[Engbully72]

My husband and I have recently adopted a 3 yr old English bulldog. This is our second bulldog rescue. Our first rescue passed away in January. They said this one was potty trained but when we first adopted him he consistently went in the house, and I'm not talking marking, I'm saying completely unloaded his bladder. We adjusted our schedules to ensure he was going out enough and that fixed the problems almost instantly. However, he can't seem to hold it through the night. We exercise him later in the day so he doesn't over heat. Let him out at least twice before bed and monitor his water intake after 8:30 (as we go to bed about 9:30). He pees on his bed, not in the room, but in his bed. He is not allowed on furniture or in our bed. We don't crate him as he is terrified of them (he was crated for a while before he went into rescue). Everything we read says they won't go in their beds because it's like their den, but he does. Its not every night. He is old enough to hold it through the night and I just don't know what to do to help him. Any suggestions?

 

[Moni]

You're right about dogs usually not going on their beds. Continue to monitor his water intake. We do that with our four dogs as well when it gets late. I believe the best way to fix the problem is to crate train him. I know it's difficult right now, but he'll end up loving it.
We rescued my male schnauzer and he was also kenneled previously and was terrified when I first tried to put him in there. We started by putting treats in there and leading him towards it. I put his favorite blanket in there as well. We left the door of the kennel open and allowed him to smell it at his own pace. We praised him and gave him treats when he would go near and especially walk inside it. After we got him in there, he was shaking a bit, but we stayed there and fed him some treats. Make sure the crate is not too big. It's not supposed to be so big that they have space to walk around and perhaps pee on one side of it and sleep on the other. Our dog loves it in there now. All I do is tell him "go to your room" and he goes right in there.
Hope this helps. Good luck

 

[Amaryllis]

Have you taken him to a vet? It seems like he wants to be house trained, but can't hold it. I'd check with a vet first.

After that, one midnight potty break might be necessary. I wake up at 2am every night to feed my dog to control his GERD. It sucks, but you get used to it.

 

[Analogdog]

Just to mention a weird fix, but we got a shelter dog last fall and she was urinating in the living room/dining room multiple times daily. We could not figure out how to stop it as our other dog had no problem. I started letting the dogs out in the back the instant I got home, every time I came home. She stopped urinating in the house shortly after. I think it was the fact the shelter is taking the dogs out for a walk every 2-4 hours from 9 am to 9pm, which was way more than I could let them out. She now is on our schedule without a mistake in months.

 

[Engbully72]

We haven't taken him to the vet yet, but will definitely do that soon. My husband has started getting up with him in the night to take him out, which I would love for our dog not to get in that habit, because when he's out of town, I don't want to go out by myself in the middle of the night. I'm a scaredy cat. But if that's what we need to do, I'll face my fear . I hadn't thought about the shelter letting them out so often, so that's something to keep in mind. Thank you all for the help!

 

[doxiemommy]

In general terms, yes, dogs don't like to soil where they sleep or where they eat. HOWEVER, there are plenty of situations where that generalization doesn't hold true. For instance, lots of pound or shelter dogs may not always get taken out as often as they need, so they become accustomed to peeing wherever and whenever they need.

However, it sounds like your boy is trying, but just isn't successful every night. Try limiting his water starting around 8, instead of 8:30. Or, it might just take a bit longer with this guy. One of my dogs needed a trip out during the night til she was 2 or so. She got so she was great during the day, but couldn't hold it all night. Now she is fine.

So, be patient, he may just need to build up that control....