The Unhousebreakable Cairn

[longhornkelly]

I adopted Petey a couple months ago from a wonderful rescue group, they told me he'd been given up by his owners because they could not housebreak him. He was given up around 11 months. So he stayed in foster care and made wonderful progress, but he got to go outside and pee every few hours. So I thought his first owners were incapable of housebreaking a dog.

Fast forward a few months of living in my house and I can't say that he's truly housebroken. He'll go all week of no accidents while I'm at work (9 hours) and then one day, he'll have 2 in the same day. There is some marking impulse going on, but it's pretty minor and he wears bellybands to prevent this and knows how to ask to go outside and even wakes me up in the morning to tell me it's pee pee time, so I think he knows the rules.

However he just has some times where he seems to have a meltdown. For example, 4th of July night, he was sleeping between my fiance and I and wet the bed after only being without a potty break for 4 hours. The whole bed was soaked, went right through his belly band, and he never even woke up or tried to get off the bed (if he soils his belly band, he tries his best to get it off). Then the next day I crated him for about 4 hours and he had his 2nd ever crate accident.

He also seems to do well 75% of the time from 9-5, but say I come home, feed him, let him out to do his business, and then leave again for 2 hours for dinner with a friend, he'll pee all over the floor.

I confine him to the kitchen when I'm at work, and I crate him if I have to go out for a short while in the evening or on the weekend. He USED to sleep on top of my bed, snuggled up to me, but now he's been vanquished to his dog bed.

This is the 3rd time he's peed on the bed, all 3 other times my fiance's been there, he's never had a problem with just me.

Any ideas? We're taking him to the vet tomorrow to rule out any medical cause. I've accepted I may never get him housebroken and love him just the same, but I just don't understand why sometimes he'll be able to hold it for 9 hours and others he can't make it for 2 hours.

[Tracy A.]

I For example, 4th of July night, he was sleeping between my fiance and I and wet the bed after only being without a potty break for 4 hours. The whole bed was soaked, went right through his belly band, and he never even woke up or tried to get off the bed (if he soils his belly band, he tries his best to get it off).

This tells me that he might have a bladder infection or some other condition. Consult with your Vet.

[cairnrescueleague]

Nine hours is a long time for a dog to be alone without a break, especially one with housebreaking challenges. Is it possible to hire a dogwalker, come home for lunch, take him to doggie day care,...?

[Shazza]

I think 4 hours without a potty break is a long time!

Since we moved, I've been home with our 2 all day and I never let them go past 2 hours without a potty break outside.

But, as soon as they are fed, out we go because I know they will have to go really soon.

Ours are 18 months and 15 months old.

But ruling out an infection is always the best thing to do.

[caseysmama]

i'd take away his doggie bed. casey pee'd her doggie bed months and months ago and now even tho she's 99.9% housebroken and even tho the doggie bed has bed washed and sanitized, she will still pee on it if its around.

im also curious what your reaction is when he has a 'accident'. my cairn is super aware of my reactions. honestly, i make sure she knows im upset bigtime and it seems to keep her in check.

[longhornkelly]

We used to come home mid day to let Petey out and play with him a bit, but I noticed he had MORE accidents when we did that. My fiance's office is near my house and I could always tell the days he came home from lunch because Petey had a puddle waiting for me, so we stopped doing it. I know it doesn't make any sense, we're baffled. I'm less worried about him making puddles when I'm at work, because I know it's a long time, it's all the puddles he makes at home at night! Last night he peed his belly band and he'd only gone 2 hours without a potty break. I'd literally let him in and out 7 times from 6 PM-11:30 PM and I never deny him going outside when he goes to the door, even though I suspect he just wants to go play outside.

When he pees, I get my "angry" face on and really scold him when I actually see him peeing, but I'm pretty lax if I don't catch him in the act. Sometimes I do grab his collar and show it to him and say "BAD". Then I take a papertowel I've wiped the pee up with and put it in the yard and tell him to pee and then praise him for it.

My fiance is more forceful, with his deeper voice I think he gets more of a reaction out of Petey. We went to a condo on the beach and my fiance put Petey on our bed and he wet it immediately so he scolded him. Then Petey jumped off the bed and ran into the closet where I was, and stuck his head up my floor length skirt to hide as if he was saying, "there's no dog here".

[Greg P]

You say he soaked on the night of the 4th. 4th of July is extremely stressful for dogs. He may be a fear (and an excitement) uninator. If so, be very careful with scolding.

Be vigilant, give him plenty of breaks and stay positive to increase his comfort and confidence. He's still a fairly young lad.

Do you give him complete range of the house? Our 3 are older and reliable and we still confine them to safe areas. At night they sleep in crates.

Be sure to give him plenty of exercise in the morning or evening by taking him on long walks. This will help remove angst and long walks are guaranteed to drain a cairn!

[pkcrossley]

i agree with all these comments. july 4 is a bad test. he needs to be checked for a UTI. and it is possible that he is one of those rare cases that gets nicked the wrong way during neutering. he needs coaching, understanding, a belly band, and he might need to sleep in his own bed. congratulations on giving him the love he needs.

[jetersmom]

You also may want to accompany him when he goes out so you actually see that he is going potty. At his age, he could just be going out to walk around and they do get distracted easily. I just adopted my foster furkid and she is 9 months. If I want to make sure she does her business I go out there and say go potty until she does. I

[Chris's Desta]

Although you don't want anything to be wrong with the dog, it would be a relief if the vet finds a medical reason for Petey's peeing and can fix your entire problem with treatment.

Barring any medical reason, I second the recommendation to take Petey out on two long walks or at mimimum one long walk before you leave for work. Neither of my dogs pee all in one place in the morning. They both like to "save some" to urine mark over other dog's scents. Desta will pee about 4-5 times in a half hour, and my Corgi hikes and marks about 12 times before he's empty. Even when he's out of "ammunition", he still strives valliantly to mark over other dogs' scent. Hah! Anyway by the time the walk is over, their bladders (and bowels) are completely empty and they're usually good to go without a potty break for 6-7 hours. Now that Desta is on strict exercise restrictions for the heartworm, I take her around my large backyard four or five slow rounds on leash and she pees several times over about 20 minutes. Like Greg wrote, "This will help remove angst and long walks are guaranteed to drain a cairn!" I take "drain a Cairn" literally, as in completely draining their bladders while they're out.

[Abbie]

You mentioned that he only wets the bed when your fiance is there. You also said that the days your fiance went home to let him out were the only days you found puddles. I don't know if it possible that he is jealous or fearful for some strange reason of your fiance, but it is a strange coincidence that he only leaves puddles when your fiance is around. Just a thought.

[oscar's mom]

To go along with Abbie's idea, maybe your fiance should take your dog for a walk, to help with the bonding. It could be an issue, and walking with him, will help show your cairn the fiance can be trusted, and be apart of the family.

[longhornkelly]

Well, my fiance took Mr. Petey to the vet and he got checked for diabetes, a UTI, kidney stones, everything and anything and he has a clean bill of health, so I guess his little issue falls squarely on my sholders.

I like the idea of walking him in the morning, and you guys made some good points about the fiance. I'm not sure how Petey feels about him, they play A LOT more together than Petey and I do and they're both very affectionate to each other but I'm not sure if Petey's being jealous/protective of me somehow? They spend a lot of time just the two of them, my fiance stays at my house to care for him when I leave on business trips. My fiance moves in this weekend, so I think we'll all have to adjust!

One thing I did think of, that I would like input on, is discontinuing use of Petey's belly band. I wonder if him, sitting right next to me, peeing in his belly band with no consequence (because sometimes I don't notice he's wet it right away) is confusing him. I know it'll be more wear and tear on my flooring, but I wonder if this confuses him? I'm going to discontinue it for the next 2 weeks and see where it gets me. I have mostly hard floors, so let's hope he avoids my rugs

[Greg P]

Whenever you clean the urine, use Nature's Miracle or Simple Solution. Both enzyme based cleaners that destroy the urine odor. In the long run, this should help.