NIght Time Wetting

Hi Guys, Your site has given me so much valuable information that I’m really hoping you can help us with this. Mia is our 20months old brindle loving girl. She’s done so well with crate/housetraining that this we have no clue as to what is going on.

For about 4 wks running she has wet the bed overnight. At first it wasn’t every night and we just thought accident love her. It’s been getting steadily worse and has progressed to most nights. Thoughts turned to maybe it’s the fact were home all weekend and she’s protesting in the week but no, the odd weekend nights she does it to.
We’ve had her up the vet, and she’s had a course of strong antibiotic’s had a sample tested for water infection (which came back clear) hormones checked etc nothing.

She knows she’s doing wrong as she legs it away tail between her legs, ears down as soon as she comes out of her crate in the morning...............PLEASE HELP nothing but tears in the house from me now

You may want to try going back to basics with her, take her out every half hour for toilet break after a snooze, after playing and after eating. Maybe she just needs to have some extra training in this area to refresh herself.

Thanks I'll give that a try but she still asks to go out in the evening (if the door is shut)

Has she been spayed?

yes she has and the vet said she might have become incontinent but ruled that out as she’s left longer in the day without an incident

Can you think of anything that has upset her in any way recently?

She doesn't know she's doing wrong - the reason she runs away with her tail down is because she senses you aren't happy & she doesn't understand why.

If a UTI has definitely been ruled out then I'd say it's something that has upset her at night.

Sounds perhaps she's anxious about something, maybe something upsetting her at night

Honestly thought she knew she had done wrong. Is that not the case then? dogs don't know??

Nothing has changed and thats the only thing we can think of! problem is we don't know what, she's been in the kitchen everynight since we got her, we did have to change the fridge freezer but that was last Oct and she was fine.

Is thinking of moving her crate a good idea? or would we be asking for more trouble?

If she's well and no health related problems, i think it could be back to basics. When Kenny went through a peeing thing, a trainer told us to do the following, 1st, get ride of her old bedding, the scent let will attract her to wee there. Keep taking her out to the garden, as soon as she begins to wee say "wee" or "pee", then reward her, be really OMG Good girl. When she does it in her crate, say nothing, just clean it up. When your about to take her to the garden, say "lets go Wee". It's simple but effective. It toke Kenny a few days, but worth it xx

Black Widow wrote:Honestly thought she knew she had done wrong. Is that not the case then? dogs don't know??

They obviously know they're peeing, but that's just a natural thing for them! Yes, you can teach her to go outside, but that's just habit - she won't be thinking in terms of right or wrong. Most dogs don't like to pee in their bedding, but if for some reason their routine has changed, or something has upset them then they can't help it.

Black Widow wrote:Is thinking of moving her crate a good idea? or would we be asking for more trouble?

I'd get her sorted first, unless the crate being where it is, is upsetting her in some way.

As Kelly says, go back to basics, like you're starting house training from scratch all over again!

Caryll wrote:

Black Widow wrote:Honestly thought she knew she had done wrong. Is that not the case then? dogs don't know??

They obviously know they're peeing, but that's just a natural thing for them! Yes, you can teach her to go outside, but that's just habit - she won't be thinking in terms of right or wrong. Most dogs don't like to pee in their bedding, but if for some reason their routine has changed, or something has upset them then they can't help it.

Black Widow wrote:Is thinking of moving her crate a good idea? or would we be asking for more trouble?

I'd get her sorted first, unless the crate being where it is, is upsetting her in some way.

As Kelly says, go back to basics, like you're starting house training from scratch all over again!

When you crate trained her, did you start with the crate in the bedroom? You could try doing this, and very gradually move it out side the bedroom door and so on, until she feels she settled and comfortable. Maybe she can hear noises in the night that could be unsettling for her. x

her and her crate have always been in the same place from the day we got her 18 months ago, in the kitchen and she's been happy. We even moved the piggys out last night incase they are waking her. Got up earlier and checked but still wee but instead of telling her off she was shown outside wee wee's was said and then she came upstairs and had cuddles and dosey time with us as she does at the weekend (funny she liked that ) we have tried every other approach thus far so got nothing to lose.

always seems to be in the same place, so having the whole thing apart tonight incase something has fallen down the back we don't know of that she might be trying to get to. Been washing the bedding daily at 90 so surely the scent won't still be there?? Bit worried about buying new bedding ect not for the cost so much but if she does it that night thats another lot to through out.

Are you washing the bedding with biological washing powder/liquid?

I know it's quite harsh & is no good for dogs with allergies or sensitive skins, but it does get rid of all trace of urine smell.

haha just had to check yes I do its asda own brand moonflower one she's always had her sheets washed in that and i don't use fabric con as believe it would smell to strong for her.

Just a thought, when she has snugglings in bed on the weekend, does she wee then? This could be your answer. Their clever little things, maybe she's stressed from being from you at night.
If its not that, maybe she can hear other animals in the night. Are there foxes in your area.
As for washing the bedding, you could wash it as you normally do, then get spray from the pet shop, or try adding bi-carb to the end rinse, desolve it first in boiling water, then pour it into the machine. Its for urine and can get rid of any scent she will still be able to smell.

When you take her out, say wee as soon as she starts too, she'll asociate the word with the action, then reward, It does take time and does work, if its just a training issue. She's 18 months now and this sounds like a new behavoiur. She's becoming an adult and her homones are proberly all over the place.
Just something else, as any1 ever used the cage as punshiment? Im not suggesting you have, but has any1 told her off, then put her in there. She could be associating the cage with a negative occassion.
I hope things work out for you.

kenny d wrote:Just a thought, when she has snugglings in bed on the weekend, does she wee then?

She does yes, we had thought about that but with last weekend being the bank holiday and only one dry night, that being the friday night when she didn't have snuggles in the morning, we ruled that out too

kenny d wrote:Are there foxes in your area.

not that we know of, is a possibility but no tail tail signs in the garden to suggest other animal activity

kenny d wrote:She's becoming an adult and her homones are proberly all over the place.

Our vet checked for that with the pee sample I took them (got the first morning one too, that was a laugh)

kenny d wrote: any1 ever used the cage as punshiment?

Never, its her space and chill out area. She's goes stright to it after she's been out for her night night wee.

It honestly sounds as though she's just going through a 'blimp'!

Hopefully she'll remember her training & go back to being dry again soon.

Well ladies and gents, we had a dry night last night woop woop 1st one in 6 nights. We're sooo proud of her and she got treats and cuddles this morning!!.

not sure why yet but we took the advice you gave and went back to basics yesterday, treats after wee wee in the garden. She's had new balls, bones and a kong wobbler. stripped her crate out fresh bed linen sprayed with fabreze and hoovered behind (not that we don't do that anyway)

I even managed to find her the stuffed cheeseburger toy that she destroyed as a pup, although she pulled the stuffing out within 1/2hr she had the outer remains in with for the night.

She has a rather large crate and has areas for sleeping eating and toys so we moved it all around last night as it seemed to be just the one area she wees in, so that became her toy area with a training pad.

Lastly she had some food in her crate, we usually take the bowl away at night but she is a grazer and rarely eats it all so thought maybe she's getting hungry at night and that was upsetting her.

Fingers crossed our beautiful girl can do another night and were on our way to success. Will keep you posted

well that didn't last long

not only did she wet the bed she soaked it, she only had 4hrs to wait too...........

Have you tried leaving her crate door open at night? Maybe put some newspapers down in case she's caught short?

The only other thing I can say is try getting up during the night & letting her out into the garden - start off getting up 4 hours before normal getting up time, then 3 & a half hours, then 3 hours etc until she can last all night.

Caryll wrote:Have you tried leaving her crate door open at night? Maybe put some newspapers down in case she's caught short?

so scared to do this as it might freak her out more. also we have carpet tiles emmmmmmm wouldn't be nice

Caryll wrote: The only other thing I can say is try getting up during the night & letting her out into the garden - start off getting up 4 hours before normal getting up time, then 3 & a half hours, then 3 hours etc until she can last all night.

got up twice in the night for her and she managed to pee in between 12.30 & 4.00

she's still doing it!every damn night

one night she only had 3hrs to wait and it was cold. We have tried EVERYTHING we can think of.

Does anyone else's doggies sleep with a teddy ?? we are wondering whether this might help.???