Please Help with Housetraining/Incontinence Problem

Factual Questions
1

OK. I’ve been lurking here since something like 2002, and need help with something. The collective knowledge here is astounding, so I hope someone can help me since I am actually getting despeate.

I have an 8 month old neutered male standard schauzer with some urination / drinking issues. Just to state up front, this is not my first or even second dog, and it is my second standard schnauzer. I have never had any problem housetraining, and I do crate train.

The dog seems very happy and well adjusted, and gets a solid amount of exercise. He loves his crate.

The problem is that he will sometimes dribble as he walks around the house, leaving a trail behind him. He can hold it eight hours in the crate. The dribbling doesn’t seem to follow any patterns. Sometimes after rowdy play, sometimes not. Sometimes he won’t have an incident for two days, and other times he will dribble an hour after I walk him. He is really good about urinating almost as soon as I bring him out, but sometimes I wonder if he isn’t doing all his business. I do take him on the standard route even if he urinates right away.

He does love to drink water, and sometimes I think that might be the primary cause- he might be loading up on so much water that he is just overfilled. It is difficult to say just how much he drinks, partly because we also have a three year old who shares the water.

I am speaking to the vet, but he is stumped at this point as well, unless we start spending huge money on tests for exotic things like ectopic ureters. The blood and urine workups look good, although specific gravity is at the very low end of normal.

I can accept that the problem might be behavioral, but I can’t figure it out if it is. It is not submissive urination- trust me, I have seen that and this is nothing like that.

Here is the list of ideas, along with what I know:

Ectopic Ureter: I would expect the dribbling to be more frequent and in smaller volumes. I don;t know how to check this besides an expensive battery of procedures.

Diabetes Insipidus: There is a lot of compatibility on this, but I believe that he can concentrate his urine, since he can hold it in the crate and after doing so the urine is much more yellow in color. Often times it is very clear. A water deprivation test is in the plans to check this. Also, I would expect him to dehydrate during those times when he can’t get water, which he doesn’t.

Cushing’s: Isn’t 8 months too young?

Weak sphincter:In a way, this is the great hope. We just put him on PPA today to see if it helps. If he is drining too much, though, this wouldn’t explain it.

I would just like any suggestions on things to look for, diagnose, etc. I like my vet, and he is very open to ideas, but right now I simply can’t spend MRI money on this. If it is behavioral, I don’t know where to begin, because you never know he is dribbling until you see the trail. There really is no “caught in the act” like there is with normal urinating. I can prevent this if I walk him hourly, but I have never had a dog that needed to walk hourly, certainly not at eight months.

Thanks so much for any light oyu may be able to shed on this. His personality is great, and I just can’t wait until he is trustworthy to be in the non-tiled rooms of the house.

2

This may seem a little crazy to ask, but do changes in the weather at all affect this behaviour? For instance, is he more likely to dribble in inclement weather?

I ask because we have a sensitive dog (a border collie) who is very well house trained and spends her days lying on the couch alone at home with nary a dribble. In the evenings, however, or during the daytime if we are home, she will sometimes dribble, leak or void. She has been investigated many times for possible causes, but the only thing I’ve been able to attribute it to is weather.

Something about the feel of the grass and/or the gravel (I get her to pee on a large patch of gravel running along one side of the house) under certain wet and usually cold weather conditions results in urinary incontinence. I have learned to take her out quite frequently – every couple of hours – under those circumstances. My guess is that she just does not fully void when it feels icky out there to her. In all other weather conditions, she displays perfectly normal continence for a nine-and-a-half year old dog. I’ve never been able to fully understand it.

3

We have had two dogs with dribbling problems although nowhere near as severe.

The first we got from the ASPCA and had kidney problems. He could not control his bladder well. Unfortunately due to other medical problems he had to be put down. I assume his kidney functions have been tested?

The second one was also a pound dog. I think the previous owner did not keep a supply of food or water on hand as she drank and ate everything in sight for about 6 months.

She would dribble too. In fact she will pee while she’s walking outside. She’s much too busy. She doesn’t pee in her kennel and the dribbling in the house has stopped.

I think can be contributed to her slowing a little (she’s now 3) and also she now knows there will be water.

Can you limit the amount of available water? Maybe give him smaller portions more frequently? I know it’s hard to co with multiple pets but maybe try one of those little water bottles that hangs on the side of the cage. That might slow the intake a little.

4

Just an update.

The vet did a water deprivation test, and the dog can concentrate urine normally. No signs of diabetes insipidus or kidney problems.

The vet has us restricting his water intake to 1.5L / day. This has cut down on the frequency of incidents, but they are still occurring.