Need advice

[huggija]

I hope someone can offer some advice for us. We have a 17-week old golden retriever puppy named Wally. He was doing very well with his house training, but we noticed that he was 'dribbling' in the house (a trail of urine throughout the house). We took him to the vet and sure enough, he had a bladder infection. He is now infection free, but is still 'dribbling'. It doesn't seem to be related to threats, excitement, so we are at wits end! For example, he did it today when my husband left the house. Later tonight, he did it in front of us when we were watching television. No loud noises, no yelling...no nothing! Any ideas? :confused:

THANKS!

[Rubylove]

Hi and welcome. It's highly possible that your puppy's bladder infection has not cleared up. These infections can be stubborn and another course of antibiotics could be the solution. If he is incontinent (dribbling) and not peeing from emotional triggers my first thought is physical problem not behavioural one.

You might try to get a sterile sample (harder than it sounds...lol) to take back to your vet for analysis.

[huggija]

Do you think it has come back? We had him tested two weeks ago and he was fine and used up the rest of the antibiotics. I only HOPE it's that easy to solve!

[dr2little]

Do you think it has come back? We had him tested two weeks ago and he was fine and used up the rest of the antibiotics. I only HOPE it's that easy to solve!

I agree with Ruby. My dog had 4 UTI's in a period of 4-6 months (I believe that it was more a case of the first one not being successfully treated). I started testing her PH levels with fish tank test strips so that I could be sure that she was doing ok. I also added 500 mg cranberry twice a day in her food during treatment and have continued for the year since she's been clear. UTI's are sometimes tough to clear up, I'd go back to the Vet with another urine sample and have him re-checked. Good Luck.

BTW - this exact thing happened to one of the puppies in my last puppy class and sure enough, the test showed continued infection.

[Buddy'sParents]

I also want to mention that our Buddy had this problem- but with no infection. Our vet said he just couldn't make it in time. Poor guy. He did grow out of it though and only lasted a month or so. Good luck with your pup...I hope he is well. :)

[huggija]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. Today, we took Wally to the park and he dribbled all over the park (I figured he would do some 'marking', but he didn't 'squat' once!). Then he came home, took a long nap and when I was taking him outside, he dribbled all down the deck and then urinated like crazy when he got to the yard. I'm at wits end.

[oc_spirit]

It could also be that because of the UTI your pup's bladder holding muscles just haven't developed fully yet so he finds it difficult to "hold it". They should strengthen with time as he gets older.

[huggija]

We're going to take Wally back to the vet and have him retested. Another 'incident' today. After the vet said he was 'clear' the last time, he suggested it was behavioral, but we just can't see a pattern for 'submissive urination' and like I said before, he does understand to go outside. Does anyone know about/understand/have had to deal with submissive urination?

[dr2little]

We're going to take Wally back to the vet and have him retested. Another 'incident' today. After the vet said he was 'clear' the last time, he suggested it was behavioral, but we just can't see a pattern for 'submissive urination' and like I said before, he does understand to go outside. Does anyone know about/understand/have had to deal with submissive urination?

Both submissive urination and excited peeing can be easily corrected with how humans react to him.
Allow him at least 5 minutes with no eye contact, talking to him or touching him when anyone enters his zone..just let him sniff and check people out.

Also, if he's prone to peeing if someone approaches him too quickly, you can approach without directly facing him and keep things low key and non threatening (not that you're intentionally trying to make him feel uncomfortable. Often times these dogs are just extra sensitive.

Dogs quickly grow out of this behavior as long as you don't call attention to it if it happens and give him practice with less excuberant initial interactions. That way he can feel like he's a bit more in control of his world and slowly build his confidence.

The way that you describe it though sounds like he does it in situations that wouldn't bring on submissive peeing so I'd get his urine done again to rule out continued infection.