peeing when laying down...help!

Annie&Bo · Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:44 pm Post subject: peeing when laying down...help!

My German Shepard who is 6months old has been potty trained for the past 3 months. However, if she is laying on the floor sleeping...she will pee on herself hiding her pee. She knows better and will even punish herself and ommit herself from everyone and to go her crate.
My husband and I took a pee sample to the vet and everything is normal. The vet said she was being lazy. So we punished her and checked her everytime she got up. Nothing seems to be working. We are hoping she grows out of this but it doesn't seem to be the case. If anyone out there has any insight on the situation. It would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

charmedagain · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 2205 Location: uk

It is not uncommon for puppies to pee themselves while asleep if they are having a bad dream. Its similar to a young child having a nightmare they usually wet the bed.

Is she spayed, I have had young bitches that would pee when sleeping that were due to start there first cycle, Mitzy used to do this just before every cycle which is how i knew she would be coming into heat.

I agree with Jamiya you can not punish a puppy for doing this unless you actually catch her in the act and if this is only happening while she is asleep you can not exactly wake her and tell her off as this would scare her.

I would also have her checked by another vet just to rule out any other problems, Just because there was no infection in the urine does not mean there is no infection further up either in the bladder or urinary tract some infections are hard to detect.

Also diabetes can cause incontinence and again if this is the problem you can not punish her as this is not her fault and has no control over her bladder.

You punishing her after you notice this has happend can be causing more of a problem and it soon will become a fear responce.

Her going into her crate after she wakes and finds she is wet is not punishing herself its fear of the people that are punishing her and this is no way for a puppy or any animal to live....

Mike

Annie&Bo · Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:17 am Post subject:

Thank you for all the great advise. We love her to death and would never want to mis-treat our pup. She was spayed just 2 days ago, so we are hoping this may disappear. If not we will seek advise from a new vet.

coppersmom · Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:22 am Post subject:

My dogs have always wet their beds. Ever since they were puppies--before they had urinary problems--they would pee on their bedding. Never figured out why they did that. Maybe to get me to come and give them some attention.???

Just saw that she was spayed 2 days ago...that may be the issue. While I was researching Zoey's incontence (due to old age) I read that some young spayed pups can also experience it.

DeLaUK · Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:35 am Post subject:

If shes only been doing it since being spayed it could be pain related (not wanting to get up and move around when she is comfortable). The other thing is there are problems that can come up after spaying (although I didnt think it would show up this quick).

A dog I had (my daughters dog) had a problem from birth, she was pretty much house trained by 4 weeks old, there were a few accidents but nothing major.....then when she was a couple of months old I found just what you have, that she was peeing while she was sleeping (this was before she was spayed), when she wasnt sleeping she would go outside and she pretty much had free access to get outside almost all day.

Turned out to be a problem with her muscles around her bladder, she could 'feel' that she needed to pee up to a certain amount of urine in the bladder but when it went over that and the bladder became fuller it ws cutting off the nerves to muscles around the bladder and she couldnt feel it anymore (thats laymans terms....there was a bit more to it than that). She was on a medication called Phenylpropanalamine (sp) for about less than a year and was then weaned off them, shes never had a problems since. Shes almsot 6 years old now.

Im not saying this is the same for your pup but you really need to get her checked out if either it was happening before she was spayed or if its just started then maybe give her a couple of days. As Jamiya said peeing while they are asleep is not normal.

coppersmom · Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 1:32 pm Post subject:

Zoey is on PPA now (she's 9 years old) and hasn't had an accident in a while.

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

I'd give her a little more time to recover from the spay, since this has been going on for a while. Then maybe you should ask your vet about PPA or try a new vet.

Of course, my first choice is always homeopathy, and I can give you names of ones you can try. It's different from the medicine we are used to, though, so it takes an open mind to give it a chance.