Separation Anxiety or something else

Question
Hello,

I was wondering if you could help. I have a female neutered weinmaraner aged 10 years old. She is generally well behaved, calm and loving. I have had her for about 3 years now and before that she used to live with my cousin.

When she is at home, she is house trained and is fine unless she gets stuck in the garden (as the door has shut) and then she gets panicky and tries to open the back door to get back in. To do this she cries, barks, scratches and jumps at the door, until she can get back in. The same happens if you try and shut her in a room on her own.

I assume this is a separation anxiety problem and thus I avoid it by just not leaving her shut out anywhere. She is not always with people but she is fine with that as long as she is not actually confined to 1 room and hearing people in the next room.

My main problem is when I visit my mother-in-law. To begin with everything goes ok..then sometimes (though not all), I find a small wet patch on the carpet. I know it is my dog as it is always where she has been sitting and sometimes she tries to lick the patch. There is no other dogs in this house but there are 2 cats that are scared of her. Is this another anxiety problem or is it something else and what can I do to stop it?  

Answer
Do you see any particular behavior when you find the wet patch? Is she showing submission? Cringing? Wagging a lot, lowering her head? Trying to figure out if this is submissive urination, excitement urination or something else. First thing take her to the vet for a check up,make sure she has nothing going on like a kidney or bladder infection, then fill me in on her behavior before you find the spot.
To address your other problem, you cannot cater to her ocd behavior involving being locked in a room or outside. You have to deal with this or it will worsen and other things will develop. How much exercise does she get? She should be walked twice a day briskly, at heel wearing a pack most likely until she is relaxed however long that takes. She also should be getting strenuous exercise preferably three times per week. IE running until her tongue hangs out, whether at a dog park or on a tread mill or playing fetch.
Try putting some toys with treats inside out in your garden for her to have then and only then. Also try putting some interesting toys out for her, if you have room put a tether ball on a pole a soccer ball, or tie toys from low hanging tree limbs. A dog with this kind of anxiety is not a happy dog and this WILL grow like a weed until it affects even more areas of her life. Type alpha boot camp into your webbrowser and read and learn :) It's wonderfully informative regarding how to establish pack order in your home and make your dog feel more secure.  The beginning, middle and end of most problems with dogs is pack order related and exercise related. Wear her OUT physically and then put her out in the back yard, close the door and leave her for just a few minutes, DO NOT let her back in while she is exhibiting anxious behavior. Remember seriously TIRE her before you do it,whatever that takes.
Get me some more information on the urination issues and I'll see what I can do there
Cindi