CKCS started to pee Inside at night

[glasshalfsomething]

I’m waiting to get a vets appointment to see if it’s a UI or similar, but anyone any other thoughts?

He’s fully house trained, 18 months old and used to sleep right through in a basket outside our bedroom door.

For the last week or so he’s been getting up in the evening and peeing downstairs. He’s aware it’s wrong when we point to it and he heads for the door when he realizes we’ve discovered it.

He’s absolutely had some anxiety about being left recently; namely as lockdown meant he was with us 24/7 for several months. Previous to that we could leave him for an hour or two (supermarket trips, hospital appoints, meals out etc) with no issues. Now we know he’s barking and whining even if he’s in the house and we are in the garden out of sight.

Are the two related? Or is it likely to be an infection?

Think we will be at least a week for a vets appointment so thoughts or similar experience appreciated!!

[Pelleas]

We had this when our Cavalier got old - peeing indoors and night barking - we think he'd become disoriented. Infections can have that disorienting effect so you're doing the right thing getting him checked out.

With our boy it was old age. What resolved it was digging out his old crate - he'd slept in it as an indoor kennel until he was about seven, but when we moved house we didn't put put it back up, which he was fine with, however in his last months of life (he was 14) it seemed to reassure him to have his 'little house' back and it stopped the indoor peeing and barking. If yours was crate-trained as a pup, that might be something you could look at as a short-term measure.

You might want to think about starting again with training him to be left - as if he were a pup - building up gradually from a few minutes. You should be able to leave him for a few hours without it being a problem, but as you say, it sounds like he's got too used to you being around 24/7.

I hope you can get the problems cleared up. Cavaliers are such wonderful dogs - we miss our old boy every single day.

[AmazingAardvark]

Another CKCS owner here - they can be sensitive little characters and are prone to separation anxiety. They were bred to be companions and take their “job” seriously!
Definitely doing the right thing taking him to the vet though - ours kept waking us up at night once and we thought it was anxiety but it turned out she had a bug and was in pain, poor thing.
In the meantime, I would stop letting him see you are angry when he does it - it won’t stop him and will just make him more anxious. Just quietly clean it up (use enzyme cleaner like Simple Solution or he may keep marking same spot).
I’d also bring him into your room at night temporarily (or leave door open with a baby gate) so you can hear if he gets up and let him out. If it’s separation anxiety it should resolve if he’s nearer you, and you can then work on training him to be ok with being out of your sight, as PP mentions. If it’s physical, you can let him out and save your floor! Either way, you want to stop it becoming habit - prevention much easier than cure!
We’re having a similar problem atm with our dog getting upset whenever DH leaves, so we plan to repeat training we did when we got her - we’ll do as PP suggests and start with just opening and closing door, then going out for 10 secs, and increasing from there. The trick is to increase v gradually and only do what they can cope with. If they show any signs of distress, go back a few steps.

[Calabasa]

we have one as well.. tbh, he doesn't always make it through the night.

He's let out about 11pm, then again in the morning about 7.

Sometimes we have to get up in the night to let him out, not every night.. but maybe twice a week or so.

He's never been any different, nor have the other 3 we've had.. overnight is a long time to wait to pee!!

Either teach him to wake you up so you can let him out, or give him a 'yes' place for emergencies where he can pee if you're not going to get up for him.

[glasshalfsomething]

Thanks for responses so far. Got him at the vets on Thursday.
In terms of progress; we have started tog et up in the night when we hear him move and take out for a wee; some nights it happens some nights he goes through. It’s just so weird as he was almost fully trained when he came to us and it’s came on so suddenly.

When I left yesterday (DH stilll in House although upstairs) he peed all over the side of a toy box. He seems to do it most often in DDa room.
Definitely feels like he done it because I left; so we are going to focus on coping strategies for his anxiety.

Any suggested reading/tips would be most welcome.

Already planning in new treats for when we do leave the house for positive reinforcement.
Pretend trips: where we get ready and don’t go out.
Bringing back dog walker once a week even though we don’t need it to keep him socialising with other dogs.