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Pitbull keeps having accidents

251 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Laco  
#1 ·
Ok so my bfs Pitbull has accidents almost daily in her kennel and out of it. Always same spots. Her background as far as we know was she was found in an apartment tied to the kitchen cabinet and been there for a week as the owners got evicted. She has an insane water drinking habit and drinks more water than a dam fish. Lol she also has attacked his other dog a few times over food. So they both are now locked up during that as he thinks she'll try to get his food and "bury" it. We've taken her dog bed officially out of the kennel due to this problem. She goes potty outside fine.but doesn't tell us Everytime she has to go out... Any help would be appreciated as I'm tired of going thru paper towels rolls or towels :/
 
#2 ·
This could definitely be a behavioural thing, but if she is drinking lots of water I would want to cross out anything medical like UTIs or diabetes. I would recommend having a consult with your vet and getting bloods run along with a urine test. If everything is clear, then I would address this as a training issue.
 
#3 ·
I agree with @MaisieAndGem. It's not normal that a dog would urinate in their bed when confined in a crate. Dogs normally like to keep their sleeping area clean. So, she's either got a physical reason she can't hold it until you let her out, or someone has kept her locked up to the point where she no longer understands she has the option not to pee in her bed. I would start by getting her to the vet to rule out medical issues.

Clean up her urine spots with an enzymatic cleanser. Don't wait for her to tell you she needs to go out. Start by taking her out every hour when you are home. Eventually you can lengthen the duration, but for now try to keep her as empty as possible. Bring a handful of tasty treats and give her half a dozen as a reward for peeing outside. Give them immediately, before she takes a step away from where she peed. You want her to think that peeing outside is like buying a winning lottery ticket. Get her in the habit of saving up her pee to buy more winning tickets instead of wasting it indoors. Definitely don't punish her for peeing indoors. She probably won't understand that's why she's being punished. Instead, she is likely to think she's being punished for peeing where you can see her. That will backfire on you, as she will politely refrain from peeing when on leash or while you are standing watching her in the backyard. Then, since a dog's gotta go sometime, she'll eventually let loose in the house. It's best not to get into that frustrating cycle.

The resource guarding is a problem you'll need to handle very gently. Resource guarding tends to have a heavy genetic component, but it also sounds like she's had a rough start. Your boyfriend is doing the correct thing to keep the dogs separated while you work this out. Again, avoid punishing the dog for resource guarding. A dog which is resource guarding is an anxious dog. Punishment will merely increase the anxiety and thus the severity of the resource guarding. I'd recommend getting a book called Mine! by Jean Donaldson. It's a short but densely packed book which explains how to train and manage a dog with resource guarding issues.
 
#4 ·
Definitely get her to a Vet to be checked out medically. That drinking excess water could well be symptomatic of something potentially serious, or not, but you need accurate information that only your Vet can provide.