Bulldogs World

Hi Everyone,

I used to post quite a bit, got out of the habit of it. Hi again :) I just spent about an hour reading all of the posts with the word 'pee' in them. Always a fun evening. 

Matilda's been well - she'll be 9 in December and I knock wood we'll keep right on truckin'...

I'm not even sure of the order of how this all began, but...

Like some of the other posts, our pee problems seem to develop over a little time. Matilda - for several years actually - spends about 4 hours at a time (maximum) gated into my kitchen. She had never peed on anything in my house. Ever. I would occasionally notice wet spots on things, but she's a toy-sucker and likes her bones, so I figured 'ok'. It never smelled or anything. 

Earlier this Spring, she wet her bed a couple of times during the day. I suspected a UTI, but it came back clean both times. 

Recently, the crappy gate got a little flimsy. I noticed one day that one of the rungs was broken and I got scared thinking she'd tried to rush it, so I used the substitute gate which is tension and not screwed in. When I got home for lunch, like I always do, I discovered her in her upstairs bed - asleep. Awww. She'd pushed the gate down. But no biggie, right? She's never eaten anything, chewed, or messed anything up. Sometimes she'll steal a pillow off the couch, but whatever. 

This has progressed. I discovered that MY mattress had a (dried) mark on it. Hmm. Then, one day, the blanket she enjoys on the sofa was wet. This got to the point that on Monday morning while I was in the shower she got up on my bed and peed on it. A LOT.  

Reluctantly I've been crating her since Tuesday. She's had some experience with crates since they use them at day-care, the vet, and I have had rescue fosters who used them. She doesn't cry or bark or object much to going in, rather she's gone in several times to just hang out.

But I figured she would pee in the crate - and she has. Mind you she has just been on a walk before she goes in and has peed her brains out all over everything in the neighborhood. At about 11:30am, when I get home, I discover - wet bedding. Today, I left at 7:30am and got home at just before noon - wet. Left at 1, back at 3 - wet bed. 

Somebody needs to help give me the strength to take away the crate bedding. From what I've read, this seems to be behavioral and not related to any kind of medical condition since she's been checked for everything known to humankind.

I spend a LOT of time with her, come home at lunch every day and she gets outside time as often as she would like when I am home. Matilda is not a fan of peeing outside when it is wet, but she'll do it. We don't have any problem outside other than that she has to 'go' where every other dog has gone before. But she's always been like that.  

I guess I just felt the need to vent. My dog-day-care lady says that she 'needs to learn that babies pee inappropriately and she's not a baby'. If she can't be trusted then she can go in the crate without a bed and if she has to go - well - just sit in it. 

Sigh. Right?