Puppy "digging" and peeing on my bed!

[school17777]

I don't know what to do about it. She is a 6 month old mini-poodle. She loves to pretend to dig on our bed and when she does so, she eventually pees. It can't be because she has to go to the bathroom because she was put outside this morning, ran up to my bed and starting digging, so I had the kids put her out again and she was out for 10 minutes. As soon as she came back in, she came back up to my bed and started digging again. I didn't pay much attention because I knew she had just been out, but then I smelled the pee and sure enough, there was a wet spot. She does this at least once a week! Luckily I have a water proof mattress cover, but I sure get tired of washing all the sheets and blankets.

[Ellie]

I don't know what to do about it. She is a 6 month old mini-poodle. She loves to pretend to dig on our bed and when she does so, she eventually pees. It can't be because she has to go to the bathroom because she was put outside this morning, ran up to my bed and starting digging, so I had the kids put her out again and she was out for 10 minutes. As soon as she came back in, she came back up to my bed and started digging again. I didn't pay much attention because I knew she had just been out, but then I smelled the pee and sure enough, there was a wet spot. She does this at least once a week! Luckily I have a water proof mattress cover, but I sure get tired of washing all the sheets and blankets.

 

Something I did with my little foster dachshund which kept her from randomly pottying in the house was that I wore her on a leash for about a week. I thought she was housebroken when she came to me, and maybe she was but it was some sort of weird behavior, lol, but although she would potty outside, she would also potty in the house (both pee and poop). Sometimes we'd be dozing in the comfy chair semiwatching TV and she would ooze off the chair, such that at first I didn't notice, go into the back bedroom, potty, and ooze back up into my lap. I was taking her out regularly, every couple of hours, so I know it wasn't because she needed to go.

 

So I began wearing her. She was leashed all day, and was either connected to me, or the leg of the chair in the kitchen as I worked, or the leg of my desk in my office. We went outside together and I stood with her until she pottied and then we came back into the house with her still connected to me. 

 

Maybe something like that would work with your baby. She has to stay leashed to you all.the.time. She cannot come back into the house and get up on your bed, because she has to stay leashed to you. sort of like tomato-staking the puppy. :-) 

[school17777]

Something I did with my little foster dachshund which kept her from randomly pottying in the house was that I wore her on a leash for about a week. I thought she was housebroken when she came to me, and maybe she was but it was some sort of weird behavior, lol, but although she would potty outside, she would also potty in the house (both pee and poop). Sometimes we'd be dozing in the comfy chair semiwatching TV and she would ooze off the chair, such that at first I didn't notice, go into the back bedroom, potty, and ooze back up into my lap. I was taking her out regularly, every couple of hours, so I know it wasn't because she needed to go.

 

So I began wearing her. She was leashed all day, and was either connected to me, or the leg of the chair in the kitchen as I worked, or the leg of my desk in my office. We went outside together and I stood with her until she pottied and then we came back into the house with her still connected to me.

 

Maybe something like that would work with your baby. She has to stay leashed to you all.the.time. She cannot come back into the house and get up on your bed, because she has to stay leashed to you. sort of like tomato-staking the puppy. :-)

She was right beside me! All (or almost all) the times she has done this, she has been beside someone. I don't know what she is getting from the digging that makes her want to pee. We don't even see her go in a regular pee squat when she does it, that is why we haven't stopped her because she is digging one minute and then there is a wet spot.

 

My one dd thinks she is trying to mark her spot.

[Pawz4me]

At six months old and a small breed it's unlikely she's fully house trained yet.

 

I would NOT "put her out" and expect anything to happen. You (or someone old enough to be responsible) go out with her every single time and make sure she takes care of business before she comes back in. Sometimes with puppies it helps to put them on leash and walk them (even if it's around your fenced yard).

 

I suspect the digging is a totally separate issue -- many dogs are diggers and absolutely love digging around on soft bedding. My Shih Tzu is five and he still loves him a good dig several times a day. We joke that he's trying to get back to his mother country (China). We don't view it as a problem but rather a cute quirk.

 

It's not impossible, though, that the digging is making her excited or that she's digging because she's already excited. And some dogs, especially young ones, have issues with excitement peeing. So while I'd view them as separate issues I'd also consider that they may be related. For excitement peeing about all you can do is minimize excitement, work on positive training of obedience and tricks (which boosts confidence) and wait for them to outgrow it.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Close the bedroom door.  Don't let her on the bed. 

 

We've trained our dogs to go to the bathroom at the command "Hurry up".  (Other people use other commands.)  We went out with them when they were young and used the command everytime they would go to the bathroom.  Now we can tell them to "hurry up" and they will go.  Very convenient at times when we need them to go quickly so that we can go somewhere in the car, etc. 

[SkateLeft]

It's important not to give puppies too much freedom too soon. It's really important to control their environment so they can be successful and learn what they should be doing rather than punish them for what they shouldn't be doing. Positive behavior gets rewarded and eventually the negative behavior stops.

 

With puppies, I keep a short soft leash on them in the house for about the first four months. I gate them into the family room and gradually increase the amount of space they have access to as they get older.

 

6 months is still really young. If the dog is peeing in the house, then it's not fully house trained and shouldn't have access to your room or your bed. (I don't let my dogs on the bed or the couches.) I agree with the previous poster who said to keep the door shut. Controlling the environment is the easiest way to fix that problem.

 

Also, every time the dog goes outside, someone should be with her. As soon as she goes to the bathroom say, "Go potty!" in a happy voice (or whatever phrase you want to use). Then give the dog a small training treat. Eventually, the dog will associate "Go potty!" with peeing, and you'll be able to say "Go potty!" when you need her to go and she will. Basically, you teach her what she *should* do and reward her for it. Like with kids, it's easier to encourage and reward positive behavior.

 

Right now, when the dog digs or pees on the bed, it gets attention. It gets to go outside. There's some inherent reward in there that's encouraging the behavior.

 

Also, dogs tend to pee again where ever they smell pee. Make sure you're cleaning the sheets and the mattress cover with a pet urine neutralizer. Even if you wash them with laundry detergent, the dog may still smell trace amounts of urine.

 

As far as the digging goes, some dogs just like to dig. Maybe giving the dog a blanket in her bed so she can dig there to her heart's content would work.

[Kait]

On 11/22/2016 at 11:33 AM, Pawz4me said:

At six months old and a small breed it's unlikely she's fully house trained yet.

 

I would NOT "put her out" and expect anything to happen. You (or someone old enough to be responsible) go out with her every single time and make sure she takes care of business before she comes back in. Sometimes with puppies it helps to put them on leash and walk them (even if it's around your fenced yard).

 

I suspect the digging is a totally separate issue -- many dogs are diggers and absolutely love digging around on soft bedding. My Shih Tzu is five and he still loves him a good dig several times a day. We joke that he's trying to get back to his mother country (China). We don't view it as a problem but rather a cute quirk.

 

It's not impossible, though, that the digging is making her excited or that she's digging because she's already excited. And some dogs, especially young ones, have issues with excitement peeing. So while I'd view them as separate issues I'd also consider that they may be related. For excitement peeing about all you can do is minimize excitement, work on positive training of obedience and tricks (which boosts confidence) and wait for them to outgrow it.

I’m sorry but you are not right here. My 5 month old puppy will start digging the blankets that I’m physically laying under and then out of no where pee right away, every time she digs. She has done this four different times now and each time she was out to use the bathroom within an hour of her doing so and she is a 59 pound shepherd. 

[EmseB]

Zombie thread.