my dog is peeing on the floor

Question
My dog is a female which has been spayed.  She just started peeing on the floor in the last 3 weeks.  She is put in a cage when we leave because she chews things up when we are not around.  And when I get home no matter how long I have been gone and not matter how long it has been since she went pee, as soon as I let her out of the cage she starts peeing on the floor and she goes through the house and pees several different spots.  She has also started peeing on the floor when the kids come in and she gets excited.  How do I stop her from doing this?  Also it seems much harder to get her to go pee outside the past few weeks.

Answer
If a dog has been housetrained and suddenly starts having accidents, my first thought is that there may be a physical issue. I'd have the vet do a urinalysis to make certain there's not a urinary tract infection going on. Frequently the main early symptom of that is inappropriate urination. Another possibility is spay incontinence where the lack of estrogen allows the muscles of the bladder to get loose. If that's the problem, your vet may want to prescribe Proin. If she does check out completely healthy (and I suspect you'll find a problem, I'd relocate her crate near a door, and the instant you let her out of the crate, accompany her outside and she doesn't get to come in until she's urinated. I'd also supervise carefully in the house and close doors and put up baby gates to limit her access to areas where you can't watch her until she's retrained. Sandy Case MEd CPDT www.positivelycanine.com