Managing incontinence in young dog

[OrwellianTimes]

We are about to foster to adopt an absolutely gorgeous 9 month old dog who has incontinence. She’s had surgery but it’s not fixed the issue, but 50% chance it will resolve with her first season and good chance that medication will manage if not. The aim is to adopt her once medical issues are resolved.

Can anyone advise management tips? We have a large tiled kitchen and we are aiming to keep her in there with lots of time spent in the garden (we are very outdoorsy people). I’ve got vet bed to wick away and a spray to eliminate odors. We’ve been advised she can wear nappies for short periods of time and is unbothered by them, but practically not sure how it will work. All the rest of the downstairs is laminated so everything is very wipeable and I imagine I’ll be buying a better mop soon!

Any advice appreciated, currently questioning if I’m sane, but she is the most beautiful girl and a really great nature, and really gentle with our kids. Before anyone asks we are homeowners and kids are very used to dogs. We also have two washing machines (long story) so we are going to plumb the old one in in the garage to manage (pipes are already there)

My dog was diagnosed incontinent at 5. She has extensive tests but no reason found. She was on maximum Propalin dose three times a day and that did help. Other things we found helped were diet - for some reason fish made her leak. Grain free also helped. Sleeping wise she slept crated with chair protectors (much cheaper than puppy pads) and then vet bed on top. The vet bed drew down the urine into the pad and kept her dry. Two pads would last a few days. We spent a year crate training her.

We only really struggled in the last year or so of her life where she became more picky with eating so the Propalin didn't metabolise. She died at 17 of dementia so she had a good long life. It didn't affect her at all.

I won't lie - it can be hard work - coming home from work to find she had leaked all over the sofa for example but we covered everything and it was all washable should the worst happen. It did involve a lot of washing. I bought a horse rug washing bag as that meant it could go in the machine and the hair stayed in the bag and didn't get on our clothes.

Jacobs Den wet dog mats were also a game changer for things like the car where they didn't need frequent washing so I would recommend them. Vet bed too. We are still using bits we bought 20 years ago with our new pup.

Jacob's Den - Home (jacobsden.co.uk)

Another vote here for the Jacob's Den mats or similar :-)