3 year old bully...

Question
Marjorie...I have a 3 year old female bully that has been spayed. Up until about 2 months ago, she would only have the occasional accident in her crate while I was away at work. Since then, out of the blue, she pees in her crate, on the bedding, at least every other day, if not every day. The vet has found nothing wrong with her and there is no UTI that others refer to. I have read your responses to others with similar issues and will try removing her bedding and leaving her in a bare crate to see if that eliminates the issue. But, I have a two other questions.

Ever since she was about one year old, she occasionally (every few days to once a week) throws up a little pile of very foul smelling bile. It is usually yellowish in appearance and has a little bit of gritty substance in it, which I believe is coming from her dry dog food. It only happens very early in the morning, before I get up. Have you heard of this before in bullies?

Finally, she has an unusual habit of sucking on her toys. For example, if it is a cloth bear, she will move it around to get the best grip on it (usually the face), clamp down on it with her jaw and then start sucking on it. She usually spends 30 minutes or so doing this. If you take it away from her, it is soaked with spit and she will go and find another one she can suck on. Have you ever heard of this one either?

Thanks in advance!

Answer
I've never owned a female Bulldog, spayed or otherwise that wouldn't pee on anything in her crate that was for bedding. I can't explain this other than it's a territorial response to who knows what.

This fluffy bile stuff is pretty normal for Bulldogs. Gunk builds up and sits in their throats all night, sometime with food mixed in, and it's basically clearing their throat that brings the junk up in the morning.

I had a Doberman that would suck the stuffing out of toys and pillows for as long as she lived, 11 years. This is just a security thing, kind of like a kid sucking it's thumb.