Polaris is a year old (thirteen months, to be exact.) We’ve had her since she was five weeks old. She is in excellent health, and, I thought, fully house-broken. (We haven’t had any accidents in more than five months.) She is fixed.
Last night, I let her out, and got ready for bed. She came into our room as she always does and hopped up on the bed, but instead of settling down at the foot of it and dozing off as she usually does, she squatted and dribbled urine. It wasn’t a full-blown pee-- I managed to yank off the duvet cover, and it hadn’t soaked through to the comforter-- it was almost like a “marking” pee.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why she would have done this. She had just been outside, and nothing traumatic had happened that day. Hubby and I made her get off the bed, and she did a “shame crouch” so she knew she had done wrong.
She did this once before, right after we got another puppy five months ago, but nothing unusal has happened-- nothing that would make her feel her status has changed. We did go on a trip last week, and she was in the kennel until Friday morning, but that was days ago-- something she should have completely forgotten by now. (We’ve never had problems with inappropriate peeing other times we have had her in the kennel.)
What gives? I have an older dog who “dribbles” if she doesn’t get her medication, but she does it wherever she’s standing/lying, and doesn’t squat. This seemed intentional.
Our family dog used to dribble a bit when she got excited. Or she might have a urinary tract infection? My guess is that this is an isolated incident. If she’s been good up til now, I wouldn’t be concerned unless she does this repeatedly.
Did she kinda crouch down as she pee’d? Sometimes a dog will dribble urine submissively when you first greet them, or under various other circumstances. One of the dogs I walk regularly did a little submissive urination today. He hasn’t done it in a long time, but something about today set him off.
That, or a UTI. Might be good to run her by the vet for a urine check.
Take her to the vet and have them check for an UTI. And if that doesn’t pan out, a vaginal infection. You saw that right–even though your precious little girl isn’t out having casual sex, she can still get a vaginal infection. I say this from experience. Loki was having problems with needing to urinate a lot–and not always being sucessful–and she had a couple of accidents in the house. Took her to the vet and she didn’t have a UTI so the vet looked a little harder and discovered Loki had a vaginal infection. Very strange, but there you go.
Fixed how? Did they do a complete girly-bit removal, or did they just tie her tubes (or do a hysterectomy without removing the ovaries?)
If some of the hormonal bits were left in, she could be experiencing a false heat.
We used to have a dog that would occasionally pee on the bed. She only ever did it for 2 reasons. (1) She had a bladder/urinary tract infection (2) She was pissed off because we brought home a baby (she did it with all 3 kids).
Can dogs develop diabetes? If so, you might check for that as well. Our cat started peeing on the bed when she developed diabetes. Between a UTI (common with diabetes) and the increased urine production due to the diabetes, she just couldn’t hold it.
Our other dog is a submissive urinator, so I know the signs of that. It wasn’t an excitement or submissive pee. Our oldest dog has a weak bladder (hormonal issue) but she just dribbles while standing or lying down if she doesn’t have her pills. This was an intentional pee. She jumped up, turned around a couple of times, and then squatted, dribbling out maybe two or three tablespoons worth of urine.
She hasn’t been asking to go outside more often. I watched her all day today. There were no spots on the carpet or furniture where she was at, so I don’t think she’s “leaking.”
When I had a UTI once, I felt like I had to pee all the time-- are dogs the same? Wouldn’t she be asking to go out more often if she had a problem?
Betcha it’s a UTI, and she wouldn’t necessarily ask to go out. When you take her to the vet, if possible, take a urine sample with you or they might have to catheterise her.
It is not uncommon for spayed bitches to get UTIs, or to get spay incontinence as a result of altered hormones. Especially if she was spayed before her first heat.
I think sometimes dogs pee on beds to send a message. Years ago my then-boyfriend’s female dog would periodically pee on his roomate’s bed. She loved his roomie, we were never sure why she peed on his bed.
Six months after we put our old male dog to sleep, we got a male puppy. All of the dog bedding had been laundered. The puppy dribbled pee on each and every bed once–never did it again. I think he was scent-marking.
Ever since she was spayed as a puppy, our present female dog has battled the occasional UTI. At this point, I recognize the signs of infection (constant, repeated squattings on walks etc) well, so the problem never gets too far along before I figure it out. However, in the early years, she would be at the point of having blatant and pathetic accidents in the house before I realized she was infected.
Get her checked by a vet. If she checks out okay and it was only this one time, I wouldn’t worry about it. As mentioned, it could have been a doggie brain cramp. It happens. Sometimes they just mess up and you never can find the reason. Maybe she’d been tussling with your other dog and decided this was her time to mark the bed as her territory. Maybe she just forgot to go when she was out earlier. Maybe she was acting out because someone ignored her invitiations to play. One of my dogs once got startled by a static shock and wet the couch. The other once apparently decided (at age 8 years) to see if peeing in the house was still forbidden (it was). It could have been any of a thousand things. If it was just one time and she knows she was wrong, you may never figure it out.
