Dog that wets the bed?

[CANOPY SAM]

Here's an interesting one for ya'.

We've recently become new parents of a 9-month old black lab. He's really a great dog, extremely loyal, absolutely loves kids, even prefers to do his "business" in the woods!!! I love this dog!

Here's the kicker. Once in a while, this guy falls asleep so hard at night that he wets the bed, which unfortunately is MY bed as well! He just crushes himself into the comforter, rolls over on his back with all four legs in the air (showing off his mammoth junk), and crashes into a hard sleep. He doesn't always do this, but too often we wake up in a wet spot, and he's STILL sleeping in it like nothing has happened!

We've really limited his water intake after 7:00 p.m., take him out many, many times before bedtime, and make sure he voids every time.

I've done the research on this, and most say to see the vet, but I honestly don't think anything is wrong. His urine doesn't smell, he has no problem urinating when he needs to, he's well house trained, and he doesn't lick incessantly like he has an infection.

I really get the impression he's just like a little boy who's played hard outside all day, and falls asleep so hard a little bladder accident doesn't even register.

Anyone else ever have/see or hear of this issue? I mean your dog.

Again, it's pretty intermittent. Most nights are dry, but occasionally we wake up and have to wash all the sheets. Bones is truly an awesome dog, so I'm not terribly alarmed by this, but just wondering if any of you have some insight or advice.

Another point of interest, and perhaps applicable to the situation. Bones' previous owner didn't pay much attention to him. He was often locked in a kennel for many hours each day, and even when let out (after work) he wasn't really cared for much. He has mild separation anxiety because of this, and really doesn't like it when I have to leave him home (freely running in the whole house) for a few hours. I try to take him with me most often, but obviously can't take him everywhere. He's amazingly loyal to me, my kids, especially to my youngest daughter, and even my wife. He's VERY much a Ladies Man!

[Bryce]

Very similar story with our little girl. Off to high intensity training at 5 months. Got her back at just over a year and bed wetting as you describe (including feminine junk in the air) except less frequently than yours. Went back to the trainer to finish up and is now retired and living with us full time. No issues at all now that she is fully matured.

[nofishfisherman]

Never had an issue like that with my dog. But I think the first step that I'd take is having the dog sleep somewhere else other than in my bed. My dog is pretty attached to me and refuses to sleep anywhere that isn't plush and comfortable so naturally he wants to sleep in my bed. Instead we have him sleep on the floor just inside the walk inside the walkin closet which is a few fet from the bed. We have a couple old pillows there that he'll sleep on. He still gets to be close and he has a comfortable spot to sleep but he isn't in the bed.

Other than that I'd bed the wetting is probably a maturity thing or maybe some sort of nervous/anxiety thing. If the dog is deep asleep and dreaming he might get startled by the dream but not wake up. I've seen my dog dead asleep and he'll start dreaming. You can see it happen because you can see his eyes moving around under the lids, you can see muscles twitch, and occasionally he'll bark in his sleep. I've even seen him bark so loud he wakes himself up and starts looking around trying to figure out what the sound was.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

Went back to the trainer to finish up and is now retired and living with us full time.

Huh??

5 months to retired? that is like 10+ years at the trainer then?

[CANOPY SAM]

Yep. I was thinking the maturity idea, and/or security issues, as well as the dreaming issue. This dog dreams like crazy! He growls, he barks, he runs, his whole body is twitching and shifting all over.

I woke him up with a little noise of my own last night. Sleeping between my wife and I, I made him JUMP! Ha ha ha!!! My wife and I couldn't stop laughing.

I know, you're absolutely right. We can't keep letting him sleep in our bed. We gotta get him to sleep in our kid's beds!

Problem is, we have a dog bed on the floor alongside ours. We gently put him on the dog bed at night, and praise him for laying there. An hour after we fall asleep he jumps back up onto our bed and curls up between us!

The bedsheets are in the wash again this morning, despite my warning shot last night!

Are any of you aware that there is some type of medication available for this kind of issue? They make it for little kids. Maybe they make it for dogs too?

[Bryce]

Retired from field trials until I win the lottery. She is just over 2 1/2.

[Kyhl]

Take him to the vet. We have a female with the same issue. She has since outgrown it but it took a couple of years.

The vet prescribed Proin (pronounced pro in). It's cheap. Given daily fixed the problem.

The downsides are the coat can get coarser (might not be a negative), and they may have a tendancy to put on weight.

[Ufatz]

Medication from vet until dog stops.

Get the dog OUT of your bed and into its own place.

Sheeesh!

[cavalierowner]

Has he been neutered? One of the rare side effects on neutering is incontinence. You can also buy or make a belly band for him until he gets through this phase.

I completely understand having your dog sleeping with you; we have 4 (small) dogs that sleep with us. I would have a tough time dealing with a dog that wets my bed. But I am also a big believer in crate training. If you get him a crate and put it in your bedroom until he gets through this, it will save you changing sheets in the middle of the night.

[CANOPY SAM]

Geez Seasock. That's gross, and likely not entirely appropriate per site rules.

No cavalier, he hasn't been neutered yet. Like I said earlier, we just got him a couple weeks ago.

I suppose to get a prescription for this medication I'm going to have to take him to the vet, do the whole doggone' work up, and pay a couple hundred bucks just to get the cheap meds? Is there any way around all this protocol?

I could certainly be wrong, but I still don't think there's anything wrong with him.

His previous owner didn't have his dew claws removed yet either. I suppose I should just take the hit, take him in for the claw removal, neutering, etc., then get the prescription?

We'll train him not to sleep in bed with us, but it's been a great way to make him feel secure in his new home, and strengthen a "new" bond for him. From what little I know of dogs, he looks to be a giant by the time he's done growing. There won't be room for him in our bed before too long.

[Pherris]

You can get proin online without a prescription. Just google it or petmeds offers it. Good luck!

[CANOPY SAM]

Thanks Pherris. I looked all over the internet and every where I looked I found that this med requires a vet's prescription. Thanks anyway. I kind of figured it would.

Interestingly, I found that this Proin, previously called Dexatrim, is known to cause stroke in canines. It was taken off the market, Dexatrim that is, because people using it for weight loss were tipping over from massive strokes as well!

I still question if anything is really "wrong" with Bones. He made it thru the night last night without an accident, but I did get up at 6:00 a.m. and let him outside. This issue is so intermittent I gotta wonder if it's more environmental than anything else.

We live alongside a river, and Bones, as a waterdog, will run down there and drink until he's ready to explode! Do others of you with lab puppies have the same issue. No matter how much water you give them they just keep drinking?

[nofishfisherman]

Kind of a side note but if he's drinking from the river a lot you may want to consider the giardia vaccination just to make sure he doesn't pick it up. I get my dog the vaccination because he's always drinking from random water sources.

[Pherris]

That's odd here is what it says on petmeds site

"Proin is available in all states except Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, and Oregon where it is classified as a controlled substance."

It may cause the problems that you indicate I cant say. I know I have tried to research many things online regarding my pup from meds to foods to training aids and to be honest I quit doing it. It seems people that do experience issues are far more vocal online then those that have positive experiences. We each need to make our own decisions regarding our pets. It got to the point for me that if I listened to all the dangers of everything I have researched from food to dog beds I would wrap my dog in bubble wrap and never let her out because from what I have read online its just to dangerous.

As far as a dog drinking a lot of water my lab drinks an unbelievable amount of water. We can hear her drinking from our living room and my wife often comments that I should go see if she fell in the water bowl and is trying to get out. She never has accidents. We do have a diabetic dog and before she was diagnosed she would drink tons of water and also have incontinence issues. But she also was not just having issues at night she was a peeing machine every 30 minutes or so at times. That is why we took her to the vet.

One thing that you may want to do is try crating her for a night or two and see if she has issues as most dogs will not go potty in the kennel unless it is a medical issue or left in it to long. And as many have mentioned it may just be something she will outgrow. I wish you the best and hope you get it resolved. I know how much dogs can mean to many and it is no fun when they are having issues. Good Luck!

[LABS4ME]

Canopy...

I'm sur eyou will get lot's of differing debates over this... but myself? I would not put an adult dog through dew claw removal. Thta is my opinion. I have hunted with friends dogs who had their dew claws and they never had any issues... wild canines have theirs and probably for the most part never have issues... The risk exists, though it is minor. Not sure if the odds are great enough to put an adult through full scale surgery for something that most likely will not happen...

I do think hunting dog pups should have them removed, but it is an easy 2 minute ordeal and over... adult dogs are a totally different subject.

Good Luck!

Ken

[CANOPY SAM]

Thanks again Pherris. If you go a little further into the HSOforum you'll find that it does require a prescription from a vet. No big deal. I still gotta bring him into the vet anyway.

So Labs4me, Bones is about 9 months old now. Is that too old? At what point do you consider a dog to be an adult? I was kind of wondering about him chewing at the site of claw removal, infection, etc. If you really don't think it's necessary to remove them I won't. I just always thought this was kind of a requirement for a hunting dog?

We had to leave Bones at home during church yesterday from 9:15 to 12:00. No accidents, but he shredded a pile of "gift bags" that were left in the living room from a b-day party the evening before! Looks like he had a blast with that!

Then we went out for lunch and were gone for another 3-4 hours. Again, no accidents, but he pulled the napkin holder off the kitchen counter, and shredded ALL the napkins! He seems to have a thing about ripping up paper! Silly dog!

Last night, I woke at 3:00 a.m., as he was a little fidgety, not on our bed, and let him outside. He quickly took care of business, and came back in with no problem. It was COLD last night! Another night with no issues...but I'm kind of tired!

Again, he tries to jump into bed with us, which my wife didn't think was so cute at 3:15 a.m. When I gently put him on his dog bed, and praised him for laying there, a few minutes later I heard him get up, go into our daughters room, and crash on her bed! Problem solved!?!

At what age does a young lab figure out they shouldn't eat and drink until they have a tummy ache?

[nofishfisherman]

When the dog jumps up on the bed at night you just need to be consistent with putting him back in his place. It shouldn't take too long for him to learn where he is supposed to sleep. I've had to do the same with my dog. But now he gets it and stays in his spot.

Also if he's getting into things when he's home alone I would strongly suggest crate training. It should prevent accidents and it will also protect your stuff and the dog from him getting into things. You never know what a young dog will get into when he's at home and bored and you don't want him getting into something dangerous or expensive to replace or fix. Crate training isn't too difficult and once they have it down it makes life so much easier. At this point my 3 year old vizsla knows the routine and knows when to go to the crate. I wake him up in the morning before i go to work. he walks to the door to be let out and then sits and the door when he's done to be let back in. As soon as I open the door he walks in and walks right into his crate and waits for me to close the crate door. I also feed him in the crate in the morning which can help them associate the crate with good things. As the dog gets older and more trusted around the house the crate time gets less and less but for a young dog its a very good idea.

As for the dew claws at this point I'd probably leave them. Normally dew claws are clipped at like 2 days old when its no big deal. At 9 months its going to be a pretty big deal and will be a more major surgery with decent recovery time.

[CANOPY SAM]

Okay. Thanks for the terrific advice! I really appreciate the knowledge and experience of so many veteran dog owners!

We do have a good crate for him, but he spent SO much time in it with his previous owner I was a little concerned about him associating bad stuff with the crate. I know this is very helpful training, but I really want him to be perfectly comfortable, and trustworthy anywhere in the house, even when we're away for a few hours.

This brings up yet another kind of funny (?) interesting topic. What kind of expensive, valuable things have your dogs destroyed in the past?

My first dog out of high school, a beautiful huge Yellow Lab, Crosby, chewed my favorite graphite walleye rod (a Skyline graphite...at the time this rod was the BOMB) in half, $145.00. He also ATE my best baseball glove, $65.00, and a mostly ate a pair of my favorite Nike tennis shoes, the red and white ones that were so awesome in the early 80's, $50.00?

[nofishfisherman]

Luckily i haven't had my dog destroy too much yet. His favorite seems to be my baseball caps though. He's chewed up 3 or 4 of them so far. We crate him when we aren't home so he only gets into stuff when he wants attention and we didn't notice right away.

It can be tough with a dog that may have trust/seperation issues when crate training. The key is to do it slowly and build up his confidence and teach him that the crate in your house is a good place to be. I feed my dog in the crate in the morning because he's a slow eater but it also teaches him the crate is a good place. It all boils down to food = good, crate = food, so crate = good.

I'd keep the crate times short for at first and when he gets out after being good in the crate make sure to praise him and give him lots of good attention. That should help with positive reinforcement. Pretty soon he'll learn that the crate is ok and that when he gets out he's going to get lots of good attention. If you look around online there are lots of good training methods for crate training for different types of dogs. I'm pretty confident that you can get him passed his previous crate issues.

[cavalierowner]

We do have a good crate for him, but he spent SO much time in it with his previous owner I was a little concerned about him associating bad stuff with the crate. I know this is very helpful training, but I really want him to be perfectly comfortable, and trustworthy anywhere in the house, even when we're away for a few hours.

This brings up yet another kind of funny (?) interesting topic. What kind of expensive, valuable things have your dogs destroyed in the past?

What we do is make the crate a good place to be. Our dogs get fed in their crates and every time they go in the crate, they get a treat. Now when bedtime comes, they are bouncing up and down in front of their crate, waiting for their treat. Then they settle right down and go to sleep.

What HAVEN'T our dogs destroyed would be easier to answer We have given up having nice furniture and we (as in wife) are slowly learning not to leave shoes on the floor. Although 90% of the stuff destroyed is from puppies that we haven't watched as carefully as we should have. Just a "cost of doing business" being a show breeder and keeping the dogs in the house.

[Kyhl]

I think 9mos is too young to expect them not to be inventive if left on their own. My experience has been 18-24 months before they are mature enough to be left out on their own. Our last two dogs started being left alone outside of their kennels for a few hours at a time at 16 months. Might have been 22 or 24 months before they were left out all day.

Even then, there were issues with chewing blankets if they weren't excersized enough.

Now they just sleep all day, especially on Mondays. They are usually just waking/stretching when I walk in the door after work on Mondays.