I have a Pug who will be 11 years old in April. She is the perfect dog, except for the past 3 or 4 weeks, she’s been peeing on one of my rugs. The first time it happened, I just thought she’d had too much water and couldn’t hold it. I cleaned the spot thoroughly. Then, a few days later, she peed in exactly the same spot. Again, I cleaned the rug and placed a chair over the spot. Problem solved, right?
A few days later, she peed on another rug in another room. I’m taking her to the vet tomorrow, in case it’s a UTI or something.
If it is a UTI or something, I’ll perfectly understand. But what if it’s not? Why is my pug peeing on the persian?
Have you seen her in action? I have an older dog and she sometimes, rarely… lets go completely in her sleep. And sometimes, she leaks a little. It’s no fun.
Hmmm, if it was the same rug, I’d suggest that maybe you didn’t get the original scent out all the way (the regular carpet cleaners like Resolve may remove enough scent for my nose–but not for my dogs noses), but you said it was a separate rug. Perhaps your dog has had accidents in the past on various rugs and you haven’t noticed (if it’s dried up and you can’t see a stain, it can be hard to tell). Try getting all your rugs thoroughly cleaned–they can smell a lot of stuff you can’t.
Has your dogs diet, eating or sleeping habits changed in any way? My dogs can get, err, irregular if they switch foods. And often, if they eat something with a higher salt content than they’re used to, they drink a lot more water–which leads to more peeing.
Has anything else in your dog’s routine changed? Mine had a couple accidents when we had construction next door. They normally sleep most of the day when I’m gone. With all that noise, they were probably up more than usual and they can hold it a lot longer when they sleep.
As a matter of fact, I DID switch dog food brands about 6 weeks ago. I was told by a friend that Iams is good, so I’m trying it. Maybe I should switch back…
When an older dog suddenly starts breaking housetraining, it can be a sign of a bladder infection. Get your dog to the vet ASAP for a quick check. These things can be quickly taken care of with antibiotics. And in the meantime, you can fit the dog with doggie diapers (no, I’m not kidding) to keep your floors clean.
I lived through this with a 15-year-old yellow lab.
It may be a UTI, but it also may be old age, esp. if she’s been housetrained for years and years. Urinary incontinence is fairly common in older dogs, unfortunately. We had to put our dog down when she started peeing in the bed (where she slept). Poor thing was mortified, but she couldn’t control herself anymore.
rostfrei, she may be having kidney problems too. But incontinence in older dogs (especially females) is pretty common.
My old Cammie dog (she’s about 13) needs diapers and special bedding, and she still stays wet a lot of the time. I wish I could find a diaper or something that she couldn’t get out of (or couldn’t eat.)
rostfrei, she may be having kidney problems too. But incontinence in older dogs (especially females) is pretty common.
My old Cammie dog (she’s about 13) needs diapers and special bedding, and she still stays wet a lot of the time. I wish I could find a diaper or something that she couldn’t get out of (or couldn’t eat.)
I gotta go with the people who are saying it might be age. How long do pugs generally live? Is she showing other signs of age? DEFINITELY get her to the vet to check things out.
Sometimes you have to confine the dog to a crate or small room with no rugs. My parents had to do this with their elderly diabetic Maltese.
:smack: It’s also possible that the dog is diabetic. I just realized that after I had to get up to pee, after I’d gone to bed. Diabetics tend to pee a lot.
First step is clearly to call the vet, to rule out things like bladder infection, incontinence, etc.
If it is not medical, but something where you want to deal with it by training, then part of the problem is that the scent of urine remains in the rug, so the dog thinks it’s OK to go there again. You need to use something that will absolutely kill the smell (check with your pet store, there are a couple of such products.) And you should block the area so that the dog can’t get to it – put chairs or something over the spot, blocking off a huge area. Treat several times with the de-smeller. That should do it, give it a couple of weeks.
It could be food related. I don’t know if this is the case with Iams, but some dog foods have a lot more salt in them then others, and that can cause problems.
I agree with Archergal about older female dogs and incontinence.
We had an older Viszla who developed leakage problems in her middle-to-later years. The vet put her on some kind of prednisone pills and this solved the problem, she lived until she was almost 15.
But this dog never deliberately peed on a rug or anywhere else, it was leakage.
Our female mastiff began having UTI problems after being spayed.
(Before then, she was fine.) After a few months of problems with infections and leaking, the vet put her on Proin and she has been okay ever since.
But I am intrigued with the fact that the pug pees on rugs; obviously there is something going on with scent-return, texture or whatever. At 11, she is up in years, but I think small dogs can live to a great age. Hopefully the vet will help find the answer to the problem.
