Weeing in the house ... at seven months

[Natalie]

So you might remember Bear took a while to toilet train - poos were always outside, but weeing was an issue. We got there when he was just under 5 months. Bur the last two nights, around 7ish, he has wee'd in the lounge - on the carpet and rug. He also did it about three weeks ago, same room, in the evening.
Any ideas what's going on? He had a long walk in the woods with OH less than two hours ago. He has dinner at six. One thing I've noticed, he doesn't give us any sign he needs to go outside - Monty used to tap the door, but with Bear , there's nothing. We are at home, all day, every day.

Need to fix this. OH is hopping mad, he only cleaned the carpets a few weeks ago when we thought this phase was over. Do we just go back to taking him outside, on the hour every hour after dinner? He often doesn't wee on cue as he used to - he's clearly not as desperate to go as he used to and he holds it in quite often.

<<<< this is me ever suggesting toilet training was the easy bit

 

[SwampDonkey]

He's approaching the time in his life when his hormones are starting to change so they can get a bit distracted also he may have a UTI. He could have just got excited and just forgot.

 

[Jen]

I’d maybe just go back to obverse reinforcing peeing outside. Puppies are just like toddlers, they like to keep you on your toes

 

[Candy]

I wonder if he might have a UTI. Also Joy still had the occasional accident when Veryvery excited until she was well over a year old.

 

[Beanwood]

Yep.. back to basics for a bit. It can be that taking your eye of the ball (cough..) has led to a wee (cough...) bit of regression. Hope your poor hubby can stay sane in the meantime...

 

[Natalie]

Thanks all, I'm not sure about a UTI, there's no other symptoms at all, though I don't know what I'd be looking for as don't think Monty has ever had one.
I took him out every hour and twenty minutes last night, he went every time. This will just have to be the plan for the next few weeks. Ho hum.

 

[Boogie]

Spencer did the same at that age - also about three weeks apart. He was a waterholic, which didn’t help. He was so bad GDs had a full kidney scan done on him, as no UTI showed up. Kidneys completely clear.

He’s 100% reliable now. With some pups it just takes time, but he just took the biscuit!

Echo always needs a wee just after eating, even if he had one just before. He always asks. Spencer was the same but didn’t ask - so I had to remember.

 

[Natalie]

He was a waterholic, which didn’t help

Oh this is Bear - he drinks a lot - both in frequency, , and at each visit to the water bowl. Much more than Monty

With some pups it just takes time, but he just took the biscuit!

Bear now likes a biscuit both before and after a wee. And there's a definite reluctance to go outside in the rain, so I bet it's a combination of all of these things plus excitement, a few hormones and immaturity.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Argh...my sympathies.

I'm going way wide on this and think the others have probably covered it, but I've had fosters that (1) couldn't be bothered to go outside because they were too busy doing something else or didn't want to miss out on the action currently taking place indoors and (2) ones who didn't want to go out where is was cold, wet, etc. #2 is almost always chihuahuas and I imagine way off base, but #1 could be a possibility with Bear.

Carbon used to try to have a sneaky wee on the balcony off of the bedroom in Spain as he was too busy having fun with Paul on the bed to go downstairs to the garden. Drove me batty!

 

[Natalie]

Two and a half week's clean - and another wee on the rug. Sigh. It was after dinner, same time same place. Cannot trust this little Bear. Why won;t he give us a sign?

 

[Beanwood]

Oh dear! Hopefully it's a one off...nothings changed outside has it?

 

[Jessica]

Apologies if this is obvious, but does he always wee on the same rug? Could you try removing the rug and putting something else down in its place? Jess had an odd house training regression at around the same age when she apparently decided that one particular rug was ok to wee on. First couple of times I cleaned it up with simple solution, then I got rid of the rug. It never happened again.

 

[Jessica]

Also, another obvious comment but if it is happening at the same time, can you take him out in anticipation of that? Brodie always needs a wee at/before 7pm, even though that's not much after his evening walk. It's because he drinks a lot of water after his walk but it took a few accidents/near accidents before we realised what was happening & when he needed to go. He is also much more subtle than Jess is communicating when he needs to go so we rely more on keeping to a fairly fixed routine for breaks rather than waiting for his signals.

 

[Natalie]

Apologies if this is obvious, but does he always wee on the same rug? Could you try removing the rug and putting something else down in its place? Jess had an odd house training regression at around the same age when she apparently decided that one particular rug was ok to wee on. First couple of times I cleaned it up with simple solution, then I got rid of the rug. It never happened again.

He's had 3-4 accidents on the rug since we passed the milestone of 'mostly toilet trained' - at nearly 20 weeks. However two of those were the same day, I think. The other three have been in the same room, but on the carpet close to the entrance to the room - so all wees are in two specific areas.
WE could take the rug up and leave it in the garage for a while, probably after a deep clean with the Bissell cleaner. The only thing is it's a completely impractical pale cream carpet and there's a clear rectangle where the rug has been for four years! But he might still just go on the carpet.

Also, another obvious comment but if it is happening at the same time, can you take him out in anticipation of that?

this is spot on - it's always after dinner, between 6.30 and 8.30. We got really good at taking him outside for more regular evening wees, but in just the last five days or so we got lazy ans we've paid the price. He's also a big water drinker and this might play a part while he's still got a slightly immature bladder.

He literally does not give us any signal at all that he needs a wee. This is the frustrating thing, and probably a result of lockdown and us both being home all day - we also leave the back door open until it's too cold not to. It's open now even though it's just before 10pm and getting chilly in here.

Oh dear! Hopefully it's a one off...nothings changed outside has it?

The decking is getting a bit slippery in the wet weather, and it was raining this evening, but he didn't even make it past me in the kitchen to the back door, so though I know he doesn't love the rain, I don't think this can be an issue. He has started to go - both wees and poos - on the decking, rather than up on the lawn, but I think this is just an attempt to get it done quickly in the rain. I think @Emily_Babbelhund #1 scenario above is what we are dealing with - also wondering if there's any link here to his digestive system - is there a chance this upset might be affecting his bladder? who knows, just a big pain this is going on. Mostly for OH who gets on his hands and knees each time for the scrubbing.

 

[Jessica]

He literally does not give us any signal at all that he needs a wee.

it's funny, lots of the dynamics you describe with Monty and Bear are similar with Jess and Brodie. Jess has always seemed to understand how to let us know what she needs, whether it's by sitting and staring at us, shuffling around, going to the door that she wants opened, barking/vocalising, using her head/nose to indicate things - she has quite a repertoire of sounds and gestures and has done really since she first arrived with us. Brodie has been very different - he didn't seem to have the same instinctive idea of communicating with us in order to get what he wanted. But he is doing it now and it is both very funny and very sweet to see him learn that. I'm sure Bear will get there too, maybe it comes more naturally to some dogs than others.