amy
Newbie
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Post by amy on May 16, 2014 9:24:15 GMT -5
I've been having a problem recently with my girl Pearl, and I was hoping somebody else might have had a similar issue or know a good solution. I'm not sure if this is a greyhound thing or a general dog thing.
I've had Pearl for years and she has been housetrained for years. She has never had a problem before a month or so ago, she was actually very good at bladder control and telling us when she needed to go out. But a while back she peed on the carpet in the middle of the night. Then she did it again, on the same spot, on another night. It kept happening on more or less the same spot, so I figured that even though I'd cleaned it really thoroughly maybe she could still smell something there. I nuked the area and for a few weeks restricted her access to that spot in the night. She stopped doing it.
Then she started doing it in another spot. It only happens at night. She does not have a UTI, we've taken her to the vet and she's healthy. We started restricting her access to water before bed-time, and that seemed to stop it happening for a while. But then it started again. We started taking her on longer walks before bed, and that seemed to help. Again, only for a while. These all seem like tricks to help but it seems like a switch has fliped in her head and she now thinks she can pee inside.
It's so strange. She is otherwise so well-behaved. She only does it at night, she only does it in certain places, and I can't think of anything that changed to precipitate this behaviour. We've started bell-training her in the hopes that it's just a case of she needs to go in the night but doesn't know how to wake us, so the bell would help with that, but I'm worried it's something deeper or else going on. Has anyone else had a problem with a very well-behaved and house-broken greyhound suddenly inexplicably peeing in the night? My husband wants to start putting her in her crate at night as she never pees in there, but I don't want to do that yet, I know she'd hate it.
Suggestions/ideas welcome!!
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xtrawld
Grey Lover
Both thirsty....can't wait for their turn....
Posts: 625
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Post by xtrawld on May 16, 2014 13:23:14 GMT -5
How old is she?
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Post by angelollie on May 16, 2014 18:58:51 GMT -5
Where does Pearl sleep at night .... is she in your bedroom or loose in the house. Is it possible to baby gate the bedroom with her in the bedroom while you all sleep, would you hear her if she became restless during the night? Have you noticed any other changes in behaviour?
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amy
Newbie
Posts: 5
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Post by amy on May 17, 2014 9:10:03 GMT -5
She's only 4. There's been no other behavioural changes at all. Normally she has free rein through the apartment at night; she tends to move from place to place every 2-3 hours. She likes being able to move around. We did try babygating her in with us through the night and that seemed to stop it for a while, but then it started again. She's just so quiet and stealthy she doesn't wake us up at all and seems so reluctant to tell us in the night she wants to pee!
What I think is really strange is that her bladder control is still excellent through the day when she's by herself. It only happens at night and I'm not sure I think it's because of any urgent need. Seems like it has to be behavioural but I can't figure out what's going on.
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whovian
Junior Grey Lover
River (a.k.a Iruska Cool Chic) has claimed me as her "friendbeast"
Posts: 171
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Post by whovian on May 17, 2014 17:10:38 GMT -5
Does it happen to be storming or raining on the nights that she pees? Sounds like something is going on in your house that isn't happening or bothering her during the day. Set up a video camera perhaps?
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Post by angelollie on May 17, 2014 19:13:11 GMT -5
I was thinking the same thing .... not necessarily stormy weather but maybe a sound, a clock, a sound from a different apartment, or someone in the hall or something that would cause her anxiety enough to pee. That may sound strange but I have a 10 year old hound who within the past year became anxious over the beeping of an Iphone, the beeping of the stove commands, and the gas pumps. He doesn't pee but he shakes himself silly whenever he hears those sounds. I didn't think a sound so simple and familiar would cause him this problem. Is it possible that something like that could be causing Pearl to pee out of anxiety, a sound she is hearing only at night when your apartment is quiet. Just a thought!!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2014 20:37:21 GMT -5
My first thought is mentioned above. My daughter's greyhound goes thru cycles of distress and peeing in her apartment and it is always related to a change in the building. In her case, there was work going on outside and that really set him off. Do you have any new neighbors (I'm thinking a new male voice versus a female voice)? Perhaps you have a night owl near by that is new and Pearl can hear the goings on.
P.S. I absoutely adore her name! It's one I have always loved and if I had a girlie, that would be it! M
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Post by celine87 on May 17, 2014 21:15:39 GMT -5
Callie started doing something similar about a year ago. It was always pretty random but I did notice that every time she had an accident was when she was laying down and it would only happen sporadically. I mentioned it to my vet and she said that sometimes in spayed female dogs this can happen; although it usually does happen in older dogs (Callie was only about 5 when I noticed it). I think it's because they don't produce as much hormones (like estrogen)and that prevents the bladder from contracting as much as it should. Therefore, when they are laying down their bladders are just kind of floating and because of that there's less contracting being done in the bladder which makes them become incontinent. This can easily be fixed by them taking some medication (not sure what kind). I decided not to put Callie on it right now since it doesn't happen a lot yet.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2014 21:36:01 GMT -5
Callie started doing something similar about a year ago. It was always pretty random but I did notice that every time she had an accident was when she was laying down and it would only happen sporadically. I mentioned it to my vet and she said that sometimes in spayed female dogs this can happen; although it usually does happen in older dogs (Callie was only about 5 when I noticed it). I think it's because they don't produce as much hormones (like estrogen)and that prevents the bladder from contracting as much as it should. Therefore, when they are laying down their bladders are just kind of floating and because of that there's less contracting being done in the bladder which makes them become incontinent. This can easily be fixed by them taking some medication (not sure what kind). I decided not to put Callie on it right now since it doesn't happen a lot yet. ahh yes, the joys of being a female, hound or human~
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amy
Newbie
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Post by amy on May 18, 2014 10:27:26 GMT -5
Wow, thanks guys for all the suggestions. I did think it could be something startling her in the night, but if it is I have no idea what it is or how to find out! We live in a very quiet area and nothing has changed in recent months... no new noises or unfamiliar anythings that I can think of. She's totally unfazed by storms and rain. And it's not happening every night. It happens much less when we take away her water a few hours before bed (which I really don't like doing as she always seems to miss it), but it happens much more if we let her drink right up until her final walk of the night. I don't think it's leakage, as it never happens where she sleeps or sits, always in a random place.... I like the idea of a webcam or similar, I may have to find one to try that. If it is something waking her up and making her think it's time to pee I'm going to have to find out what it is, my carpet can't survive much more! P.S. Pearl was actually her racing name - she was The Black Pearl, from a Pirates of the Caribbean themed litter
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OwnedBySummer
Hound Nut
"Summer" (aka Coach Standifer)
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Post by OwnedBySummer on May 19, 2014 12:40:32 GMT -5
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whovian
Junior Grey Lover
River (a.k.a Iruska Cool Chic) has claimed me as her "friendbeast"
Posts: 171
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Post by whovian on May 19, 2014 16:15:59 GMT -5
Regardless of the cause for now, you could try getting those doggy house training pee pads from the pet store. If she seems like she is going in the same spot anyway, you could do something to protect your carpet as a stop gap measure while you root out the cause. Good luck!
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amy
Newbie
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Post by amy on May 20, 2014 8:22:17 GMT -5
Thank you
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aeiou
Grey Puppy
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Post by aeiou on May 20, 2014 11:55:22 GMT -5
My first thought was spay incontinence too. There is also some evidence floating out there that if any pieces are left behind from their spay, that they can still cycle. I've known a couple of females who went into heat cycles, even though they were given a full spay.
From my own experiences, I have a male, who we've had for seven years, who will have accidents in the house when someone other than himself is sick. He's been our "early warning" system all of these seven years to tell us that there's something wrong. The trick when he first started this behavior was figuring out which of the five was ailing. LOL Has anything changed with your (or any other pets) health?
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amy
Newbie
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Post by amy on May 20, 2014 13:21:27 GMT -5
The weird thing is though, it's not leakage, she seems to be squatting in certain places to do it.
Nothing has really changed at home to precipitate any nervousness or change in behaviour. I am ill quite a lot, she's used to that, and although she clearly knows when I am ill (she usually comes and sits with me on bad days), it has never caused her to pee or become nervous and there's not really been anything wrong since she's started doing it.
I didn't know they could still be in heat cycles, she is spayed of course but it's possible there's something going on with that; I don't really know how that works but she's certainly only been doing it since the start of spring...
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