# peeing on bed



## wynne (Apr 30, 2011)

Anybody ever have problems with their havs eing on their bed? Maya is believe it or not house trained. After our recent tragedy when the routine was broken and she was home a little more by her self she has claimed my bed as hers :frusty:. If I leave the room for a sec to go brush my teeth or use the bathroom myself, she takes the opportunity to hop on the bed and pee on it.
Makes no difference if she was just out. She still does ring the bell when she needs to go or or whines by the door. It is just my bed where I am having the issues. I have resorted to putting up a gate to my bedroom.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Unfortunately, once a dog has peed on something made of cloth, it is almost impossible to get the smell out to the extent that the dog can't smell it. That makes it even more likely that they will pee there again. I'm afraid that you may just have to keep Maya out of your room indefinitely. 

If she is trustworthy when you are in the bed, you might be able to manage the situation by keeping a crate in the room. Then you could pop her in the crate any time you need to get out of bed.


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

Mine had a few accidents on my bed. The last time was when I first moved into my sisters house. I just washed the converter and they have been fine. I would get upset and tell her no . How old is she? Has anything changed lately?


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## J and Paul Anka (May 6, 2012)

My sympathies. PA peed on my couch, right in front of Mel our dog trainer! It was a total accident, he gets so involved in things he will try and hold it because he doesn't want to stop what he is doing, then, can't hold it anymore! Whoops! 

Does she sleep in your bed? I would say denying her access is going to be your best bet. Also, maybe flipping the mattress over might help a little now that she has peed on your bed several times? Also, maybe she likes it because your bed is super absorbent? Maybe try to give her a more absorbant place to go in the house if thats what her thoughts are. Just brainstorming here!


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## wynne (Apr 30, 2011)

she was fine until we had the whole cracker barrel incident which involved us being away from home more often as we had to be at the hospital. Maya turned a year in Jan.
Makes no difference how many times she has just peed outside, she still pees on my bed when I run out of the room. I have had a gate up the past few days, seems to help. Just was hoping there was another way so I always didnt have to have the room gated or the door always closed. Yes. I have flipped the matteess too.


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## Becky Chittenden (Feb 4, 2009)

We have had a very pregnant girl do this when they were very large and felt they couldn't jump up after, but not often. Because I keep a girl in season in my bedroom, I have a gate and the door closed because, even though it has been a long time, I know the boys would do that too.


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## BennyBoy (Apr 25, 2012)

No kids in my bed and definitely no dogs! You guys are way nicer owners than I am LOL!

Do you think she cold have been acting out of spite? I had a Bichon years ago who pooped on my husband's clothes whenever he came to stay with me on the weekends (we were just dating at the time). She did not like his stuff - or him - in her space.


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## Flynn Gentry-Taylor (Jan 17, 2008)

krandall said:


> Unfortunately, once a dog has peed on something made of cloth, it is almost impossible to get the smell out to the extent that the dog can't smell it. That makes it even more likely that they will pee there again. I'm afraid that you may just have to keep Maya out of your room indefinitely.
> 
> If she is trustworthy when you are in the bed, you might be able to manage the situation by keeping a crate in the room. Then you could pop her in the crate any time you need to get out of bed.


The best thing I have found bar none for removing urine odor is SCOE 10X Super oncentrated Odor Eliminator. Works on urine Feces, Gas & fuel vomit, garbage Smoke and Skunk..you do have to order it, detailed instructions for hard surfaces and fabric and carpet.. SCOE10X.com is the site. Promise you won't be disappointed..


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

When DH and I first married, we got a little toy poodle (from the local back yard breeder). Well she was the cutest little thing and we spoiled her greatly. After three years we had a real baby and the little poodle was not happy. She would go in the baby's room and poop and pee. I gave the dog to my mother. The dog came second and DH had never had a dog that lived in the house--most people back then didn't. Times were to hard to spend money on a dog. And having one that pooped in the baby's room was not acceptable at all. She lived a long life with mother so all was well. We didn't have another house dog until we had been married more than 10 years. I know that every dog I got would get killed on the road or poisoned or something would happen. Finally DH went to a pet store and got the first minature schnauzer and brought her to me and said that she could live in the house. He had researched them and found out that they did not shed. She lived to be 13 or 14 or older. Then we got another one from a local breeder and she got poisoned by eating the grands sugar free candy and died. But Rosie is the only house dog that DH dearly loves. She is so spoiled...and sleeps with us. But if she peed on the bed, I would make other sleeping arrangements in a minute.


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## littlebuddy (May 30, 2007)

Could she has a UTI? I know sometimes dogs pee because they are trying to get your attention. our dog peed years ago on our bed, we figured out he major separation anxiety when we left. Made several adjustments and it's never happened again. and he still sleeps on the bed


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

both my boys marked my bed and room. happened when each one became sexually matured and started to mark in general. fun times.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

I found this an intriguing question so with Wynne's permission I'm posting a response from a trainer that I asked about this. Here is Mario's take on this. I wouldn't ask for a trainer to comment normally on any situation that might be dangerous without seeing the dynamics first hand, but being this is not a serious issue, I felt it was OK to ask for a comment. 

Hi David,

This can actually be a tricky one to solve. Unfortunately, without seeing and knowing the dog and the whole situation, I can only assume the reasons and try giving suggestions based on that. It would be helpful, of course, to know details like:

- the dog's age
- is she spayed
- has she started urinating more often than usual outside? Are there any visible symptoms like squatting to urinate but unable to; holding the position longer than usual, etc (this is basically to rule out any UTI, although from what has been described, I highly doubt that this is the cause of it).
- how does she behave in new environments (outside of the daily walking/playing places), does she tend to urinate more often in new environments or does she appear to be uncomfortable leaving any marks and traces in these new environments?
- In the email it was mentioned that there was a recent tragedy that obviously jolted the whole system and routine that Maya lived in. Based on these brief details, I would suspect that we are dealing with a slightly nervous/fearful based dog that has issues handling sudden changes and sudden stress.

There can be many different reasons why dogs urinate on the bed, even the scientists are debating over the cause. Some people believe that it is the dog's dominance, or that our dogs are trying to communicate with us. From my personal experiences, I've noticed that in most cases it is the nervous and insecure dogs that end up urinating this way (similar to soiling in the house when left alone), so it is the fear/anxiety that drives the issue. But, in the case that you are describing, it is not as easy as simply attributing the behaviour to fear and anxiety because it is happening at times when there are no other triggers present.


You mentioned in your email, that this behaviour can happen within seconds. In order for a dog to perform a certain behaviour, they need to be stimulated (cued) either by an externally presented stimulus or an internal one (more commonly referred to as "genetically driven behaviours"). We know today that dogs are not as simple as we once believed. They are complex creatures that most often display combinations of multiple behaviours that change rapidly, rather than a single behaviour.


I would say, (without seeing the dog and the whole environment first, this is just a possibility), that Maya is either stimulated by the smell that is still lingering in some corner of the bed, or that she has now created an emotional attachment towards the situation of actually being on the bed (similar to how the sound of jingling the keys before leaving the house can immediately trigger a separation anxiety response in some dogs). Just jumping up on the bed, may be the "switch" that instantly brings her to that original insecurity state of mind that she experienced the first time this happened (which originally could have resulted in an accidental pee on the bed, but that has now become a normal behavioural response to that trigger).

Or it may be something else entirely. Years ago, I was on the beach with my friends and one of them brought her three dogs. There were two males and a female. One of them (one of the males) was a "weak-nerves dog" (some dog trainers use this label for fear-based dogs) that often displayed submissive behaviour to the other two. But nonetheless, he was always the last one to urinate on top of the other two dogs' markings (which some people mistake for "dominance"). At one point the owner left her towel spread out where she was sunbathing and stepped away. Not long after she stepped away, the nervous dog went to the towel and after first sniffing it, he urinated on it. Some time after that, she told us that the dog had started doing this on the bed also, and she could no longer allow him up there. Interestingly enough, according to her, this whole behaviour had started one day after her sister (who doesn't live with them) had a nap on the bed.


In this situation, the reason that this behaviour happened was attributed to two separate factors; both the external and internal triggers. 

For example : Dogs like furniture (especially beds and couches/sofas) because these places are: 
a) comfortable
b) often the place where we share affection and relax with our animals (we create an emotional attachment/response for our dogs to those places)
c) one of the places in the house that contains a large/high amount of our human scent

So, now we have a dog that likes going to the bed, but once he is there the concentration of human scent triggers an internal (energetically driven) behaviour and he urinates. Normally, this doesn't happen until you have the "magic triangle" which means that either a new scent was introduced to the bed which would again trigger the urination, or the dog was stressed, which in combination with the place that contains the strong human scent, started the final sequence in the behaviour.
Perhaps the bed is now simply classically conditioned to the dog as a place to urinate, or even just entering the room perhaps returns the dog back to that stress-related emotion (that was also a classically conditioned response created during the recent tragic event).

As mentioned, there can be many reasons why this behaviour happens. These are just some examples. There are some simple suggestions that can be tried to help address this;


- Make sure that any possible trace of scent is removed from the bed (simple washing is often not enough).
- You can block the dog's access to the room (this is an easy solution) which will automatically cut the sequence that leads to the behaviour.
- You can arrange exercises where you will interfere with one of the steps in the sequence. Put a camera in the room so that you can tape your dog's behaviour for later analysis or in case you need to show it to an expert for help. Then try setting up a scenario where the dog will have access to the room (in a controlled environment, but without being seen by anyone in the house) and leave a peanut-butter filled kong on the bed (if she likes it) or treats spread on the bed. The purpose of this is that when she jumps up, she gets distracted by the treats before she locks into the final step of the sequence that leads to urinating.


Once she is on the bed, go into the room and simply play with or pet her for a short period of time to create a positive emotional experience and then escort her out of the room with you. Put the barrier back after you both exit the room and later on, you can repeat this exercise again. Remember that a faster ratio of repetitions will create a faster behaviour change.
Later on, you can increase the time that she is alone on the bed before you join her or switch to more interacting exercises, etc.


Keep in mind that if there are any traces of urine scent still on the bed, or if the exercises are inconsistent, there are slim chances that this will work. Also, it is important to make sure that she doesn't have any access to the bed unless during this controlled situation, because any step backwards in the progress during this modification plan can set her back several steps and could potentially reinforce the unwanted behaviour. 

Once again, these are simply some suggestions and possible causes for this issue. The first and most important thing is to confirm that there isn't any physical cause/reason for the behaviour, and then once this is ruled out, that is when you can explore behaviour modification plans to alter the outcome.





Thanks.



Mario


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## ameliaharry654 (Sep 6, 2019)

Ohh really its a big issue.


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