Urination and Whining issues

Question
I have had my dog since February. She is a 1yr old shepard mix. She had puppies about a month before I adopted her. I live in a 1st floor apartment.

My dog whines often and I'm not sure why. I play with her often and walk her often. Sometimes she'll stop in the middle of playing, walk out onto our patio, cry, and then come back in and play some more. Sometimes I'll be watching TV and she'll consistently walk in and out from the patio crying. I've taken her to the vet and there was nothing else wrong physically other than her UTI.

She recently had a UTI but we've gone through the medication given and she doesn't pee as frequently. She is still crying just like before. She is still having issues with where she goes, even after a lot of crate training. The past few days she has jumped off my bed (she sleeps with me) gone in her crate and peed, and then jumped back in bed. I've also noticed she doesn't mind laying in her own urine if she goes in her crate while I'm away. Today while I was at work and my roommate was in the shower she went in my room and peed on the bed! She has shown some destructive behaviour when I'm away but it's not devastating. I give her toys in her crate (rawhide bone, chew toy, etc) but she peed on a few of them.

I haven't noticed any separation issues like getting anxious when I leave or flipping out when I come home. I've periodically left her in the apartment alone for various amounts of time (getting the mail or going to the grocery store) and she normally does very well. Other than these problems at home she is a VERY well-behaved dog, one that people would love to have. I'm just tired of having to do puppy laundry every day and I don't want her to be unhappy.

I'm very confused...

Answer
Hi Matthew!

I believe the first thing to do is to take your dog back to the veterinarian to be sure her UTI is resolved and that there are no other health problems - be sure to tell the vet about the whining.  It really sounds like whining due to pain, and not just seeking attention, so just be sure.  

If you determine that there are no health issues causing her pain, then you may want to check out this article for some good tips on handling a whining dog:  http://www.petplace.com/dogs/dealing-with-whining-dogs/page1.aspx

And then look here for the urinating problems:  http://blog.gizmo2wizmo.com/2009/10/07/stop-your-dog-from-peeing-inside.aspx

Good luck!

Kim