housebroken dog deficating and urinating

Question
QUESTION: I'm hoping you can help me because I'm at the end of my rope. I am the "mom" of two dogs, one 13.5 y/o female lab mix (Cheba) and a 10.5 y/o male shepherd mix (Luke). They have been inseparable since the day I bought the shepherd mix home. My girl has been experiencing health problems (not eating, losing weight, excessive thirst) and I've been bringing her to the vet trying to determine the cause. My initial thought was CRF, but so far, the tests have all been inconclusive. Needless to say, my focus has been solely on her for obvious reasons. My male has taken up a lovely habit of defecating and urinating in my basement. He's had accidents periodically throughout his life, but it was usually diarrhea and unavoidable. The urination is completely new. My gut tells me he's either picking up on her illness or the stress I'm under facing losing her. BUT, cleaning up this mess on a regular basis is making me crazy. He's a large dog and the mess is usually throughout the basement. He only does this when I'm sleeping or at work. He goes outside on a regular basis, so it's not that he doesn't have an opportunity to relieve himself. I'm at wits end. Please help me!!!!!

ANSWER: It appears to me that your male is extremely stressed.  Urination and defecation can be "marking" behaviors; the dog attempts to call back the absent pack member (you).  I'm assuming the female is down in the basement, as well; how do you KNOW which is doing this??

Treating any developing separation anxiety requires extensive psychological intervention and I'm uncertain that's what this dog is experiencing.  Would he behave in this manner in the kitchen? Why must he be confined to the basement? Is he separated from her during this time? not a good idea.  Have you had his stool checked, her stool checked?? This might be as simple as a shared intestinal parasite.

Find another veterinarian.  Ask for references from friends or neighbors, from the local no-kill SPCA.  Your female needs a full body x-ray and a super blood chemistry, a stool and urine check and a neurological evaluation.  Your male is responding to a situation that is dire to him.  Do not separate these two dogs when you are out of the home.  Change the location where they are kept to try to circumvent any conditioned response to environment that might have become part of the dog's inappropriate elimination.  Keep a radio on; put your answering machine in or near the room they are kept and leave them messages; if possible, have a pet sitter stop by once during your absence to take both dogs out and interact with them.  Have patience.  If your best friend/partner were in the throes of terrible illness and possibly death, wouldn't you be distraught?  Pursue aggressive veterinary diagnostics.  Don't make this dog's life worse by yelling at him or showing anger if he eliminates inappropriately.  It's actually quite poignant that he's suffering emotionally in this way.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your response. The basement is always open and the male goes down during the night while I'm asleep. I wouldn't confine either of them; they are a part of my family. The female sleeps in my bedroom with me with the door ajar. The male usually sleeps in the living room, where he monitors the house at night. His breed is protective in nature, and he chooses to sleep there, even given the option. I know it's him defecating and urinating because of the size and amount of stool (he's 110lb shepherd, she's a 30 lb lab mix). Plus, with this new unidentified illness she's been barely eating and is rarely dedicating. Please understand that both of these animal are my children, and I would do anything for them. I live close to my job and go home 2-3 times a day to let them out. They do not spend a great deal of time alone ever.

I have been to several top vets in my area for my female already. She's had extensive testing and undergone blood work, urinalysis, x-rays and ultrasounds at two different vets so far. The illness is yet to be diagnosed. They believed that it may be the early stages of kidney failure, but her levels don't confirm it. She just barely eats, it's emaciated, dehydrated, drinking excessively, urinating frequently, and has a lot of gas in her intestines. The most recent vet has her on an anti-nausea drug as well as Pepcid. She has not had her stool checked however. The vet's have not asked for this.

Like I mentioned in my earlier post, my gut instinct was that he was reacting to her illness, I just wanted confirmation. Other than his diarrhea and urine (sporadic), he's had no other problems, which leads me to believe it's not a shared parasite. I believed that he had either picked up on her illness and is reacting to it (he loves her and is hopelessly devoted to her), or he was picking up on my stress. I'll bring him to the vet if you think it's not behavioral.

ANSWER: Have the female's stool checked for parasites and occult blood.  The veterinarian should have routinely done this.  She may also require IV fluids to maintain strength, something you can be taught to do at home.  But basically, when a dog begins to go down voluntarily, we sometimes have to admit defeat and relieve our friend of the agony.  This is, of course, a personal decision.

As for the male, he is already demonstrating strong signals of rank; he obviously perceives himself as literal head of your household (pack).  I strongly suggest you take this position back, no matter how old he is.  For his own sake, psychologically and emotionally, he needs a strong signal of rank from YOU.  Begin interacting with him singly (without the other dog); using positive reinforcement, teach him one strong response to a command ("sit" being the easiest, but use a different word, any word you make up.)  This normally takes approximately 36 trials done over a week or two.  Once this dog is giving you 100% compliance to your word for 'sit', begin making him EARN EVERYTHING: being petted, going in/out, being fed, etc.  This will elevate you psychologically in rank.  Also, stop allowing him free access to your entire household; force him to sleep in one place by closing doors.  After several weeks, you should begin to see a marked improvement in his level of stress.  NO dog can run a human pack and, when they try, they always develop problems (both behavioral and physical, as would any human under enormous  stress.)  Training him thus and showing your psychological dominance will also greatly strengthen the bond you have with him, thereby preparing him for the loss of his much beloved companion.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your response. It's hard to describe a specific problem without leaving out a ton of detail. I'll try and give you some more background to understand our situation better and then to ask you yet another, but
related question.

As far as our pack, there's no question as to the dominate one in our house is. Both of my dogs have been brought up in a way that would even make Cesar Milon proud! We all live in a harmonious pack with me as the dominant provider, and my girl is the next ranking female. The male, while he's one of the biggest, is also the youngest. He accepts his place at the bottom and never challenges me. They're both quite well adapted.

I've always done everything I could to ensure their long, healthy, lives, and have had little problems along the way.  They have eaten the best, been exercised regularly, and have gotten all the love a pack leader can provide. Fortunately,  I've had many good years with the both of them by my side.

I took your advise and I brought a stool sample from both pups along with my male to the vet's office this afternoon. It turns out that he has a nasty bacterial infection. They gave me antibiotics and he should be doing better within a few days. It certainly did explain the diarrhea!

On another note, the female if declining rapidly. She's been eating less and less, and now down to just a few Scooby Snacks" during the day. I've tried everything tonight from beef, to pork hocks, to chicken, bacon, rice, potatoes, chicken hearts/livers, cat food, dog food, cheese... although she did eat a tiny piece of that earlier today. The vet I saw today for the male wasn't her vet. But I did mention that she still wasn't eating. The vet on Wednesday had prescribed both Pepcid and an anti-nausea drug, all of which she's been taking since then. It just doesn't look good for her.

As I mentioned earlier, she's had her blood work done, had a urinalysis, been x-rayed, had an ultrasound, and had her urine rechecked twice since mid-May.  Nothing is showing up major in her blood work, just a slightly higher than normal Creatinine at 2.0 mg/dL and higher than normal sodium at 162. mmol/L. The original urinalysis showed occasional casts. Her specific gravity started out at 1.009, but is now at 1.012 a month later. BUT, she is dehydrated, drinking often, leaking urine in her sleep (which she is also on medication for), and now not eating... except for the occasional "Scooby Snack". I don't know what else to do and  I won't let her suffer, as much as it will kill me. I can't put her through that. I want to find out what's wrong, but at what expense? Do I let them start cutting her open to see if they can find out? Just to maybe tell me it's CRF, or liver disease? Or worse, they don't know? God, it's killing me to see this happen. So I guess that brings me to my next behavioral question.

If and when that day comes; the day I have to say goodbye; how do I get my male through it? He's hopelessly in love with her and whines like crazy when he's separated from her. Do I bring him so he can be there with her? Or just leave him home and never come back with her. He is going to die of a broken heart, that's how much he loves her. I wasn't ready for this... I thought I had a few more years...

Answer
First, let me say that if I, as a dog owner, wanted any so-called behaviorist to be proud of me, it wouldn't be the one you named.  I would choose a real expert, like Nicholas Dodman DVM, Ian Dunbar, Patricia McConnel, Ph.D., Paul Owens, and the like.  

Second, you've done a wonderful job with your dogs.  It's time to find another veterinarian, even if you have to travel to the nearest veterinary teaching clinic, and repeat tests.  This dog appears to be on far too much medication, which might account for her weak stomach, or it could possibly be gastric cancer or other internal metastasis.  Cancer, except for slight variabilities in blood, cannot be diagnosed with blood work.  I know this not only from my practice but from my own Ibizan Hound whose blood chemistry was normal but who, two weeks later, was diagnosed (via x-ray) with multiple lymphoma.

Third, if you need to make the decision to put your beloved companion at peace, give her a sedative at home (acepromazine, 1 or 2 depending on her weight), take her to the veterinary office, ask that she be administered another sedative via injection, wait until she is fast asleep and then have her humanely euthanized; she will never be aware of the process.  Unfortunately, you cannot take the male with you.  Many dogs have acquired conditioned fear response to the veterinary office and bringing them both there together, then leaving without her, might set off a chain reaction of fearful and avoidant behavior.  Spend time with him alone, now, every day.  Yes, he will grieve fiercely for some weeks when she doesn't return.  And yes, he will most likely survive it (most do), providing you do not reward it by feeding him more treats, paying him excess attention when he is visibly depressed, etc.  Encourage his daily outings with you, give him time to hang around with you, try not to leave him alone for extended periods, and otherwise solidify his position in your pack.  Her scent will remain in your home whether or not you aware of it and your male will not "forget" her, but he will adjust to live without her.  Just don't make the mistake of thinking that bringing another dog into the household will fix the problem: it won't.