One of the habits that creates the most headaches for many owners is that of their dog urinating everywhere . This annoying behavior can be quite difficult to eliminate depending on what causes it. Now, in most cases, it has a solution.
If you are concerned about this behavior problem in your dog, you will need adequate information to solve this situation. For this reason, at ExpertoAnimal we want to advise you and give you some instructions that could help you.
You may also be interested: Why does my cat urinate everywhere?
Index
- Why do dogs urinate?
- How many times does a puppy urinate?
- My dog urinates at home and did not before, why?
- My dog urinates at home when I’m not
- My dog urinates everywhere – Other causes
- What can I do if my dog urinates everywhere?
Why do dogs urinate?
For dogs and many other animals, both urine and feces are not simply a way of eliminating waste from the body, but also a form of communication with others of the same or different species. This behavior is, therefore, instinctive, aimed at transmitting information of all kinds, such as: your age, sex, fertility, state of health, etc. In this way, they recognize each other through smell.
Finally, it is known that this behavior is a form of territorial marking , since when dogs urinate in various corners and objects, they leave their scent in the areas they want to make their own . This behavior is more usual in males, although some females also tend to do it, especially during the heat cycle. In addition, it is common for our furry to always urinate in the same places during the walk. So it reinforces its marking and eliminates the smell of other dogs.
How many times does a puppy urinate?
If our friend is still a puppy, he may not have had enough time yet to learn to relieve himself in the right place. Also, even if you have already learned this behavior, if you are still young, you may not yet have full control of your urinary sphincters, and therefore your pee will sometimes leak , especially in situations where you feel nervous. , happy and even afraid.
Thus, it is common for a puppy to urinate many more times throughout the day than an adult dog . If you are going to start taking him for a walk, we recommend that you set a routine and take him for a walk at least 3 or 4 times a day . For more information, you can read this other Animal Expert article on Walking the Puppy on a Leash for the First Time .
My dog urinates at home and did not before, why?
As we have discussed, urine helps them mark their territory. Thus, if your dog has suddenly started to pee at home, chances are his behavior is related to tagging and stress .
Dog marking
Marking in dogs is a behavior that usually occurs in males once they have started their hormonal development (approximately, from 7 months of age), usually raising one hind leg . Although it can also occur in females, especially when the heat stage is approaching .
If we neute our male dog before it has started this behavior, we can avoid it because it will not increase the number of male hormones that start it. Contrary to popular belief, if we do it later, we may not solve it, since you have already learned the behavior (similar to what happens with riding behavior ).
The marking itself does not have to be annoying if our dog has learned to do it outside the home. We must understand that it is part of their nature .
Stress in dogs
Now, it can happen that our dog increases this behavior due to stress . A dog that is in a negative state of mind will more often mark its territory because it feels insecure , so it seeks to further protect and delimit its territory. For example, if we have recently taken in another dog and our dog has not had time to adapt properly to the new inhabitant.
In case your dog has stress, we recommend you go to your vet, who will be able to tell you the best remedies to reduce stress in dogs .
My dog urinates at home when I’m not
Another cause that explains why my dog urinates everywhere, especially when he is alone, is closely related to stress. We are talking about separation anxiety .
Separation anxiety in dogs
Separation anxiety refers to a very high state of nervousness when the dog does not have access to its owner. This means that the dog feels a strong bond of attachment towards its guardian, which generates an inability to be alone.
Due to the stress and nerves that our pet suffers, he ends up losing control of his sphincters and urine (and / or defecates) inadvertently.
Wake up call
Following the previous line, if our dog feels lonely, it is likely that sometimes it will also try to get our attention. In this sense, it is possible that you have learned to attract our attention in this way if you have related the behavior of urinating with that we pay attention to it, even if we have fought it. In this way, if our dog feels ignored , he can resort to this tactic so that we are for him.
For more information, here are 8 other things dogs do to get attention .
My dog urinates everywhere – Other causes
In addition to all of the above, it is likely that our dog has urinary incontinence problems for other reasons, such as the following.
You need to walk more often
Our dog may not go outside as much as it should and, therefore, it has no choice but to do it at home. This occurs especially in dogs that only go out once a day or that do not have a fixed schedule that allows them to understand that there is a routine.
Dog health and old age problems
Inadequate elimination may be related to some organic pathology , such as a urinary tract disorder, kidney disease, and even neurological damage. Also, older dogs can develop urinary incontinence. Therefore, we must pay attention to signs of old age in dogs .
What can I do if my dog urinates everywhere?
That your dog urinates everywhere can really be a difficulty in your day to day with it and pose an obstacle to harmonious coexistence with it. Despite the difficulty in solving this problem in some cases, it is not impossible, but for this we will need to find the cause and what is its solution . In the event that we cannot identify the origin and we think that our dog is a lost case, the best thing to do is to contact an ethologist who can guide you.
The measures to take into account to redirect different causes are the following:
What does your dog need?
Understanding what the specific needs of our dog are, for example if it is active and needs more exercise than we provide it, will be key to satisfying its well-being and that it does not have stress or frustration and, therefore, it does not develop problems of behavior, such as excessive marking, as we have discussed in this article, or others, such as barking or eating disorders, such as for example, that your dog stops eating .
That is, before proposing that our dog obey a basic education , such as the proper elimination of urine and feces, we have to make sure that it is well, with all its physical and mental needs covered.
Many times we provide our dog with a proper diet and a safe home, but we fail to provide daily exercise . As a general rule, our furry should take two or three walks a day to be satisfied, and give him the option to pee out of the house several times a day at a fixed time, so that he can understand that there is a routine.
Spend more quality time with him
The lack of attention is also often a recurring problem, and that is not enough just to walk our dog, but we must also spend time quality with this to meet their social and cognitive needs through games or activities that are interesting .
Lack of attention can result in behaviors that are bothersome to us as long as we listen to you. Similarly, if our dog urinates everywhere with this intention, it is best to ignore it , so that it will not get the prize it is looking for (our attention) and will stop performing this behavior.
Education
If we talk about a puppy, it is natural that it still does not understand where to relieve itself correctly. Also, as we have mentioned, he doesn’t even control his potty training to decide where to do it. We must, therefore, be patient .
Whether our dog is still small or an adult and needs to learn this habit, we must gradually teach him this routine through long walks that encourage him to do it outside. And in turn, through positive reinforcement , that is, every time the furry acts properly, we will reward him with caresses, compliments and sweets.
Avoid punishment
We understand that it is often difficult to lose patience and we may think that scolding our dog can help him understand that he is doing something wrong. But nothing is further from reality, since a reaction as disproportionate as punishment will only generate mistrust in our dog towards us, since he is not able to understand the reason for our anger and may even create bad learning .
It could be the case, for example, that this urinates by submission and / or fear (due to a lack of toilet training), as we explain in this other article of Why does my dog urinate when I pet him? Or, perhaps, he needs to hide from you to pee, and therefore unable to urinate while you walk, because you are with him and afraid of the consequences.
Use repellent products
In pet shops, there is a wide catalog of enzymatic products suitable for pets (non-toxic), specialized in the elimination of urine, whether on carpet, sofa, walls … These products eliminate the odor of urination and, from this shape, prevent the dog from re-marking the same area.
However, these products alone are not a solution . It is necessary to act globally and, as we have mentioned, find the cause and the solution to the problem.
Take it to the vet
If you suspect that your dog’s urination everywhere is due to age or pathology, quickly get him to the vet so he can make a diagnosis. Especially if we have observed a sudden change in the habitual behavior of our dog, as well as other unusual behaviors.
If you want to read more articles similar to My Dog Urinates Everywhere , we recommend you visit our Behavioral Problems section .
