What is with this dog, hopeless potty train

[BarksaLot]

I am really questioning the background of this poodle we adopted. He pees wherever he is when the urge strikes. He let loose a full bladder on my bed just a few minutes ago, I'd stood up to grab a book, sat back down on my bed and it was soaked, as was I at that point - and mind you he's been in and out of the house several times today - we took him to the vet last week, more blood work, urinalysis- came back clean, no diabetes, no UTI- he got my sons bed before, but was more like he leaked. So what is he trying to say with peeing right where I was laying? Crating him in my room doesn't work, he barks, whines, digs, throws a regular hissy fit. My son will have the crate is his room and he doesn't throw the fit he does in my room. When he was picked up by the shelter he was an intact male, estimated to be 10 yrs old, but thought now 5- 7 years. We've had him a month and a half and is fast becoming a pain, bonded to Lady, wants to be glued to me. Were torn with wondering if he belonged to an old woman, hoarding situation, or did he live his whole life in a crate strictly as a breeder and let go when he was no longer useful. I don't know what to do at this point, diapers? This is the first time I've seriously thought of returning a dog, but the two dogs are crazy about each other. Or we have to restrict his access in the house, no bed privileges. Anybody else have any thoughts experience in a similar situation, seen this in a foster dog? What did you do?

[JudyL]

As you said, you don't know his background. I had a similar situation with Benson when I adopted him, and I later found out that he was crated a lot by the "show homes" that had him and the family home immediately before me. That family also kind of gave up on potty training and crated him a lot and used belly bands when he was loose. Benson also drinks when stressed, so that adds to the problem.

I made the mistakes of giving him too much freedom of area too soon, assuming he was more reliably trained, not taking him outside often enough, and not paying enough attention to when he was drinking. There are more things that could be adding to your problems too. I had a friend that adopted a former show dog, a large std poodle, that had equated walking through a doorway with the exit from kennel to outside run/potty area and would relieve himself almost every single time. This was inside the home and happened a lot.

Once I found out that Benson's former family failed him on many levels, I treated him much like a puppy in training and that is what I would suggest you try with your new dog. This entailed going out every single time Benson had been asleep and woke up, every time he'd been crated and was released, after each meal, and immediately upon waking in the a.m. before anything else. He was a little over 4 years old at the time, but he simply could NOT go more than a couple of hours without peeing, and he still can't. There was nothing medically or physically wrong with him at that time, but his bladder simply could not hold that much pee for 8 hours. Just could.not.do.it. We are pretty much still in that mode and it works for us.

When Benson developed the heart issues and was put on diuretics, I simply did not know how I was going to handle this additional peeing. Guess what though? He was hospitalized long enough that they put down pee pads for him and told me that he went to them right away! I was dumbfounded, and it was the one thing I hadn't tried! I now think that at some point in time he was trained to use them or was paper-trained. I still pretty much use the same routine with him as I wrote above, and even with the very high doses of diuretics he's on now, he is very reliable about peeing outside and most of the time does NOT need the pads. I do have them down in the kitchen for him, and the times he uses them are when I get interrupted with a phone call, when he gets stressed by being alone, and sometimes in the overnight hours. I also had to really pay attention to him to learn his signals, and to know when he drinks, and how long it is before he needs to pee after that. He does try to tell me that he needs to go outside to pee, but believe me, it is *very* subtle. That is something that you will have to learn about your new guy, and that is just something that takes time for you to get to know him.

Sorry for the long story, but I think you need to restrict your dog to a smaller area, do not allow him on the bed until you solve this, and take him outside a lot more often. More often excursions means more opportunities for you to reward him and a less full bladder if he does have an accident in the house.

[LisaT_II]

I had problems with Max, turned out he couldn't tolerate sulphur, it made him pee and leak uncontrollably - eggs, garlic, msm, etc.

I also had this problem with Jazz. We even did a few rounds of cipro because clean catches showed bacteria but the cysto didn't. The cipro helped, but it always came back. Turned out that it was congenital and required surgery to fix. Before that she would just suddenly rush off to an area in the house and pee.

Hope you find a soln, it's frustrating! I do agree with confined to small areas initially too.

I should add that the regular vets were clueless with jazz, but her internal medicine specialist suspected the cause right away.

[JudyL]

ChiChi had a reaction to one particular formula of food that had her drinking and peeing like crazy too. I'd never encountered that with her in any other food that she was fed, but the week I gave her Wellness Core was awful. She never did wet in the house, but her asking to go out was extremely urgent, so much so that she couldn't make it to the grass and peed on the blacktop in the driveway instead. As soon as I switched to another food, all of those problems went away. It was something about that particular line of food because the other Wellness kibbles were no problem, either before or after that.

I didn't mention it because I think with a new dog where the history is unknown, or a change of home, it's probably more likely a training issue and the need to establish a set routine.

[BarksaLot]

I think you are right about confining, more frequent trips outside. We've learned his signal when he's in his crate and needs to go - he turns around, does a little dance. I've got pee pads, I'll try that. And rehoming is absolutely out of the question, they have really bonded. Plus he's a doll. We think he guards me, if Bill picks him up for some reason he growls, doesn't try to bite, but might be an issue to be addressed later. One thing at time.