Dogs - Having accident during the night.

[Lotkinsgonecurly]

Our 13 year old Retriever / Spaniel Cross, sleeps in the utility room at night in his basket. However over the last few weeks he's started to have accidents during the night, both wees and poos.

He is walked daily / twice daily and let out often in the garden during the day both by himself and with the family.

He is let out about 10 ish before we go to bed.What should we be doing that we are not? We've not had an ageing doggy before.

Also, sometimes if he is alone in the garden, he takes himself off for a walk and gets returned by various neighbours. This is quite embarassing. THe garden is secure to most dogs (except our Houdini of a dog)

All advice welcomed.(We live in a really rural area, not sure if this makes a difference? )

How often does he eat? We've changed feeding our Golden Retrievers twice a day. Same amount as once a day, but apparently older dogs are prone to twisted gut, especially retrievers.

I'm having (had - fingers crossed) this problem with my 6 month old springer/collie pup.

Our trainer advised that she was fed early (6pm) and that water was taken up at 8pm for the night. We've done this for a week now and had no accidents.

She has 2 walks a day - morning and evening. Last one at 8pm after dinner, she is then let out in the evening for at least 10 mins ignoring her whining (apart from the last couple of nights cos its so cold) and we've had no accidents.

However, if your dog is escaping then I'd go out in the yard with him as (apologies for this) if I were your neighbour I'd be getting slightly annoyed at having to return your dog all the time lol

He needs to see the vet - there are drugs which can help. Also try limiting his water after,say, 8pm and feed his evening meal earlier to avoid overnight accidents.

A walk at bedtime may be more useful than being let out in the garden as he'll be more inclined to do lots of wees and poos on a walk.

Re the straying - there's no easy way round it - you have to make your garden secure. Not only is it a legal requirement, but you obviously don't want him to come to any harm.

Good luck.

Hi Bella!!

Sounds like your pup's doing well, Lucky - but no pics on profile!!!

We need pics, please

Thank you very much for all your responses, we will try and feed him earlier and take him out later in the evening. If it doesn't help we'll make a vets appointment for after Christmas.

Good luck.

Might be kidney problems, 13 is a good age for a dog. My dog started pooing at night, I went to the vet and she suggested changing his food to a special diet food for kidney problems. It helped for a while.