Behaviour changes

Question
Hi,

Thanks for your time.

We have had our Dog since he was 4 weeks old. He was a wedding present and will be eleven years old this year. He's 3/4 GSD and 1/4 Akita. All in all he has been well behaved, in particular, he has only ever been sick or deficated in the house as a result of illness, or eating grass as a puppy! Just recently though, he has taken to urinating in the kitchen during the evening.

Sometimes we are sitting in the next room when he does this, other times we have gone to bed.
He is often alone in the house for a longer period during the day than he is at night, but he only does it at night. There is also only ever a small amount, he's a Big Dog so he usually pees by the pint.

For these reasons, one would assume that it's not involuntary. And not because he's bursting to go. He is a very hapy dog, still plenty of energy for an old fella, and not distressed in anyway. He recently went to the Vet, as he suffers from blocked anal glands about once every 12 to 24 months. He had started to chew at his hind because of the blockage. He was cleared and prescribed some antibiotics incase a skin infection was present, where he had chewed. We mentioned the urination problem to the Vet and he told us that "if he has a urine infection, the antibiotics should clear it up".

It didn't work, but his hind healed up fine.

Now he sleeps in our bedroom and we have shut the door to stop him going down to the kitchen. This is not too bad, but it's only a matter of time before I step out of bed and into his water bowl! In the mean time, he wakes us if he needs to go out.

When he does urinate in the kitchen, I tried being annoyed and teling him off a couple of times, but I can't stay angry with him and he seems to know that.

Our Vet tells us he is healthy and has a normal sized prostate for a dog his age. His hips are also fine (he has the straight back of an akita and long back legs). So he has no problems getting around.

It's no big drama for us at present, but it would be interesting to hear from you, if you have any theories on why he may suddenly have picked up this strange new habbit? Is it just an age thing? A show of strength or defiance? Or is he scenting our kitcken?

Thanks in advance for your time.

Kind regards,

Ben

Answer
Hi Ben, It sounds like he may be leaking a little.  His bladder may be getting full at night, and because it is night time he is fully relaxed so he can't hold all of it through the night.  You see this sometimes in older dogs mostly where they sleep.  They will lay down, and the urine will leak out.  It won't be a lot because they aren't trying to pee the whole amount out, just the excess is coming out.  He may doing the same thing, but a little more consciously by going downstairs and peeing just a small amount out onto the floor.  Is that the way out for him to go outside to got to the bathroom?  That would also explain it because he is heading the way he would be going to go outside.  This is a possible theory to all of this.  Another answer could be if there have been any changes in the household.  Someone moving in or out etc.  They could be just something minor to you, but for an older dog they can sometimes be traumatic enough in their brain for them to act out. When you are looking at a problem from that angle, you have to really anaylize what has been going on in the house since it started happening.  Again, it can be something really minor to you, but very major to an older dog.  Older dogs are very set in their ways and changes in their home life, no matter how minor can sometimes cause them to act out in many different ways.  Hope this gives you some ideas and helps.

Dawn