Question:
My Dad has had Toby - a collie - since he was a puppy. He's now 11.

However, my Dad has recently become too ill to look after Toby, and so I've taken him. He's known me all his life, although he hadn't been to my current house when he first moved in.

I expected a few 'accidents' as he adjusted to his new environment, which indeed happened. Now, however, he's taken to peeing somewhere in the house each morning - just once, and after he's been out in the garden to relieve himself. It's always a different place in the house, and always downstairs.

Plus, he does this right in front of myself and my partner - knowing we can see him do it. There's no attempt to hide it, even though he knows it's wrong.

He's been fine for the past 11 years, and now this. Can anyone make any suggestions?

Many thanks

Donbavand

Answer:
vet check time - older dogs should have checkups at least once, and ideally twice a year.

Seniors, (both dogs and people, ) often develop incontinence problems. It's not something they can control - so talk to the vet about solutions.

Answer:
Many thanks. That's my next step.

Donbavand

Answer:
If you can get a urine sample just before you take him in, once you rule out medical problems

You can maybe considering trying a belly band http://www.dog-breeds.net/dog_diaper_belly_band.htm feeling themselve get wet can help to discourage a dog from marking in a house, when using for a behaviour problem you don't use an incontinence pad inside, with male dogs that have medically related incontinence you use an incontinence pad inside so it draws the urine away from the body.

Answer:
I know he is older - true incontinence is usually when they are laying down and just wet themselves - or waltz about the house and they dribble. Actually marking and lifting the leg is intentional. To be honest this behavior might have been happening at dad's too, but he is too embarrassed to admit it or he might not have noticed.
The belly band might help, but it might be that you need to treat him like a puppy again and watch for mistakes and correct them and take him back outside - just like housetraining a pup. Some dogs get lazy and you just have to retrain a bit.

Answer:
medical problems include more than just incontinence could include kidney/bladder stones, Urinary tract infections, diabetes etc, it could very very well be behavioural, but it is best to rule out medical first so as not to be correcting a dog for something they may not have control of

Answer:
It's a very common misconception that dogs "know they're wrong" about things. They may have a vague subconscious awareness that they are doing something not accepted within the pack, but I worry when I hear people say this, because usually resentment is not far behind.

I would bet this is stress-related, it's just such a huge change of everything the dog knows, for a dog of this age. My advise:

- supervise this dog at this point, 100% of the time
- if you find an accident after the fact, don't say or do a thing to the dog - act as though you haven't even seen it. Clean it up (not in front of the dog), use a cleaner that removes the smell (Freedom Envirozyme is the best I've come across), and smack your own wrist for having let an accident-prone dog out of your sight
- if he starts to go in front of you, do a sharp noise (AT!! works) to distract him - he should startle and stop reflexively - and get him outside pronto. If he goes while outside, praise him.
- rehousetrain from scratch - inc taking him out every 2 hrs; using separate doors when he's going out to pee or going out for a walk; no playing etc til he goes then lots of praise and rewards (a sharp distractive verbal cue is more effective than verbal 'correction'; some dogs mistakenly associate the correction with the act, not the place he was when he did the act, which can confuse them and worsen the problem)
- use crates or other containment methods until this dog is reliable again, including not letting him out of your sight.
- use a belly band - I buy old towels at thrift shops and just secure them around the belly. Depending on the dog's size, you might also use human pull-ups (they come in adult sizes) or full briefs (diapers).

Realize this dog may not ever be 100% again - this is just such a huge stress on an older dog. Physiological problems as well as diminished cognitive function in older dogs are other things you're dealing with, and a big stress like this may have just hastened these natural processes. If you feel frustrated, which so many of us do, look in his eyes and think of me, who'd kill to have my heart dog whom I lost to cancer at a young age, old and peeing in my house. :(

Good luck.

Answer: