Expert: Alan J Turner, SATS LL1 - 12/5/2006

Question
WOW!!!! Thankyou soo much for your prompt and in depth reply, i'll do my best to answer your questions.

Firstly when he's in the van he rides on my lap to and from a job, then whilst I work he stays in the van and sleeps on the driver or passenger seat, I also take toys along for him to keep him occupied. He never seems perturbed by the van rids and is always alert and in the same demeanour he carries atr oter times, that of a happy, intelligent, carefree dog. And yes, he's sometimes in the van for 3 or 4 hours, I walk him on my lunch break.
His urine seems to be normal, it isnt strong smelling at all, yellow in colour. When he urinates indoors there doesnt always appear to be very much of it, altho that depends on whether I catch him in the act to be fair.
He urinates on carpet, whether in the hallway or living room, its the same material. We have had other dogs in the home, but not for a good couple of months, and they have never urinated there.
He hasnt defecated in the house whatsoever, and when he does it is firm and normal looking, light brown in colour, and he has no problem passing the stools.
I feed him on Bakers complete at the moment. I feed him by hand in the morning, training him as we go in order for him to earn his food. For the rest of the day food is readily available to him. His food and water bowls are in my bedroom, where he sleeps. He does seem to drink a fair amount of water, altho his bowl is small, and his food is dry. I'd estimate he drinks approx. 200ml a day.
The majority of times he has urinated it has been after playing with his toys with people he has only met a few times, however when I play with him and his toys he quite easily calms down afterwards and has no signs of looking to urinate. Altho equally he seems to urinate before we go on walks, altho i'm sure he knows we're going for a walk as he see's the leash. I try not to make a big deal of walking him so as not to excite him.
He is neutered, and doesnt seem to mark his territory from what I know of previous dogs. There are no female dogs nearby, altho some friends have female dogs. There is also a pet shop close by, we walk past it on our way to go for walks, altho he never makes a fuss to go near it and seems oblivious to its presence.
As far as i can see he doesnt look for attention at all. He is quite happy to lay down and have quiet time whilst i'm busy with something. He never steals anything, he doesnt bark at all really, and he doesnt beg for food.
All in all he is a really great dog, his only downfall is the urination issue, which I know should be easily corrected and I have all faith in him.
As an after thought, his previous owner had a garden to which he had access to as and when he needed, however he still exhibited these traits of urination, however she did have 2 other dogs and i'm thinking that it may have been more of a territory thing with him then.
Thankyou again for your time and effort Sir, it is greatly appreciated!




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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I have a male neutered Jack Russell Terrier who will be 2 years old in a months time. I have only had him a week, but have known for him for some weeks previous and we already have a strong bond.
The previous owner had him as a rescue dog for  5 months before me and had similar problems. The problem is this: he urinates around the house, despite having just been walked or not being apparently over-excited. So far he has urinated around a dozen times in the house, mostly in the living room or hallway. He has urinated twice whilst standing on the sofa (I allow him on the furniture). I have witnessed all the occurrences myself, only one of which had him cocking his leg. It doesn't appear to me to be submissive urination; we have a strong bond, I and my housemates give him ample affection, he gets up to 4 walks a day.
What I don't understand is that he can go 10-12 hours overnight without urinating, and never urinates in the van (I take him to work with me), also he never urinates in my bedroom (where he sleeps).
When I have caught him in the act I tell him 'No' in a stern voice, sometimes he stops, sometimes he carries on urinating but moves away from the spot he started at.
Do you think this is a behavioral problem or could he maybe have diabetes or a kidney issue?
-----Answer-----
Dear Dave,
Thanks for the question. I'll give your case all the effort I give a paying client! I can help. But I'll need more information.

From what information I have on this end, it could be a medical problem, incomplete house training, submissive urination, excitement urination (I can't cross it off the list without more information), marking behavior, location preference, pre-learned areas, pre-soiled areas, an attention seeking behavior OR any combination of all the listed reasons.

That narrows it down a bit huh? (smile) The only two reasons I didn't mention are separation anxiety and inadequate access. Since it occurs in your presence, we can rule out separation anxiety! Since he gets 4 walks a day we can rule out inadequate access.

First you should stop correcting him. It's not effective and can only teach him that urinating in your presence is dangerous because you attack him when he is urinating (his opinion - not mine). Punishment won't teach him about choices of locations - at least it hasn't yet. (big smile) Discard your punishment strategy!

Second, let's hope that it is a medical problem. That's a bit easier to fix! The fact that he can 'go all night' without eliminating does not rule out a medical issue. The fact that he never goes in the van may or may not be relevant to a medical issue. How long are the van rides?  What does he do when he rides in the van? What is his demeanor?  Where does he sit/lay in the van? Can he 'hold it' for the same amount of time inside the house as inside the van?

It could be as simple as an infection of the urinary tract. Does the urine smell real strong? Is it really dark?  Schedule a full medical checkup, urinalysis, blood work, blood count, kidney functions, et cetera.

Pre-learned areas and pre-soiled areas are less likely since he did it in his last home. Has any dog been using your living room or hallway before you got Jack? How about your cushion?

Assuming it is either submissive or excitement - Here is some information to compare submissive vs.excitement urination. It could be both.

Inclusive descriptions of his body language are better clues for determining which type is occurring than describing situations in which it occurs.

Carefully observing his ear, head, tail positioning and his overall body language coupled with a careful observation of how you are interacting with him are the best methods to identify both excitement and submissive urination.  

If he IS NOT actively moving or playing (as in he IS standing or sitting or lying OR he is in the process of sitting or lying down) while he eliminates , the urination is more likely to be submissive in nature - not excitement.

If he urinates when you interact with him via speech, touch or eye contact, it's more likely to be submissive - not excitement.

If he eliminates when he is running to greet you, when he is playing (and you are not interacting via eye contact,touch, verbal greeting), it is more likely to be excitement urination - not submissive.  

If he is not sitting or lying down and he is not in the process of sitting or lying down AND you are not interacting with him, it is more likely to be excitement urination - not submissive urination.

Marking usually occurs on vertical surfaces by intact males. Are the locations in the living room and the hallway next to vertical items, walls - furniture? Is he intact or neutered? Are there any intact females nearby? next door? passing through the neighborhood? occasional visitors to your house? Are there any visitors- human or animal- whose visits coincide (in some remote or obvious way) with the instances that he eliminated in your presence?

Are the hallway and the living room both carpeted or both bare floors OR is one carpeted and the other made of another material? If they are both the same substrate (i.e. both carpeted) it could be a substrate preference. What were the types of floors where he eliminated in his previous home? Were they similar to the substrate in your hallway and living room?

Attention seeking- does he ever bark at you for attention, whine, beg, steal objects? Does he pace the floor when everyone else is sitting around relaxing? Is he very active and 'into trouble' all the time?

Does he play with his water? Does he chase shadows or reflections?

Does he exhibit any behaviors that you find annoying (aside from eliminating in your house)?

Does he defecate in your house?

What type of dog food does he eat? Is it canned or dry? What brand, flavor? How much water does he consume in a day? How often does he eat?

Is he regular? What is the consistency of the stools?

Please absorb the information and get back to me with your thoughts.

I'm not trying to be rude, but honest. I just spent 1.4 hours answering / editing /thinking about your situation. I serve as an expert to keep my skills sharp and to help many others who might read these post. You can contribute by  answering all the questions thoughtfully. Thank you. I'll await your reply!

AT

http://www.howsbentley.com

Answer
Dear Dave,
Thanks for the answers. This guy sounds like a wonderful dog. I want him! (smile)

Here are my thoughts.
Get the medical checkup- you never know  - we may dealing with more than one cause for the inside elimination. It's always wise to rule out medical problems first. We can modify the environment and our behaviors forever and never succeed - if there are medical contributors.

YOU WROTE>>>>>>
>>>>>The majority of times he has urinated it has been after playing with his toys with people he has only met a few times, however when I play with him and his toys he quite easily calms down afterwards and has no signs of looking to urinate. Altho equally he seems to urinate before we go on walks, altho i'm sure he knows we're going for a walk as he see's the leash. I try not to make a big deal of walking him so as not to excite him.>>>>>>>

These clues lead me to believe it is either submissive or excitement or medical in nature. The only problem with submissive or excitement urination is that it would occur in other locations when the dog is presented with similiar stimuli. Of course, if the dog were not presented with similar stimuli in other locations, we still wouldn't know for sure.  

Here are some excerpts from a book, Clinical Behavior For Small Animals by Karen Overall.

"Submissive Urination (01004X00.4)
        Necessary: Urination that occurs in an otherwise housebroken animal only when the animal
is exhibiting species-specific postures associated with deferential behavior.
        Sufficient: Urination that occurs in an otherwise housebroken animal only when the animal
is exhibiting species-specific postures associated with deferential behavior and that is worsened
by approaches that solicit such deferential behaviors (e.g., reaching over, rolling over) in an
animal that shows no signs of fear or aggression.
         Concerns: Any confusion about whether this diagnosis is appropriate can be eliminated by evaluation of this history and concomitant behaviors. Discrete description of the posture in which
this behavior occurs improves on the sufficient condition."

Excitement Urination (01004X00.5)
        Necessary: Urination that occurs only when the dog is engaged in active behavior and is
concomitantly demonstrating physical and physiological signs of excitement (rapid motor activity
that may occur vertically and horizontally, high-pitched greeting, panting and salivation
associated with open-mouthed, relaxed greeting face) rather than fear.
        Sufficient: Urination as above that occurs when the animal is not sitting or lying down, or approaching sitting or lying down, and about which the patient may exhibit no signs of awareness.
        Concerns: this diagnosis can be difficult to distinguish from submissive urination, incomplete
housebreaking, or intense need for micturition. Better inclusive descriptions of the behaviors, rather than the circumstances in which they occur, should obviate this problem."

Reference -Overall, K., (1997). Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals. St. Louis: Mosby

Urinating on the cushions (in your presence) is either medical or submissive or excitement urination. Please refer to the descriptions in my earlier post. For tips about dealing with submissive / excitement causes, visit http://www.ddfl.org/tips.htm#dog

Suppose the medical checkup finds nothing and you determine (via body language observations) that the behavior is not submissive or excitement related. . . . . I'll attribute the original behavior to incomplete house training and/or submissive/excitement but now the behavior is being fueled by the fact that the areas are pre-soiled and he has formed a preference for specific areas.   

Clean the affected areas with an enzyme based cleaner. Any commercial pet stain / pet odor liquid cleaner will be sufficient. IF the carpet cleaner does not state something like "Removes Pet Odors", it is NOT sufficient. Be liberal with the cleaner - the urine will be covering a larger area underneath your carpet - than the area on top of the carpet.

It takes these enzyme based cleaners a few weeks to actually break down the body fluids into a neutral substance, so be aware that the areas will still smell like a bathroom to Jack.

Consider hiring a commercial carpet cleaning company - make sure they use enzymes.

If you have already cleaned the carpet with an ammonia based cleaner, it will always smell like a bathroom to Jack- forever.  The only solution is to pull it up and replace it.

Increae Jack's motivation to urinate outside by teaching him to ring a bell to let you knwo he need to go outside.

Here is a brief outline of some possible steps. Move through the steps ONLY AFTER he has learned the current step.

First you teach him to ring a bell on a string that you hold in your hand. He gets a treat for bumping the bell with his nose.

Once he figures this out, you move to the next step.
Hang the bell on the door and get him to bump it. Reward each bump with a treat. He gets the treat inside the
house at this point, right next to the door.

Once he learns this step - instead of giving him a treat immediately for bumping the bell, you open the door, go outside and give him the treat outside the door.

The next step is identical EXCEPT you walk him to the elimination area and deliver the treat there.  Once he is happily running to the elimination area for the treat, you can move to the final step.

Do this one in  the morning or when you know he needs to eliminate. He bumps the bell, you open the door, he runs to the elimination area, you give him the cue to eliminate and then you give him the treat.

The idea is that you must give him a reason to want to go outside to eliminate.

Use a clicker to teach the bell bump. Buy the book, Clicking With Your Dog by Peggy Tillman for instructions about using a clicker to target train.

Training him with a reward system as opposed to corrections may help him get better. Start a training program using a clicker.

Treat Jack as if he were not house trained. Place elimination on cue. Visit http://www.howsbentley.com and sign up for the mailing list to get access to complete house training guide and instructions for placing the behavior on cue.  

Happy Training!
AT