in “real pee quantities”, not a marking spritz here and there.) Is there anything I can do for the dominance issue? Obviously I don’t want my poor puppydog to be anxious about anything, but I’m sure if you asked him what he wants he’d say I should get rid of the cat, and I’m not going to do that. Are there any products that would help here? (Dog calming air freshener? I’m only halfway kidding.) He hasn’t acted anxious in any other way when the cat isn’t in the room - he sniffs the cat’s things and comes to me for a belly rub like always, and I can’t catch him in the act because he does it usually in the still of the night. I’m really at a loss as to how this problem can be fixed, and I’m afraid that even when/if he comes to accept the cat he’ll have gotten himself in the habit of peeing inside. What can I do?

2

Could you put him in a crate when you can’t be with him? Is it possible that he could be sick? DAP (the dog calming air freshener stuff) really could help to calm him a bit while you teach him to accept the cat.

3

Have you had the dog checked out at the vet to be sure it isn’t something physical? If not, you should.

Once you’re sure it’s strictly behavioral (though why you think it’s dominance rather than just being stressed I’m not sure), I suggest Crate Training. Also, your dog is old, and may just need an earlier morning walk than he’s getting now.

What are you cleaning up the urine with? If it’s not an enzyme cleaner like Simple Solution or Nature’s Miracle, your dog can still smell it. Be sure you’re not cleaning with anything that has ammonia in it.

4

It would be unusual for a dog to try to show dominance over a cat, especially when they’re kept apart, and especially by peeing on the floor. If it were to happen, I’d expect to see the dog grabbing the cat by the scruff and mounting him (as the cat smooshes himself into a little puddle on the floor with a WTF? look on his face.)

I guess it’s possible that he’s trying to tell you he’s pissed (pun intended) about something, but you say he’s not acting unusual in other ways.

I think you should take your dog to the vet. A bladder problem seems much more likely.

No, no you weren’t. :smiley:

5

Holy crap, they really have dog happy-juice air freshener?

I guess when I said “dominance” I meant “anxiety over territory” or “stress stress stress”. It really sounds more likely to be a physical problem? I just thought because of the extremely sudden start (nothing until two days ago and then every night since) it had to be the cat. Guess I’ll call the vet and get that ruled out.

6

It may feel that way to you (and you may be right), but from my more removed position, I’m reading:

2 weeks ago, cat arrives. Nothing. 12 days later, urination of large quantities, no other visible symptoms, continued urination each day.

Why the 12 day gap if it was triggered by the arrival of the cat? Dogs don’t remember 12 days ago, I don’t think. At this point, he’s ALWAYS had this stupid cat around.

A bladder infection would come on all at once, too, wouldn’t it? And, like you noted, submissive (not dominant, dogs dribble to show submission) or territorial urination are small amounts, not full bladder’s worth. And what would be the use of marking his territory in the laundry room that’s already his territory?

7

Well, I was thinking maybe the cat snuck in there and now it smells like him, but then he’d just be peeing on things the cat touched, right? I’m trying to get him a vet appointment for tomorrow to get checked out, and then I guess we can proceed from there. The urine isn’t dark, or concentrated, or anything, btw - if anything it’s very pale.

8

I think it’s good that you’re getting him in. Very pale urine isn’t neccesarily any better than very dark: it can indicate kidney problems or diabetes, for instance. So yes, I’m very glad you’re getting the old boy checked out.

Besides, it’s always best to rule out the easy-to-fix (illness or diet) before worrying about the hard-to-fix (behavioral).

9

So, I got an appointment for him tomorrow. Er, anybody got a good way to collect a urine sample from a short little male dog?

(They said floor squeezin’s would be okay, but that they’d rather have it right from the dog if I could manage that.)

10

Sneak a small tupperware container under him when you take him out on leash.

11

Uh, yeah, somehow I don’t see that working quite so easily.

12

Go figure, it was that easy. I just figured it was going to be like how the vet showed me once how to put ear drops in the dog. “Just blah blah blah blah”, like pilling a cat. I think I got more of those ear drops in my mouth than I ever got in the dog, and that was only the first few times I tried it - after that, he got too wily to be caught and dropped at all. He was okay with peeing in a cup, though.

13

Well, they decided at the office that he has a urinary tract infection, for which we’ll medicate, and then they sent a sample off to the lab to check for any further problems. Frankly, I was dearly hoping that he had some minor, fixable physical problem, because that’ be so much easier to fix.

Now, how to keep him from the habit of peeing on the floor?